Having processes that are repetitive, manual tasks – like loading and unloading products – can lead to high employee turnover and quality issues. Repetitive tasks are ideal targets for automation, but you may have limited manufacturing space and limited budgets for new automation equipment. Many food manufacturing organizations also have high-mix, low-volume production, or are dealing with seasonal production surges and lulls, which isn’t cost-effective for traditional automation, especially if you’re not a robotics programmer. Even if you can automate some of those tasks, there’s still the issue of maintaining a safe working environment for your employees.
For most manufacturers, one of the first tasks that they think of automating is packaging products. And that makes perfect sense. But when companies start automating, they start seeing more and more processes that they can optimize.
Cobots are ideally suited to meet the challenges companies are facing, and are flexible enough to be deployed throughout an operation. For those who aren’t familiar with cobots, here’s a quick comparison of traditional industrial robots vs. cobots: unlike traditional robots, cobots are small and flexible, the set up is fast, they’re easy to use, they’re safe alongside workers, and the upfront costs are low, with a quick ROI.