Espresso manufacturing is rising worldwide.
From roasted beans to capsules and pods, producers are growing output to satisfy rising demand. Capsule codecs corresponding to Dolce Gusto® and different single-serve methods proceed to increase in each retail and meals service.
However whereas packaging expertise has developed shortly, many espresso vegetation nonetheless depend on handbook palletizing on the finish of the road.
That’s changing into more and more tough to maintain.
Operators are more durable to rent. Labor prices are rising. And palletizing stays some of the repetitive jobs on the manufacturing flooring.
In consequence, many espresso producers are actually taking a look at automating palletizing to stabilize operations and cut back labor stress.
Just lately, a serious European espresso producer confronted precisely this case.
Their aim was easy: take away handbook palletizing from their capsule packaging traces with out creating a fancy robotics challenge.
The everyday espresso palletizing problem
The producer was working two espresso capsule packaging traces producing instances of pods prepared for cargo.
On the finish of every line, completed instances have been palletized manually by operators working throughout three shifts.
Their setup seemed like this:
- 2 packaging traces
- 3 manufacturing shifts
- 1 palletizing operator per line
- Steady pallet constructing with interlayers
Every line required a devoted operator to stack instances onto pallets all through the shift.
Over time, the challenges grew to become clear.
Labor prices add up shortly
With handbook palletizing operating throughout three shifts, the corporate was spending roughly:
€180,000 per yr in labor prices only for palletizing.
And that price continued to extend as wages rose.
Staffing was tough
Like many meals producers, the corporate struggled to maintain palletizing roles crammed.
The job is bodily repetitive:
- Lifting instances
- Repeating the identical movement tons of of instances per hour
- Working repeatedly on the finish of the manufacturing line
These positions typically expertise excessive turnover and absenteeism, creating further stress on manufacturing groups.
Palletizing can turn into a bottleneck
When palletizing slows down, all the manufacturing line could be affected.
If instances accumulate on the finish of the road, operators should intervene to clear the backlog, which may sluggish manufacturing or disrupt workflows.
For this espresso producer, handbook palletizing was changing into each a labor problem and an operational danger.
Not each product is simple to automate.
However espresso instances are sometimes a superb match for collaborative robotic palletizing.
Espresso producers usually share a number of traits that simplify palletizing automation.
Constant case sizes
Espresso capsules and pods are often packed into standardized transport instances, making them predictable for robotic dealing with.
Predictable pallet patterns
Most espresso vegetation use repeatable pallet configurations optimized for transport and warehouse storage.
Robotic palletizing methods can simply reproduce these pallet patterns.
Reasonable choose charges
Many espresso packaging traces function at average palletizing speeds, usually between 4 and eight picks per minute.
These speeds are nicely throughout the capabilities of collaborative palletizing methods.
Steady merchandise
Espresso capsules packaged in corrugated instances are usually light-weight and steady, lowering complexity for robotic gripping and stacking.
Collectively, these traits make espresso palletizing a powerful candidate for cobot automation.
For this producer, the palletizing necessities have been clear:
- Decide charge: as much as 6 picks per minute
- Pallet top: as much as ~2.4 meters
- Interlayer placement required
- Two impartial packaging traces
These situations made the appliance a powerful match for standardized cobot palletizing somewhat than a customized robotic challenge.
As an alternative of designing a fancy robotic system, the corporate might deploy pre-engineered palletizing cells designed particularly for end-of-line automation.
The producer put in two collaborative palletizing cells, one devoted to every packaging line.
Every cell handles the entire palletizing course of:
- Selecting completed espresso instances from the road
- Constructing the pallet sample robotically
- Inserting interlayers between pallet layers
- Finishing full pallets prepared for cargo
As a result of the system is constructed round a collaborative robotic (cobot), it may well function inside typical manufacturing environments with out the complexity typically related to conventional industrial robotics.
Operators can proceed working close by whereas the palletizing course of runs robotically.
Quicker deployment
One other benefit of standardized cobot palletizing methods is less complicated deployment.
Conventional robotic palletizing tasks typically require:
- Customized engineering
- Lengthy integration timelines
- Intensive security infrastructure
Collaborative palletizing methods are designed particularly for palletizing, which may considerably cut back set up and commissioning time.
For a lot of meals producers, this makes automation a lot quicker and simpler to implement.
After automation, the producer was capable of take away handbook palletizing from each packaging traces.
The cobot palletizing cells now deal with the repetitive stacking work robotically.
This created a number of quick advantages.
Operators reassigned to higher-value duties
As an alternative of stacking instances all shift, operators might deal with:
- Line supervision
- High quality management
- Materials dealing with and logistics
This allowed the plant to use its workforce extra successfully.
Improved end-of-line consistency
Automated palletizing ensures pallets are constructed constantly and precisely, bettering stability throughout transport and simplifying warehouse dealing with.
Decreased repetitive work
Palletizing includes 1000’s of repetitive lifting motions per shift.
Automation helps cut back repetitive pressure duties, bettering ergonomics for employees.
The economics of the challenge have been simple.
Handbook palletizing throughout the 2 traces price roughly:
€180,000 per yr in labor.
By automating the palletizing course of, the producer eradicated most of that recurring labor price.
The end result was clear:
Payback in lower than 12 months.
For a lot of meals producers, palletizing automation delivers one of many quickest returns on funding within the plant, particularly when labor shortages and rising wages are thought of.
Many espresso producers assume palletizing automation requires complicated robotics integration.
However many functions are less complicated to automate than anticipated.
In case your manufacturing line consists of:
- Reasonable palletizing speeds
- Constant case sizes
- Normal pallet patterns
…it might already be a powerful candidate for cobot palletizing automation.
Curious in case your utility is an effective match?
Use Robotiq’s Palletizing Match Device to shortly assess whether or not cobot palletizing is sensible to your operation and what a practical deployment might seem like to your facility.
