Tag: packaging automation

Seven Benefits of A Packaging Automation Process

Posted on by definitionconsulting

One of the biggest causes for concern in business is the rising costs and the best approaches you can take to help combat increasing expenditure and make savings where possible. Fortunately, there are ways to keep your business sustainable and ensure a healthy bottom line, one of these is through automation, particularly in the packaging sector with packaging automation processes.

An important consideration for businesses is how to ensure a packaging process provides a respectable return on investment. So often, the cost of staff leads to non-value-added processes that are wasting both time and money. What companies need to do is find ways to be greener, more sustainable, reduces costs and eliminate wastage. One of the best ways to do this is through automated packaging machinery and automating packaging processes.

What is packaging automation?

Packaging automation uses packaging machinery at various stages of the packaging process such as filling and sealing boxes, wrapping and labelling machines and coding and strapping products. Machinery can be both automatic and semi-automatic, covering a range of tasks but, as the name suggests, semi-automatic packaging machinery will require more labour.

Depending on the return on investment you can receive will play a part on the type of automated packaging machinery that will provide the most benefits and least costs to your business.

Seven benefits of packaging automation

  •  Productivity

Typically, automated packaging machinery will process goods much faster than the manual methods. Depending on the type of automation and the number of products you need to package, a machine will be able to wrap hundreds of items a minute, for example into blister packs. With packaging machinery, you can dramatically increase productivity to save time and ensure a faster production line.

  • Safer working conditions

If the items that you are packaging are bulky, cumbersome and heavy, then there can be a risk for health and safety. If your business employs personnel to package products that are heavy, then you have the chance of injury and costly time off work as well as the cost involved with ensuring rigorous health and safety compliance. Automated packaging takes away this problematic issue and creates a safer working environment.

  • Meticulous quality

With automated packaging, you can be sure that every package is well-protected through a standardised packing process. With automated packaging, each product has a tailored packaging design and shape so that you can be sure of the same level of protection for each item, and there is a routine use of stock.

  • Saving the planet with reduced wastage

One environmental benefit of packaging automation is that a packaging machine will only use a set amount of material and will be economical in its use of material, cutting to size and creating an efficient pattern that maximises protection out of the minimum level of material. This method can also save your business a considerable amount in packaging costs by reducing the amount of waste and streamlining the types of packaging you need to prevent over-ordering of various materials.

  • Specialised packaging

Whatever your product is, you can find an automated solution that is tailored to your item. Whether is vacuum packing, pressure filling, sterilised or inflatable, you can find the right piece of equipment to suit your bespoke needs. If you package many different products, then an on-demand solution that tailors each package to suit the shape of the product is ideal.

  • Lower costs

Labour intensive processes can be expensive but also fluctuating, making it hard to calculate the budget required for your packaging sector and the cost of packaging per product. Fortunately, automated packaging solutions are standardised, typically with a fixed price for the machinery as a set amount of packaging per product that can be calculated easily. By reducing the labour requirements, you can find a use for staff in value-adding areas elsewhere in the business.

  • Efficiency

Automated packaging can serve as a double benefit, covering the role that is too repetitive and straining for staff to undertake happily and also take on the tasks that are too difficult for a human to do. Whether it’s a large item, monotonous smaller jobs that are the same day in, day out or a job for multiple people, then automation may be the best way to combat these problems and have an efficient process. Rather than struggling with employing staff or worker retention, you have a reliable packaging machine that can take on the work and isn’t afraid of a repetitive task.

If you would like to speak to one of the Ribble team about our environmental standards or find out how packaging automation could help your business, get in touch.

How To Streamline Manufacturing Processes With Packaging Automation

Posted on by definitionconsulting

Every business needs customer satisfaction in order to be profitable and successful. Taking a look at your manufacturing processes will help but ensuring customer satisfaction can be tricky. Consumers are constantly on the lookout for three key criteria;

  • Better product
  • Lower price
  • Quicker delivery

These customer demands only increase, and with more competitors to rival, this can put a strain on manufacturing businesses to keep their customers and stay competitive in the market place. To increase the efficiency of a product, both in cost and time, companies need to streamline their manufacturing to keep up with the growing demands.

How to streamline manufacturing processes

There are many ways to streamline manufacturing processes. One of the best ways to analyse how to simplify the process to increase its efficiency is by evaluating every task in the process and deciding whether it is a step that is value-adding or non-value-adding.

Value adding: this refers to tasks that usually changes or transforms the product, essentially adding a value to the product by adapting it to suit your needs. Steps such as quality control may not change the product, but still, can add value so be mindful of the activities that confirm value too.

Non-value adding: these tasks are ones that do not change the product and don’t necessarily need to be performed to ensure value to the product. They may, however, need to be performed due to the setup of production, for example moving parts from one part of the factory to another, or storage where parts are waiting for work to be performed.

To streamline the process as a whole, a good method is to focus on the non-value adding tasks first by stripping away any that are unnecessary. The next step is simplifying the process in order to eliminate the activity in the future, for example, changing the layout of the manufacturing set up to reduce the time between work stations.

For many businesses streamlining activities will only take place, if at all, in the manufacturing of the product itself. What many people neglect is a critical area of streamlining potential which is the packaging of the finished product.

How packaging automation can streamline manufacturing processes

Packaging automation works by creating the box or boxes you need with ease. Whether a mechanical or electrical system, packaging automation replaces some or all of the manual packaging elements and uses machinery to complete the task to make an array of different packaging options.

Box on Demand is just one of the automated packaging systems available which create packaging on demand that is uniquely designed to fit a range of different shapes and sizes. This is ideal for manufacturers who offer a range of different products that all have different packaging requirements.

Depending on your packaging requirements, automated packaging solutions can help to streamline your business in many ways such as;

  • Speed – items can be boxed as soon as they’re off the production line, you do not have to wait until the right sized box has been made up.
  • Efficiency – automated packaging reduces the manual effort required, meaning other people can be utilised in a different area of work.
  • Time-saving – as soon as products are finished they can be boxed and sent straight away, reducing the lead time for the customer.
  • Space-saving – as soon as products are ordered, they can be packaged and shipped, meaning they can free up space in your premises and reduces the risk of items being forgotten about.
  • Cost-saving – only creating the packing you need, you do not have to buy boxes in bulk that won’t be used. The money saved can be invested in machinery to speed up other areas of the manufacturing process.
  • Reduced rework – by having the right sized box, your product will be safer and therefore reach your customer fully functional. By packaging in the wrong sized box, you risk returns and remanufacturing to give the customer a quality product.
  • Less wastage – only utilising what you need, you can reduce the wastage of your business, making the process more efficient and reducing lost costs.
  • Consistency – As packaging systems make the right box every time, you know that each box will be flawless and your customers will know what to expect with the high-quality packaging solutions you provide.
  • Safety – With automation, you reduce the number of workers you need and can, therefore, increase the safety. The chances of injury with automated machinery will help to protect your workforce and could save your business considerable money in training, lost work days and potential lawsuits.

Find out more about automated packaging solutions and how they can benefit your business.

Copyright © Ribble Packaging Ltd.