When each shift ends with sore backs and drained shoulders, it’s not simply fatigue — it’s a sign that one thing wants to vary.
At Griffith Foods Colombia, operators had been lifting, twisting, and stacking 1000’s of containers each day on two high-volume doypack traces. Ergonomic assessments confirmed what employees already felt: the repetitive palletizing work carried a excessive danger of musculoskeletal accidents.
However as an alternative of selecting between security and productiveness, Griffith Meals discovered a strategy to obtain each.
From 10,000 repetitive motions to zero
Every day, operators on Line 1 made 5,775 repetitive actions, and people on Line 2 made 5,005 — all now eradicated with the set up of a Robotiq PE10 Lean Palletizer.
“Immediately these actions went to zero because of the robotic. Folks end much less drained “
– Santiago Ospina
Plant Supervisor at Griffith Meals Colombia
With help from IGPS, Robotiq’s integration associate, Griffith Meals deployed Colombia’s first Robotiq Lean Palletizing cell — designed to spice up security, preserve human-centered operations, and help high-volume manufacturing.
Constructed for flexibility, engineered for reliability
Griffith Meals’ operation is something however easy. The plant handles 32 SKUs throughout a number of field codecs and pallet patterns—feeding right into a single palletizing cell. The PE10 manages all of it with precision: working at 10 cycles per minute, dealing with masses as much as 12.5 kg (28 lb), stacking as much as a peak of over 2,750 mm (108 in), and managing a number of SKUs from two manufacturing traces.
The integrator used a digital twin mannequin throughout design and engaged in complete Manufacturing facility Acceptance Testing (FAT) to make sure the system would run easily from day one.
Since its set up in August 2024, the system has achieved zero intrinsic tools failures.
“Every time we’ve had stoppages, they’ve been attributable to exterior elements, not the robotic.”
– Santiago Ospina
Human-centered automation in motion
For Griffith Meals, automation is about defending people—not changing them. The brand new palletizing cell eliminated the heaviest, most repetitive duties, enabling workers to be redeployed into higher-value roles whereas working with improved well-being and productiveness.
Security options had been inbuilt from the beginning: proximity sensors gradual the cobot’s movement when an operator enters the danger zone; collision contact could be comfortable and non-injurious.
ProFood World
Useful resource-allocation additionally improved:
“We went from needing six individuals on the road to solely 4… Our purpose was to unencumber personnel for deployment in higher-need areas.”
The distinction was not simply in head-count however in work-life steadiness. One shift was eradicated; workers gained extra relaxation and household time.
The undertaking aligned with Griffith Meals’ inner Lean framework (GPS – Griffith Manufacturing System), and the put in system was acknowledged internally below the “Orange Bell” program, incomes second place globally inside the firm.
The takeaway
When an organization with a people-first tradition embraces automation, it units a robust instance for the business. At Griffith Meals Colombia, human-centred automation isn’t a buzzword—it’s how they’ve eradicated 10,000 repetitive motions per day, improved ergonomics, and achieved constant uptime with no tools failures.
As a result of when expertise works for individuals, productiveness follows naturally.
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