By Josh Goulet, Regional Sales Manager, Brenton
A common scenario that many manufacturers have found themselves in over past year is producing products in response to the current economic environment. Many of these items, such as masks, hand sanitizers and others are in hot demand now, and require the right packaging equipment to efficiently produce them. But what happens when interest for those products wane, and companies scale back on their production rate?
These are some of the questions and concerns we’ve been hearing from customers; some fear that they’re going to get stuck with a machine that’s not flexible, and could be rendered almost useless when those products aren’t in demand anymore.
That isn’t a worry when you partner with Brenton. If your output does change and another product line becomes hot a few years down the road, we can retrofit your existing end-of-line system to package different SKUs.
The key is to purchase equipment that is flexible for years to come and adaptable to meet changing applications. Most of our machines are not designed for just one product because we know conditions and applications change. You operate in a very competitive environment and have to be flexible to stay ahead of the game – we do as well. Our equipment is flexible right along with you.
We design our equipment to accommodate a large range of case sizes. Additionally, with our top-load robotic solution, the only thing that needs to change is your end-of-arm tool. So, if in a few years you’re running something completely different, the only thing required is to design a new end-of-arm tool, and that’s something we can easily do. Once that’s installed, your equipment is ready to accommodate a different pack pattern and case size. That’s the flexibility already built into our solutions.
Robotic top load case packer demonstrates end of arm tool (EOAT) changeover and ease of managing multiple SKUs on one system.
If you’ve never automated your end-of-line packaging, you may be leery about incorporating automation and robotics; and that’s understandable. But rest assured, technology today has made that integration a very seamless process and something that shouldn’t be feared.
When you’re ready to contact us to begin the conversation of automating your packaging line, we’ll review your end-of-line processes and explain the areas where technology can make an improvement. Our solutions bring a high level of automation to packaging lines, many of which are typically hand-packed operations. We will walk you through and demonstrate how your new line, now likely staffed by just one or two people instead of eight or 10, will generally provide a full return on investment in two years. We’ll also discuss operating a robotic system, which has become much easier to do than in years past; preventive maintenance and other considerations. We’ve gone to great lengths to take the anxiety out of installing automation.
Flexibility is the key when it comes to end-of-line packaging solutions. We’ve engineered our equipment to easily meet changing applications to go from one hot product to the next…and that’s pretty cool.