The persistent financial challenges dealing with manufacturing stick with regional inflation, international conflicts, an growing older workforce, disruptions within the provide chain, well being epidemics, and different compounding components, every taking part in a job. Enterprise house owners who reassess their technique and take into account automation are forward of the curve.

As demonstrated all through the COVID pandemic, companies outfitted with automation have been extra resilient to shifts when in comparison with their counterparts. ASME famous that “investing in automation and robotics was a technique corporations coped with the lack of employees.” Handbook jobs like palletizing have been comparatively simple to fill not way back. The abundance of accessible employees, restricted e-commerce, and lowered product complexity made conducting enterprise with handbook labor attainable.

Right now, the financial setting is nearly totally completely different: the out there (and ) workforce is diminishing, e-commerce continues to develop and product variety is increasing. These headwinds have created a brand new increase in automation investments, notably in collaborative robotics. Producers are discovering that cobot palletizers, for instance, are extra accessible, have a smaller footprint, and are extra budget-friendly. This permits them to handle folks, productiveness, and flexibility challenges. This text explores how these automated palletizing methods have gotten important instruments in industries corresponding to meals & beverage, client items, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Individuals: Enhancing workforce dynamics

Automation is doing jobs that folks don’t need.

Automation is doing jobs that folks don’t need.
A frozen fish producer, Korea Pelagic, wanted assist discovering folks to stack pallets of fish in a freezer. Palletizing fish on very tall pallets is a bodily demanding endeavor within the chilly, making it difficult to search out keen employees. There have been only a few folks keen to work this repetitive, monotonous, harmful job. Time is crucial in meals manufacturing, so Korea Pelagic turned to automation to make sure well timed shipments.

A palletizing cobot was the proper resolution for this demanding setting. Not solely was the cobot keen to work within the chilly, the end result was a 200% enhance in productiveness and a possibility to supply extra rewarding and sustainable work for his or her staff. Learn the entire case examine.

Present respect for the workforce.

TIDI Merchandise, a pacesetter in an infection prevention and affected person security merchandise, confronted inefficiencies as a result of a scarcity of employees. One particular person did two duties to maintain up with manufacturing calls for. Overburdening an individual slowed down manufacturing, elevated their backlog, decreased morale, and restricted the variety of orders TDI Merchandise may settle for. TIDI invested in end-of-line automated palletizing methods. This resolution addressed operational bottlenecks, decreased ergonomic points, and elevated group job satisfaction.

The palletizers carried out higher than anticipated, so TIDI Merchandise acquired two extra methods.

Initially, folks nervous that robots would take their jobs. Now, folks anticipate employers to put money into supporting and serving to their staff. This consists of making automation take the burden of the handbook and repetitive duties they don’t need to do. If staff don’t just like the job or really feel like their employer is just not investing in them, they depart. That is extra prevalent in youthful generations who really feel the necessity to change jobs to care for his or her pursuits. 

In line with Enterprise Insider, 73% of Gen Z employees are keen to take a pay lower or a decrease place if their job doesn’t meet their wants. Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) is rejecting monotonous, bodily demanding jobs and additional shrinking the out there labor. As this development continues, companies will inevitably must put money into automation. 

Corporations should put money into their staff to extend employee retention. TIDI Merchandise Worth Stream Supervisor Cameron Lemke summarizes: “If you happen to’re in a enterprise that cares about your group, that is a straightforward funding to assist them really feel supported and encourage their longevity with your enterprise.”

Learn and watch the TIDI Merchandise case examine.
 

Create sustainable jobs (that folks need).

Cascade Espresso, a roasting and co-manufacturing firm, skilled continual labor shortages and issues of safety of their handbook palletizing operations. With the deployment of automated palletizing models, job satisfaction and security have been improved. The system’s adaptability allowed for seamless integration, optimizing productiveness and permitting staff to advance. It took 5 minutes to coach an operator on the cobot. Now, the palletizer does the lower-paid job, and the folks advance within the firm. Watch how Cascade Espresso palletizes 6,500 circumstances a day and grows its staff.

Productiveness: Unleashing operational potential

Each pallet counts.

The target is to forestall unplanned downtime. Though continuously ignored, the palletization course of can emerge as a bottleneck. In a one-piece-flow setting, the cycle time must lower to match the pace of the slowest job. Automation can alleviate this bottleneck and produce cycle time nearer to takt time. Cascade Espresso’s transition from handbook to automated palletizing resolved labor shortages and eradicated bottlenecks.

The cobots guarantee a steady and environment friendly manufacturing circulate, permitting for the optimization of assets and success of supply deadlines.

Automated palletizing will increase throughput.

TIDI Merchandise skilled important positive aspects in productiveness after incorporating automated palletizing models. They documented productiveness positive aspects of 30% from the primary palletizing cell. Subsequent cells have elevated by a equally spectacular 25%. Productiveness positive aspects permits producers to optimize useful resource utilization, scale back manufacturing prices, and keep aggressive pricing.

Robotic palletizers additionally enhance productiveness in meals manufacturing. Bread producer Antic in Spain confronted difficulties manually palletizing merchandise on two manufacturing strains. The corporate wanted a scalable, automated resolution to accommodate varied product weights and enhance manufacturing pace. Labor shortages added to the urgency of discovering an efficient decision. Their search led them to a palletizing collaborative robotic that runs two automated strains and elevated manufacturing pace by 30%.

An automatic system can sustain.

Automated palletizing methods present excessive effectivity by maintaining with manufacturing processes. Person-friendly software program makes it straightforward to vary the palletizing cobot for brand new field sizes or pallet configurations. For instance, the Robotiq Palletizing Answer robotically generates and optimizes trajectories and cobot actions. Robotiq makes use of assistant instruments and easy configurations. Enter necessities corresponding to:

1. Field dimensions, weight, and orientation
2. Pallet dimensions
3. Pallet configuration

This software program works for the particular person as a substitute of the particular person working for it. With a couple of minutes of coaching, operators can have the automated palletizer stacking bins.

Adaptability: Assembly market calls for with ease

Be led by buyer necessities and market alternatives, not manufacturing unit limitations.

Regardless of the financial pressures in manufacturing, each firm goals for customer-driven management slightly than being dictated by exterior components. This implies factories should stay agile and productive. 

Napco, a espresso distribution firm, highlights the productiveness positive aspects skilled when utilizing palletizing methods. The lead operator, who had no prior expertise in robotics, was in a position to learn to function the system shortly. This automated palletizing system created a 15% enhance in productiveness.

Streamlined growth: timing your prices with advantages

The pliability and modular design of automated palletizing options allow streamlined growth. With the power to copy and combine further models onto completely different manufacturing strains, producers can scale successfully in response to fluctuations in demand. TIDI noticed this primary hand. Scalability, mixed with a typical payback interval of 1 yr, ensures a considerable return on funding and positively impacts the underside line.

Automated palletizing methods with built-in cobots have grow to be indispensable allies for meals & beverage, client items, and pharmaceutical producers dealing with continued financial pressures. These methods assist them navigate labor-related challenges, improve productiveness, and foster adaptability.

Management your future

At Robotiq, we comply with the rules of LEAN ROBOTICS to create a standardized resolution that’s simpler to scale, repeatable, and simple to make use of. We perceive the financial pressures in manufacturing and we now have expertise working with meals & beverage, client items, and pharmaceutical producers. 

Allow us to get you began – implementation is less complicated than you suppose. Focus on with certainly one of our automation specialists in the present day to kickstart your challenge.