At first look, palletizing ice cream cone packing containers doesn’t sound like a high-risk job. However when these packing containers weigh 35 to 40 kilos and have to be stacked shoulder-high, shift after shift, 5 days every week—you begin to perceive the pressure it places on folks.
That’s precisely what one main U.S. meals producer realized. They produce a variety of cones—waffles, sugar, and cake. Regardless of their scale and attain, what actually stood out to us was one thing else: their tradition.
This firm operates as an ESOP—an Worker Inventory Possession Plan—which suggests each particular person on the ground has actual pores and skin within the sport. From the entrance workplace to the manufacturing line, all of them personal a chunk of the enterprise. And when that’s the case, security turns into greater than a coverage. It turns into private.
Why automate?
It wasn’t a labor scarcity that drove their choice to automate palletizing. It wasn’t even about effectivity within the conventional sense. The spark got here from a really human place: too many shoulder accidents. Lifting heavy packing containers time and again, particularly to the highest of a pallet, was inflicting issues. The sort that takes folks out of labor and places long-term pressure on the workforce. They didn’t wish to anticipate the following damage. They wished to forestall it.
So, they made a transfer. They selected to herald a robotic palletizing system—to not change somebody, however to take away the danger from a activity that simply didn’t make sense for folks to be doing anymore.
What made this a superb match?
The technical aspect was easy. The packing containers are hefty, they’re effectively inside the payload vary of a cobot palletizer. The corporate already had Common Robots on-site, so integrating one other one with our PE20 was acquainted territory.
However the true match wasn’t about pace or specs. It was about care. They weren’t attempting to get rid of a job. The palletizing activity was simply one in every of many dealt with by their workforce. What they wished was to get rid of the damage danger. Plain and easy. Plus, the convenience of use of the programming interface allowed to upskill some operators who can now use the robotic.
A takeaway for meals producers
Automation usually will get evaluated by the lens of labor financial savings. However this story is a reminder: ergonomics matter. Employee security isn’t a gentle metric—it’s a strong purpose to rethink handbook duties. Heavy lifting, repetitive motions, and awkward positions take a toll. And even should you’ve obtained succesful folks in your workforce, that doesn’t imply they need to be doing these jobs.
This isn’t about chasing buzzwords like “lights-out manufacturing.” It’s about fixing actual issues in actual vegetation, with sensible instruments that work.
And should you’re operating a facility the place your workforce is your biggest asset—like this one—you would possibly discover that the enterprise case for automation is stronger than you suppose. For in-depth insights on the toll handbook palletizing can tackle an organization and the way automation can alleviate these strains, obtain our Manual Palletizing Ergonomic Risks ebook by business skilled, Carla Silver.
