Robotic Packaging
The boundaries of technology are being pushed to high levels by automation. Automation is growing fast and is being utilized heavily in the manufacturing industries. Automation does not necessarily replace the good staff in your industry, rather, it removes the need for employees to perform the repetitive and unfriendly tasks which they will find boring. These tasks are however very critical in the production line and must be performed in a precise and consistent manner. This is where automation comes in.
Maximizing the use of robots in your production process is one way of managing your costs and maximizing the sales of your industry. You will not only remain competitive in the industry, but you will also provide cost effective products to your consumers.
Robotics are heavily affecting the supply chain links, most importantly in packaging. Packaging robots are utilized in handling products, case packing, picking and placing the products, and palletizing. The whole process become very efficient.
Benefits of Packaging Robots
Packaging robots are relevant tools that assist in achieving the expected targets consistently and efficiently. Below are major highlights of why robots are a good choice in the packaging industry over utilizing human interventions.
- Accuracy
Packaging robots for instance, those used for picking and placing are fitted with slim arms and have a wide reach. Moreover, their tooling is precise and has a sturdy repeatability. All these features enable the packaging robot to be very accurate when performing its tasks. Its capability of high precision makes the robots suitable for many applications in all the operations of packaging and supply chain.
- Flexibility
This is a major reason of utilizing packaging robots in the industry. With a simple click of a button, a line operator can easily change the outline of a pallet or a case. This task can take longer once it’s done manually. You are therefore able to satisfy the customers’ needs without sacrificing the associated speed. - Consistency
Improving the quality of a product and the cycle time too can be made possible by making use of a packaging robot. Since the movements of the robots are regulated, a standardized outcome is achieved, hence the quality of packaging is improved.
Applications of Packaging Robots
- Picking and Placing
A packaging robot offer a solution for packaging products that are randomly placed. They are able identify, align and place the products accordingly, with a simple click on the pick and place button. This task would take a longer when it is performed manually. - Denesting
This process involves removing empty packages from a stack. Usually, a packaging robot for De-nesting is usually used in conjunction with that of de-panning. The empty packages are removed to make them ready to be filled with other items.
- Depanning
Depanning using a packaging robot involves removing baked items from their pans, multiples at a time, using a dedicated depanning tool. This process is delicate and needs to be executed with great precision. Using a robot will ensure the safety of the items being moved. - Boxing
This is the secondary packaging. It involves taking the separately packaged products and putting them into groups by arranging them into cases or boxes. This process is usually effective and more efficient once a robot is put in place since its fast and can still package even the delicate items that are challenging to grasp, without damaging them.
- Palletizing
This is the tertiary packaging. It involves taking the boxes of the items produced and stacking them on pallets making them ready for distribution or shipping. When a packaging robot is used in this process, there is increased productivity and workers are not exposed to risk of injury. - Warehousing
Once the products have been palletized, the process of transporting or carrying the pallets to a warehouse can be very labor intensive. This therefore calls for the use of a packaging robot to perform this task since it will remain effective even when a high number of the products are being warehoused.
Packaging robots are reliable, fast, consistent and efficient. Hence, this automation assists in expanding the company’s operations which improves its sales.
