Robotics and cobots (collaborative robots) are gaining traction in the packaging industry, as the industry tunes in to their significant benefits.According to Joe Campbell of Universal Robots, cobot palletisers offer a range of benefits. “Of course, the most obvious benefit is that cobots introduce increased productivity. From an application point of view, these solutions have been in the business for a while. First we had mechanical palletisers, followed by server-driven palletisers, and then large-scale robotics was introduced. Cobots are the next generation of equipment for the packaging industry.”Campbell said another major benefit of cobots was that they were safe and very easy to operate alongside humans in any shared space. “It does require a basic risk assessment before implementing cobots into the operation, but they are extremely safe for operations. They are also very easy to use and to programme, not requiring any previous coding, robotics or automation experience at all.”He said the machines were also very quick to set up, again not requiring much expertise. “It is a simple out-of-the-box experience that goes up very quickly. These cobots are incredibly user-friendly, not to mention f lexible and versatile. Redeploying a cobot to another application or product in the operations does not require any expertise and can be done quickly and efficiently.”According to a recent report by PMMI Business Intelligence, robots and cobots are expected to expand to 95% of all secondary packaging lines within the next ten years. Campbell says the demand for these solutions is growing. “A cobot solution will also cost only a third to half of what traditional automation costs, making it an economically viable solution in any high mix/low volume operation. Cobot palletising, in particular, is gaining popularity as it delivers productivity and quality.”He said there was no denying that this was impacting top-line and bottom-line performance. “Furthermore, due to the quick implementation and the total cost delivered, the Return on Investment (ROI) is very competitive and is typically less than a year.”He said in the early days of robotics the only justification for automated solutions was labour savings.“It is still a key element today, but more importantly the realisation that productivity delivers cost avoidance has been critical. Better machine utilisation allows for more capacity – and that avoids additional capital investments while reducing overtime. Overall, cobots allow for top-line productivity-increasing output without increasing most other manufacturing costs. They deliver lower prices that give the opportunity to gain market share, increase capacity to add new customers, and even extend product lines.”
