How it Works and How to Get Started

Do you know that 80% of all items are transported on a pallet sooner or later of their journey?

Should you’re counting on guide labor to position your merchandise on pallets, you are not alone. Nonetheless, the final decade has pushed factories of all sizes in varied industries, comparable to meals and beverage, prescribed drugs, and normal manufacturing, to rethink workforce utilization and undertake palletizing robots.

Whether or not you are dealing with labor shortages, excessive insurance coverage prices because of office accidents, or the necessity to shut effectivity and productiveness gaps to make sure development, automating your end-of-line processes is an important transformation challenge to prioritize.

This text supplies an summary of the kinds of automated palletizers, how they function, their affect on your corporation, and the steps to implement one.

What’s an Automated Palletizer?

An automatic palletizer is a robotic system designed to mechanically prepare and stack merchandise or packages onto pallets for transport, storage, or distribution. It makes use of superior know-how to carry out duties historically completed by guide labor, comparable to choosing up objects from a conveyor belt and inserting them in particular patterns on a pallet. 

The two Varieties of Automated Palletizers

Automated palletizers could be categorized into 2 major classes: Conventional robots or Industrial robots and collaborative robots (cobots)

Conventional robots (industrial) excel in high-volume, repetitive duties, dealing with heavy payloads at excessive speeds. They require vital funding, massive footprints, security fencing, and specialised employees for operation and upkeep.

Collaborative robots (cobots), alternatively, prioritize flexibility and adaptableness. They work safely alongside people (with a correct threat evaluation) with out in depth obstacles and are simply reprogrammable for various duties. Cobots are usually extra inexpensive and space-efficient, making them appropriate for smaller operations or restricted ground areas. Nonetheless, they usually have decrease payload capacities and function at slower speeds than conventional robots.

The selection between conventional robots and cobots is determined by particular operational wants. Components to think about embrace manufacturing quantity, activity selection, obtainable area, funds, and workforce ability stage. 

Conventional robots go well with large-scale, high-speed operations, whereas cobots provide versatility and accessibility for various or altering manufacturing environments. 

Advantages of Automating Palletizing

Lower Labor Prices and Overcome Worker Shortage

Guide palletizing incurs vital labor prices, together with wages, advantages, additional time, and bills associated to hiring and coaching because of turnover. Factories additionally face increased upkeep and downtime prices from employee absences, holidays, and departures, resulting in manufacturing delays. The recurring bills of recruiting and coaching replacements add substantial overhead, significantly in high-turnover industries.

There is a clear development away from jobs involving strenuous guide duties like heavy lifting, that are each bodily taxing and mentally unfulfilling. This choice is mirrored in economic data, in response to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 45% of sturdy items manufacturing jobs in america stay vacant.

The labor shortages producers face at present are more likely to persist. Deloitte predicts in its 2024 manufacturing industry outlook report that even when each expert employee in America have been employed, there would nonetheless be 35% extra unfilled job openings within the sturdy items manufacturing sector than obtainable expert employees. By 2030, they challenge a scarcity of greater than two million American manufacturing employees.

Automating palletizing allows your precious staff to do extra and develop along with your firm. As an employer of selection, cut back your dependency on hard-to-find labor and create jobs that individuals wish to do.

Acquire productiveness and effectivity

Automated palletizers can function 24/7 which drastically will increase output in comparison with guide processes. This increase is important for assembly rising demand or seizing new market alternatives. Producers unable to invest in automated palletizing could lose market share to extra agile opponents.

By adopting superior automated programs, you may outpace opponents with superior effectivity, high quality, and cost-effectiveness. This lets you provide higher costs and better high quality merchandise with pallet consistency, securing your market place and successful extra contracts.

Automated cobot palletizers are recognized to supply flexibility and adaptableness – they’re normally straightforward to program to altering wants. This flexibility retains you agile in a dynamic market, guaranteeing long-term development and competitiveness.

