How RōBEX Can Help
We have invested many years into perfecting glass product packaging. Today, our partners can count on us to implement not just quality machines, but the right automated solution for their specific glass or plastic product packaging needs. We also perform repairs, maintenance, and upgrades of older generation controls, as well as complete rebuilds.
5 Pick & Place Machine Benefits
Efficiency is the main reason most companies invest in assembly (line) automation for manufacturing improvement. A paper published by Min Zhou and Renjie Jiang on automation strategy provides a concise summary for why automation is so desirable:
“A 1% improvement in efficiency over a long period of operation can lead to more economic benefits and a lower average cost expenditure.”
Speaking in general terms, that may look worthwhile and sound feasible. However, it is not always evident where exactly to begin to achieve those efficiencies within an assembly line that incorporates plastic or glass containers. Here are five specific areas where pick and place automation can help improve your warehouse or factory throughput:
1. Factory Safety
Automation usually reduces human labor, which consequently reduces the possibility of injuries. However, human involvement in manufacturing will never be zero (at least, not anytime soon). Current trends suggest that there will be increased collaboration between robots and humans rather than total replacement. Warehouse picking and packing automation can be considered one more advancement in improving working conditions for the humans involved in the process.
2. Improved Ergonomics
A pick and pack operation typically involves moving physical products down the assembly line more quickly and efficiently. These automated solutions can take over some of the more physically strenuous tasks.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, diverting arduous physical tasks from humans to robots can play a significant role in a company’s overall effort to reduce risk and injury.
As OSHA points out, a simple way to reduce ergonomic risk is to eliminate the hazard. Replacing human labor with machine labor solves that issue.
3. Labor Reduction
Companies have relied on pick and pack fulfillment to enhance material handling coordination for a long time. Experts watching and analyzing the development of automation have been saying for many years that there will only be an increase in the use of and reliance on machines for production.
Not too long ago, automating was prohibitively expensive for small or even mid-sized manufacturing assembly lines. However, as industrial robot integrators have progressively optimized their processes, automation in manufacturing has become more accessible. This comes at a time of absolute necessity as the cost of labor is going up, but the number of available workers is going down.
4. Data Collection
Industrial data and artificial intelligence are two significant engines driving smart manufacturing forward. In manufacturing, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is an expansive network of machines and objects installed with sensors, software, and other technologies. A picking and packing process in a warehouse is just one part of this extensive system.
At every level, companies must manage a high volume of data to ensure future improvements. Specifically, pick and place machines’ components per hour (CPH) or parts per hour (PPH) should be examined and adjusted regularly to positively impact production volume.
5. Process Consistency
Nearly every industrial process incorporates automation, from battery assembly to vision system inspection to metrology. This means manufacturers who use glass and plastic packaging can perform their physical manufacturing and measurement tasks with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
Where human technicians once had to remove parts individually to track production, these tasks can be completed continuously and consistently by automation in manufacturing. Automated inspection in manufacturing and interferometry even allows for contactless process monitoring.
Rising Costs