Inside Cascade Espresso’s playbook for sustainable, scalable automation

While you stroll into Cascade Espresso’s facility north of Seattle, you instantly sense two issues: the unmistakable odor of freshly roasted beans, and a crew that’s genuinely happy 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: change one of the vital 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, folks, and tradition.

I just 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 venture, from the profitable to the painful. His perspective is extraordinarily grounded in what producers stay every single day.

Right here’s Cascade’s story, and the teachings any meals and bev manufacturing facility can apply.

When progress 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 progress, however elevated complexity in a single day.

The issue? Almost 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 wished the palletizing job. It was bodily demanding, low selection, and disturbing.

“It didn’t present worth for us as a manufacturing facility. It wanted to be accomplished, but it surely actually ought to have been automated if there was a solution to do it.”
– Ron Kane, COO

The problem was the identical one many mid-sized producers face: conventional palletizers had been too large, too costly, and too complicated for his or her footprint.

The primary leap: A sensible, low-risk check

When Cascade bought a brand new high-volume Okay-Cup line, Ron noticed a possibility: in the event that they had been upgrading processing and packaging, why cease there?

He evaluated the total image: labor, ergonomics, turnover, uptime, and buyer necessities and proposed trialing a cobot palletizer. The preliminary ROI estimate was just below two years, already strong.

What occurred subsequent stunned everybody.

Their native accomplice, Olympus Controls, rolled the system into place. Inside hours, it was bolted down. By the subsequent afternoon, it was palletizing stay manufacturing.

No cages. No complicated programming. No weeks of commissioning.

Operators realized the interface in minutes. The protection conduct instantly earned their belief. And the cultural shift occurred sooner than anticipated: the crew named the robotic, embellished it for holidays, and handled it as an extra coworker.

“We put in the robotic, didn’t lose any headcount, and it grew to become a part of the persona 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?

• Increased 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 grew to become the explanation Cascade may scale confidently.

Scaling systematically: From one to 6 (and counting!)

As soon as the primary cell proved itself, Cascade replicated the strategy throughout each retail bag line within the manufacturing facility.

As a result of their mechanics and engineers already understood the interface, subsequent installations grew to become practically plug-and-play:

• Nonetheless delivered in crates
• Nonetheless bolted down in hours
• Nonetheless operational the subsequent day
• Nonetheless simple to troubleshoot independently

One line went from crate arrival to working manufacturing by the top of the primary shift.

And their crew began collaborating with our engineers on efficiency upgrades—like early adoption of dual-case choosing to spice up throughput with out rising velocity.

The end result was: a standardized, repeatable palletizing technique throughout your entire web site.

Actual enterprise influence: Tens of millions saved, folks lifted up

Cascade Espresso invested just 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 folks.

The staff who as soon as rotated by way of 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 larger tools as a result of they realized on the cobot first.”

Automation didn’t cut back headcount. It truly created new alternative.

And it was a terrific match culturally as properly. The robots have names, vacation outfits, and recurring appearances on Cascade’s LinkedIn web page. They’ve turn out to be a part of the crew!

Classes for producers contemplating automation

Listed here are the takeaways Ron would give anybody simply beginning their automation journey:

1. Your actual ROI will seemingly be higher than your spreadsheet.

Producers usually underestimate the impact of constant throughput and overestimate downtime threat.

2. Begin the place the ache is highest and the labor is hardest to retain.

Palletizing jobs burn folks out shortly. Fixing that ache advantages the entire operation.

3. Tradition issues as a lot as know-how.

Talk clearly that automation removes undesirable duties—not folks.

4. Standardize early.

As soon as one cell is working properly, you may replicate it effectively throughout comparable strains.

5. A robust native accomplice makes all of the distinction.

Olympus Controls helped Cascade deploy quick and adapt shortly, at the same time as wants modified.

What this story actually exhibits

Automation doesn’t need to be costly, dangerous, or disruptive. When accomplished systematically (and with folks 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 crew that’s assured, rising, and able to tackle extra.

Their journey is strictly why we consider in Lean Robotics: begin small, scale quick, and construct functionality by way of each section: design, combine, function.

Ron stated it finest:

“You gave us the primary steps. We wouldn’t be pursuing automation this aggressively with out that early success.”

And that’s the form of influence we wish each producer to expertise.

If you wish to see whether or not palletizing automation is sensible in your facility, begin with the Palletizing Match Software — a fast, interactive solution to see if Lean Palletizing is the precise match in your line.

Need extra tales from actual factories like yours?

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