Present a safer office

Automating your palletizing cell can considerably cut back the chance of accidents associated to repetitive motions, heavy lifting, and publicity to hazardous supplies. Producers who don’t automate could face increased insurance coverage premiums and potential prices associated to office accidents and related litigation.

Guide materials dealing with, which incorporates palletizing, is a major threat issue for MSDs. In line with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health , about 30% of overexertion accidents within the office have been related to lifting duties 

Automating your palletizing course of reduces prices, addresses labor shortages, boosts productiveness, and creates a safer work setting. This allows your staff to tackle extra significant duties and ensures constant pallet high quality, prioritizing your buyer and model.

Easy methods to Get Began with Automated Palletizing

Step 1: Define your corporation wants

Automating your palletizing cell course of begins by outlining your corporation challenges and alternatives. At Robotiq, we’ve got developed a complete grid, the Strategic Crucial Framework. 

Designed to be a thought-provoking course of, it guides stakeholders in ‘scoring’ their challenges to unravel and covers totally different elements of automating duties (course of, engineering, upkeep, individuals and finance). Spending time at this step is inspired to align the choice course of in the precise strategic course.

Step 2: Choose the precise resolution

Understanding the present market panorama is a vital step. Choosing an possibility with out contemplating all obtainable options would possibly lead to overlooking viable options. It’s important to undertake this step earlier than committing to anyone resolution.

For a normal overview, the obtainable options could be divided into two main classes: Conventional robots and Collaborative robots. 

Every of those classes consists of varied palletizing options, every with its personal distinctive advantages and dangers. For an in depth evaluation of the options obtainable in the marketplace, we invite you to obtain the Automated Palletizing Purchaser’s Information.

Step 3: Consider the Value 

As a normal estimate, a collaborative robotic palletizer for a small to medium-sized operation can vary from $50,000 to $150,000, whereas the standard robotic palletizer can value upwards of $500,000 or extra. When evaluating the overall value of an automatic palletizing system, you must undertake a complete strategy that considers each preliminary and ongoing bills, in addition to future scalability and suppleness. 

Listed here are the important thing factors to think about:

1. Value Elements

• Preliminary Funding: Contains the acquisition value, integration with present programs, customization to fulfill particular wants, and potential vendor lock-in.
• Working Prices: Embody vitality consumption, upkeep and repairs, coaching for employees, and software program updates or licensing charges.
• Extra Prices: Contemplate bills associated to downtime and the price of scaling or adjusting the system sooner or later.

2. Price range Concerns

• Price range Pricing vs. Quoted Pricing: Distinguish between estimated funds prices and precise value quotes to make sure correct comparisons. Pay attention to distributors’ really useful contingency funds for surprising bills.
• Important vs. Good-to-Have Options: Clearly outline which options are obligatory on your operations and that are optionally available. Use detailed specs to prioritize important options and get rid of pointless ones, doubtlessly requesting revised quotes from distributors.

3. Preliminary Funding Components

• Integration: Assess how effectively the palletizing system will align along with your manufacturing unit structure, processes, and present programs. Ask distributors about compatibility, required modifications, and examples of profitable integrations.
• Customization: Decide if the system meets your important necessities out-of-the-box or if extra customization is required, each initially and over time to take care of performance.
• Vendor Lock-In: Contemplate the long-term implications of counting on a particular vendor, together with the way it would possibly have an effect on scalability, flexibility, and future prices.
• Scalability: Consider whether or not the system can develop along with your wants, the prices related to upgrades, and if it permits for incremental investments as necessities evolve.

4. Working Prices Particulars

• Vitality Prices: Differ based mostly on system effectivity, utilization period, and native electrical energy charges.
• Upkeep and Repairs: Common maintenance is important. Perceive who will carry out upkeep, the phrases of service contracts, and the provision of spare components.
• Coaching Prices: Issue within the bills for coaching staff to function and keep the system successfully.
• Programming and Software program Updates: Account for software program licensing charges, subscription prices, and whether or not updates or programming adjustments require exterior assist.

