Once you stroll into Cascade Espresso’s facility north of Seattle, you instantly sense two issues: the unmistakable scent of freshly roasted beans, and a group that’s genuinely pleased with the work they do.
That second half didn’t occur by chance.
It’s the results of a daring choice Cascade made about 4 years in the past: substitute some of the painful, turnover-heavy, inconsistent handbook jobs within the manufacturing facility with collaborative robots. What began as a single low-risk experiment snowballed into a scientific, company-wide transformation touching productiveness, individuals, and tradition.
I lately sat down with Cascade’s COO, Ron Kane, to retrace that journey. Ron’s spent greater than 30 years in meals and beverage—Nestlé Waters, Monster Vitality, craft beer—so he’s seen each taste of automation challenge, from the profitable to the painful. His perspective is extraordinarily grounded in what producers stay day-after-day.
Right here’s Cascade’s story, and the teachings any meals and bev manufacturing facility can apply.
When development meets actuality
In 2020, Cascade shifted from serving one main buyer (80% of their quantity) to supporting a broad portfolio of manufacturers, particularly modern ecommerce gamers. It unlocked development, however elevated complexity in a single day.
The issue? Practically all the pieces downstream was nonetheless handbook.
- Operators had been hand-stacking dozens of pallet configurations
- Turnover on the palletizing position was over 60%
- New hires had been educated nearly weekly on intricate customer-specific patterns
- High quality errors—like misaligned labels on shipments—had been eroding buyer satisfaction
And culturally, no person needed the palletizing job. It was bodily demanding, low selection, and worrying.
“It didn’t present worth for us as a manufacturing facility. It wanted to be finished, but it surely actually ought to have been automated if there was a technique to do it.”
– Ron Kane, COO
The problem was the identical one many mid-sized producers face: conventional palletizers had been too massive, too costly, and too complicated for his or her footprint.
The primary leap: A sensible, low-risk take a look at
When Cascade bought a brand new high-volume Ok-Cup line, Ron noticed a possibility: in the event that they had been upgrading processing and packaging, why cease there?
He evaluated the complete image: labor, ergonomics, turnover, uptime, and buyer necessities and proposed trialing a cobot palletizer. The preliminary ROI estimate was slightly below two years, already strong.
What occurred subsequent stunned everybody.
Their native associate, Olympus Controls, rolled the system into place. Inside hours, it was bolted down. By the following afternoon, it was palletizing stay manufacturing.
No cages. No complicated programming. No weeks of commissioning.
Operators realized the interface in minutes. The protection habits instantly earned their belief. And the cultural shift occurred sooner than anticipated: the group named the robotic, adorned it for holidays, and handled it as a further coworker.
“We put in the robotic, didn’t lose any headcount, and it turned a part of the character of the manufacturing facility.”
9 months to payback, not two years
When the primary audit was full, the numbers got here in…
Precise ROI: 9 months.
Why the dramatic distinction?
- Greater uptime than anticipated
- Constant throughput, even throughout variable quantity
- No unplanned labor protection for downtime
- Fewer high quality points
- Rising quantity on the road
In three years, Ron can rely on one hand the variety of days any palletizer has been down. And people uncommon points? Normally from packaging anomalies, not the robotic.
That reliability turned the rationale Cascade may scale confidently.
Scaling systematically: From one to 6 (and counting!)
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As soon as the primary cell proved itself, Cascade replicated the method throughout each retail bag line within the manufacturing facility.
As a result of their mechanics and engineers already understood the interface, subsequent installations turned almost plug-and-play:
- Nonetheless delivered in crates
- Nonetheless bolted down in hours
- Nonetheless operational the following day
- Nonetheless straightforward to troubleshoot independently
One line went from crate arrival to operating manufacturing by the tip of the primary shift.
And their group began collaborating with our engineers on efficiency upgrades—like early adoption of dual-case choosing to spice up throughput with out growing pace.
The outcome was: a standardized, repeatable palletizing technique throughout the whole website.
Actual enterprise affect: Thousands and thousands saved, individuals lifted up
Cascade Espresso invested slightly below seven figures throughout all methods.
They’ve already recouped a number of thousands and thousands in labor effectivity.
However the half Ron speaks about with essentially the most satisfaction isn’t the monetary return; it’s the individuals.
The staff who as soon as rotated via the toughest job within the plant are nonetheless there. Many have moved as much as higher-skill roles.
“They’re constructing careers, not simply doing jobs. They’re incomes extra for his or her households. They’re extra assured working greater tools as a result of they realized on the cobot first.”
Automation didn’t scale back headcount. It truly created new alternative.
And it was a fantastic match culturally as properly. The robots have names, vacation outfits, and recurring appearances on Cascade’s LinkedIn web page. They’ve turn into a part of the group!
Classes for producers contemplating automation
Listed here are the takeaways Ron would give anybody simply beginning their automation journey:
1. Your actual ROI will possible be higher than your spreadsheet.
Producers typically underestimate the impact of constant throughput and overestimate downtime danger.
2. Begin the place the ache is highest and the labor is hardest to retain.
Palletizing jobs burn individuals out rapidly. Fixing that ache advantages the entire operation.
3. Tradition issues as a lot as know-how.
Talk clearly that automation removes undesirable duties—not individuals.
4. Standardize early.
As soon as one cell is operating properly, you possibly can replicate it effectively throughout related traces.
5. A powerful native associate makes all of the distinction.
Olympus Controls helped Cascade deploy quick and adapt rapidly, at the same time as wants modified.
What this story actually reveals
Automation doesn’t must be costly, dangerous, or disruptive. When finished systematically (and with individuals in thoughts) it turns into a catalyst for higher work, higher throughput, and higher enterprise.
Cascade Espresso went from handbook palletizing with excessive turnover to a completely automated, extremely engaged group that’s assured, rising, and able to tackle extra.
Their journey is precisely why we consider in Lean Robotics: begin small, scale quick, and construct functionality via each section: design, combine, function.
Ron stated it greatest:
“You gave us the primary steps. We wouldn’t be pursuing automation this aggressively with out that early success.”
And that’s the type of affect we would like each producer to expertise.
If you wish to see whether or not palletizing automation is sensible on your facility, begin with the Palletizing Fit Tool — a fast, interactive technique to see if Lean Palletizing is the fitting match on your line.
Need extra tales from actual factories like yours?
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