As a business owner, you most likely have a number of products that need to be packaged and bound together in order for them to be shipped. These tasks can take up a lot of your time and energy, leaving less room in your day for other responsibilities. Luckily, there is an easy way to make this process more efficient: automation.
In the past, automated packaging was mostly used for large businesses or warehouses where they were making thousands of boxes daily. But today, automation is becoming increasingly popular with small to medium-sized companies as well because it decreases packaging errors, increases productivity, reduces costs, minimizes injuries, as well as damage to products.
Let’s take a look the 5 biggest benefits of packaging automation in more detail:
When human hands are in charge of packaging, there's a greater chance that something could go wrong. With automation, however, you eliminate this risk when the machine is 100% accurate every time. For example, if you use an automated strapping machine to seal your boxes together, not only will they be securely bound but also perfectly aligned; no skips or overlapping will occur at all.
Furthermore, if you have a certain number of products that need to be placed into your packages, automated packaging gives you the ability to place each item with pinpoint accuracy every single time.
The more efficient equipment becomes, the higher your overall productivity is going to. When you are using an automated machine, not only are tasks being completed faster but they are also being done much more efficiently.
For example, let's say that it takes one person five minutes to fill up ten boxes with products and another person three minutes to seal them together. That means that in total it would take eight minutes to complete this task manually (15 minutes if both employees work at the same pace).
However, if there was an automated strapping machine present, both employees could work at their own pace and it would still take no longer than eight minutes to complete the task.
As the saying goes, time is money. When you are using machinery to complete your packaging tasks in half the time, it frees up your employees to spend more time on other important items or reduces your labor costs.
For example, if you currently have two employees that are working eight hours a day for five days a week at $10 per hour, you're spending $20,000 per month on labor alone. Now let's say that an automated packaging machine could do its jobs in four hours instead of eight. You would save yourself $8,000 each month with only one piece of equipment!
When human hands and minds control the way products are packaged and bound together at such high speeds, it is inevitable that injuries will occur.
Not only are employees at risk for injury but equipment can be damaged as well. With automation, however, you minimize the chance of this happening because the machine is able to detect when something has gone wrong before more damage is done.
For example, if a worker accidentally drops a box or applies too much pressure onto an automated strapping machine, the automated packaging equipment will automatically stop working until an adjustment is made. The workers also don't need to be trained on how to operate these machines because they run with the use of computers and sensors rather than people having to guide them through their tasks.
One of the many reasons why automated packaging is becoming more and more popular with businesses today is because it minimizes product damage.
Whether you are using conveyor belts or other types of equipment, there's a very good chance that your products will be dropped along the way if they don't have any protection riding along with them.
With automation, however, this risk is significantly reduced because multiple layers of padding are in place to keep your items secure when traveling from Point A to Point B. If somehow an item were to become damaged during transit, these machines also minimize the amount of time your products are in open spaces, therefore reducing exposure to heat or cold temperatures that could cause condensation on your products as well.
Manufacturers considering a large-scale investment in automation need to be able to quantify their return on investment (ROI). There are several key factors that influence an organization's ability to make a sound business case for a new piece of equipment or a new packaging line.
The most significant factor is often how much money can be saved per package compared with manual operations, which requires adding up all the costs associated with labor and then comparing this total cost with automated equipment that minimizes these same costs.
The calculation also must include delivery expenses as well as the additional time it takes for employees who manually perform packaging tasks versus those who work with automated systems. Furthermore, businesses should consider the cost of injury to employees, who can spend more time on other tasks when they work with automated equipment.
The results of such an economic analysis will provide a thorough picture of how much money can be saved by adopting automation and help manufacturers make decisions about which types of systems might best suit their specific needs.
Are you beginning to see all the benefits that come from packaging automation? If so, we hope that you take the next step in your business growth and start making some investments today!
While looking at machines and processes may seem daunting for most business owners, it's important to remember that investing in your future is always worth it in the long run. For more information contact BluePrint Automation, and find out all about our cost-effective solutions.
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