5. Sensible Ideas for Analysis

• Vendor Questions: Put together particular questions on integration capabilities, customization choices, scalability, and assist providers to make sure the system meets your wants.
• Value Monitoring: Hold an in depth report of all potential bills to attain a extra correct estimate of each preliminary and ongoing prices.

Step 4: Calculate your ROI

Now, understanding the preliminary and possession prices from the earlier chapter, the subsequent logical step is to challenge the Return on Funding (ROI).  Listed here are the formulation and elements that must be thought of to calculate your return on funding:

PRODUCTIVITY GAINS

• Cycle time: Period to finish a particular activity or produce an merchandise.
• Output: Variety of items processed per unit of time.
• Scalability: Means to extend quantity with minimal extra value.

LABOR IMPACT

• Labor prices: Present guide labor prices, together with wages and advantages.
• Labor effectivity: Productiveness and effectivity of guide labor.
• Labor flexibility: Means to reassign labor for varied duties.

COST OF OWNERSHIP

To outline the overall value of possession, the operation prices must be added to the preliminary funding by contemplating a particular interval (usually predefined by the enterprise) for every resolution within the comparability.

INVESTMENT RISK ASSESSMENT

Any funding can have dangers. It is very important think about them and have a mitigation plan in the event that they occur.

• Establish dangers: Potential dangers comparable to technological failures, market adjustments, or regulatory points.
• Danger mitigation: Doc methods to mitigate every threat and calculate the potential value related to mitigation.
• Embody a threat consider your ROI comparability: Have a look at your manufacturing unit’s earlier, large-scale, cross-functional funding initiatives. Had been they on time and on funds? If not, add that threat issue to your ROI calculation for conventional robots palletizing options.

INTANGIBLE BENEFITS

These is probably not clear numbers, however they’re qualitative good points that have to be thought of in your resolution course of.

• Security: Lower prices related to office accidents, medical depart, accidents, and near-misses.
• Worker engagement: Consider the affect on workforce morale and the rise in worker retention.
• High quality enchancment: Calculate the discount of prices associated to errors.
• Market fame: Estimate the optimistic affect on the corporate’s fame (each with prospects and job candidates) for innovation and effectivity.

Depalletizing: What You Have to Know

Depalletizing is the method of systematically eradicating packing containers, luggage, or different packaged objects from a loaded pallet. It’s usually step one in a producing or distribution course of, the place uncooked supplies or completed items arrive on a pallet and have to be unpacked.

Key Variations Between Palletizing and Depalletizing:

1. Unloading Challenges: With palletizing, the robotic has full management over the location of things on the pallet. Depalletizing includes unloading a pallet that was loaded by another person, so the merchandise positions could also be unpredictable.
2. Merchandise Motion in Transit: Pallets can shift throughout transportation, inflicting the objects on the pallet to maneuver from their authentic positions. Depalletizing programs should be capable of account for this motion, not like palletizing.
3. Robotic Imaginative and prescient Necessities: Depalletizing usually requires using robotic imaginative and prescient programs to adapt to the uncertainty of the pallet structure, whereas palletizing can generally be completed with out imaginative and prescient.
4. Upstream/Downstream Processes: Palletizing usually happens on the finish of the manufacturing workflow, whereas depalletizing occurs at the start, interacting with totally different processes.
5. Facility Structure: Palletizing and depalletizing programs are sometimes positioned in several places inside a facility to optimize their integration with upstream and downstream operations.

Understanding these key variations is vital when deploying robotic automation for palletizing and depalletizing duties.

Conclusion

Automated palletizers increase productiveness, deal with labor shortages, and improve office security. They improve throughput, take away bodily demanding duties, and cut back damage dangers – offering a aggressive edge for factories. Investing in automated palletizing is a strategic transfer to streamline operations and place your group for long-term development.