As a company grows, so too does its packaging efforts. And while the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ may be true for a while, eventually companies may outgrow their current packaging efforts. Trying to hold on to old habits while experiencing growth can lead to companies developing issues in their packaging division, almost all of which can be alleviated with the implementation of a packaging system. Here are some signs that it is time for you to add industrial robots to your packaging line:

Employees Struggling to Keep Up

The first place to look is a company’s labor force. When a company incurs increasing demand, it can put more stress on a packaging line, making it difficult for current packaging efforts to keep up and increase an employee’s workload. This stress on the line can lead to delays in production and can impact your customers/retailers too. Additionally, the increased workload for a company’s employees can cause stress in the work environment and can lead to a high employee turnover rate and increases in injuries.

Cost of Labor vs. Cost of Automation

In most cases, a company’s first objection to automation is price. But once you break down the costs of labor vs the costs of robotic systems integration, the price tag on automation becomes a lot easier to swallow. For example, an employee working for $15 per hour with benefits can cost a company $31,200+ per year. In cases like this, working with a robot integrator like RMH can pay for itself as quickly as a year.

Speed = Mistakes

With increases in demand and workload employees may have to start cutting corners to meet time constraints. Taking less time on tasks and finding the ‘easiest’ way to finish products can lead to errors and incomplete products.

Repetitive/Simple Motions

When processes are repetitive and simple, packaging machines may be able to accomplish the task faster and more efficiently. And like we stated above, we can avoid nagging injuries to employees that occur due to repetitive motion.

Too Much Waste

• • Whether overfilling products or using too much packaging material, issues in the packaging line can lead to the waste of company material and negatively impact the quality/quantity of the products that you produce. No matter how trained a packaging team is when under a stressful work environment, mistakes can be made and resources can be wasted.

Don’t allow your company to be hindered by inefficient packaging processes, let our packaging experts help you design a system to bring your packaging into the new age!