As the beverage industry evaluates the value robotic automation brings to its end-of-line packaging operations, the verdict is in, and its game over. From a safety standpoint, as well as staffing, efficiency, and many other attributes, robotic automation is a proven winner that delivers a strong return on investment.
Palletizing and depalletizing within the beverage industry have traditionally been labor-intensive processes, but that is not the norm anymore. Packaging OEMs are at the forefront of developing new fully-automated systems that are delivering significant time- and cost-saving advantages to beverage applications.
Safety
Loading and unloading pallets is a monotonous job that can easily lead to back injuries which are both painful for employees and costly to companies. There is no easy way to load cases of beer, wine, and spirits by hand. One case alone can weigh nearly 40 pounds. Over the course of just one shift, an employee will be bending over and lifting several thousand pounds, while repeatedly twisting, turning, and reaching. The result is back injuries and other muscular skeletal ailments that sideline employees indefinitely, leaving companies burdened with finding last-minute replacement help and saddled with costly workers’ compensation claims.
According to recent statistics from the National Occupational Safety Administration (OSHA), warehouse workers are at least eight times more likely to suffer back injuries compared to most other occupations. Furthermore, the National Safety Council estimates that U.S. industries are losing as much as $167 billion a year to workers’ non-fatal injuries.
Automating the palletizing and depalletizing operations virtually eliminates these safety concerns overnight by allowing robotics to do all the heavy lifting. Workers’ compensation claims for injuries incurred during palletizing/depalletizing are reduced while creating a safer work environment that fosters a sense of esprit de corps as those employees can be reassigned to other areas of the company where their skills are needed more.
Staffing
Finding enough people to staff warehousing jobs has been an ongoing challenge exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic. Unfortunately, it has become all too common for new hires to stick around for a few days, or even just a few shifts, and not return after they realize loading pallets is not for them. If your end-of-line packaging operation is dependent on manual labor, you likely have felt the pain of high turnover. This is typically the tipping point for most.
Where robotic automation proves its worth is solving this issue of labor. Nothing tarnishes a business’ reputation faster than not shipping orders on time; you cannot have that in today’s competitive market. You need to have the infrastructure in place to not only meet current production rates but accommodate future growth as well. Your competitors may already be taking these proactive steps; you cannot fall behind. By adding automation, you ensure seamless 24/7 operation. Robots do not slow down or take breaks; the systems work weekends and holidays too. Warehouse staffing issues are not going away; robotic automation is the answer.
Efficiency
Upgrading your palletizing and depalletizing processes with robotic automation allows you to achieve speeds that manual operations cannot come close to matching. For larger beer, wine, and spirits manufacturers, they are looking for a palletizer to achieve speeds in the 60-80 cases per minute. While it would take at least 10 people to see that rate on a single cell, a high-speed robotic palletizer can easily reach those speeds and do so without any slowdown.
For depalletizing applications, technology has evolved to move thousands of bottles or cans safely and securely in a single operation. It is common for small glass bottles to arrive palletized stacked eight to 10 high with 1,400 on a layer. That is more than 12,000 bottles on a single pallet alone. For 12-ounce beer bottles, seeing 400 per layer is customary. The advantage a depalletizing system brings to the beverage industry is speed, as it can depalletize a stack in a matter of minutes. You cannot come close to replicating these types of speeds by manual operation.
But does palletizing and depalletizing at high speeds increase the risk of product loss through bottle breakage? Not at all. Robotic technologies provide speed and efficiency to end-of-line operations without sacrificing material loss. In depalletizing operations, Brenton’s MasterPal robotic end of arm tool moves into position above the highest stack, and once it is in position will clamp all the outside bottles. The tool basically clamps the layer to place it into a zero location, so you know where it is. Once that is accomplished, there is a coordinated move between the robot and MasterPal’s slatted apron. The robot moves to slide the product off the table end while the floor of the MasterPal tool moves simultaneously, replacing the table with the floor of the tool until the layer is completely captured within the tool. The bottles are perfectly positioned on top of the slatted apron, providing containment of those bottles. From there, you pick and move them to a designated drop off point. To place them down, the procedure is basically reversed. The MasterPal tool is available for palletizing (MP1000 Robotic Layer Palletizer) and deplalletizing (MD1000 Robotic Layer Depalletizer).
Brenton has decades of robotic automation experience adding efficiency to end-of-line beverage operations. Whether you are in the early stages of exploring how automation can benefit manually staffed packaging lines or are looking to upgrade to fully-automated cells, Brenton has the expertise and solutions for your specific application.
Eric Miller is the Western Regional Sales Manager for Brenton (https://www.brentonengineering.com/). He can be reached at Eric.miller@promachbuilt.com.