As companies continue to pursue solutions to streamline their production processes, one of the main discussions is the benefits of switching from manual to automated production.
The main challenges that companies want to solve in their production lines vary, but can usually come under one of the following:
- Increase production output
- Decrease cost of production
- Improve product packing quality and efficiency
Unplanned Downtime
When it comes to manual production, one of the biggest challenges that companies face in their production lines is unplanned downtime. This is a significant challenge because output is what produces products and products produce revenue. The less revenue coming in, the less profit that is made by a company. In the sectors in which we serve our customers at RML, production lines are high-paced and physically demanding, so the unplanned downtime that our customers are usually dealing with is fatigued staff or a shortage of workers to meet the demands of the production line. RML Production Automation Solutions allow for production lines to be safer, more productive, and efficient, and produce the highest quality of product possible for the customer. Automating production for RML means providing our customers with solutions that will allow them to better utilise their human potential to grow other areas of the business. Instead of performing repetitive tasks that could cause injury and thus freeze production, staff can instead be trained to operate machinery that streamlines production increases uptime and directs more energy to tasks that can grow their business.
Packaging Operation Labour Costs
When it comes to production lines, particularly for large companies, if packaging tasks are conducted manually this requires a significant amount of labour and requires for a company to hire and train more staff. Automating this process provides a company with the benefit of reducing the need for manual packing labour. At RML, we design and build our machines to be easy to operate and user-friendly so that the training process for operators is quick and easy. This provides a cost-saving benefit for the customer because the cost to hire and train new staff is removed in exchange for training and upskilling existing staff to understand how to operate the new automated systems.
Cycle Time / Throughput Speed
Manual production also has the disadvantage on production lines of slowing down the line packaging process and therefore the rest of the production line. The manual packing process is also repetitive, which is a key driver of fatigue, and can lead to errors. This causes a tough situation for customers as these errors must be corrected. Again, decreased output. Automating production, particularly for packaging tasks means that the process can occur quicker and with more precision without errors, which results in enhanced production line efficiency. RML Robotic Case Packers have provided many of customers with improved performance, reliability, and overall quality. One was Comvita, who had a Top Load Case Packer installed to automate their honey case packing line. The result was a 30% increase in line speed and output. Even better, the machine’s ease of use and user-friendliness made the training process for their operators quick and easy.
Conclusion
If you are looking to improve your production processes, then Production Automation Solutions designed and built by RML will provide your company with greater productivity, which will help the push towards this goal.
Check out some of the projects we have completed to improve our customers’ productivity: https://www.rmlnz.com/automation/
Or get in touch now to discuss how we can help solve your production line challenges: https://www.rmlnz.com/contact/
