We live in a fast world – so, if your clients are moving fast, then you need to keep up with them. Greater speed not only means reliability, but it also improves your productivity. With turnaround reduced, the retailers will meet their orders faster – something that will make you seem more reliable in their eyes.
But how can you increase that speed enough to maximize your productivity? In most cases, the answer to that is a matter of automation – but at the same time, it involves other tricks. We will find out more about that soon. Let’s get into it!
Packaging is one of the most important parts of the retail industry. Once a product is ready to get sold, it goes into the packing room. There, it may go through a case packer, a cartoner, or wrap-around packaging.
The problem is that depending on the speed of the packaging system, the production can also be heavily influenced. In most circumstances, you cannot produce more than you can pack. If you are dealing with raw goods or food, for instance, leaving them unpacked for a long time will damage the goods.
To prevent that from happening, the packaging needs to be done at the same speed as the production – something that can occasionally be inconvenient, especially if the packaging is manual. If the packaging is slow, daily production is also reduced – something that can significantly affect revenue with time.
If you want to stay at the top of your industry, you must make sure that your company is using end-of-line packaging. Nowadays, in order to maintain its competitive status, a successful manufacturer has to use state-of-the-art case packing systems. This way, it will be able to adapt to the continuous changes of the retail world.
Despite attempts, not every company succeeds in using its machinery efficiently. Most businesses have an OEE value of around 60-70% (with 100% being the highest value).
Typically, values that go lower than 70 are likely prone to downtime or simply do not help in increasing productivity. While most companies do aspire to sit somewhere around 74%, all they can usually manage is 68% at most.
In order to be at the top of the packaging food chain, you must improve operational efficiency. A recent answer to that would be automation. For instance, using an automatic cartoning machine makes it much easier for manufacturers to increase their productivity – and as a direct result, their OEE as well.
Automation has become an instrument of increasing production capacity. By packing faster, manufacturers can also add their products quicker on the line. The downtime would no longer be caused by packaging, and profitability would also increase.
In order to keep up with the demand, the average manufacturer needs multiple functions from their packing systems. For example, their equipment might need filing alongside case packing settings.
Other settings may also be in demand to increase profitability. For instance, more and more manufacturers are looking for systems that can file and pack multiple objects at the same time, improving the production capacity this way. This type of equipment is usually in the more recent line, in which case an update is necessary.
These automatic packing instruments can also improve productivity by adding flood space. For instance, if your case packing machine can pack more than one case at the same time, then you will not have to use multiple units in your plants. This will relieve a lot of floor space.
This will make matters easier on your workers as well, as they will get more space to move around – therefore, increasing their productivity. Another advantage is that you may install a different system in the empty space, such as a vertical cartoner or any item you may need. Chosen right, the right packaging instruments may easily influence your production capacity.
Your plant deserves a new retail-ready packaging system, and there are a couple of reasons for that. Used right, it can significantly influence production capacity in the following ways:
A new unit using robotic packaging automation can increase the speed of your packaging line. If it is chosen right, a new piece of equipment will always outperform the old one. Higher packing speed also leads to more products on the line, which means that a new packing system will increase your company’s profitability.
It is no secret that the older a certain piece of equipment gets, the more difficult it may be for it to remain properly coordinated. By getting a new piece of equipment, you ensure a smoother operation, as the unit is now new and well-maintained.
Plus, newer equipment has automated systems and was thoroughly designed to be well coordinated. The old one may have been good and did a great job throughout the years – but newer models will always be superior. They are usually backed up by research, so they are fully capable of maximizing production.
A new piece of equipment will have a good deal of maintenance and will also be less likely to break down as compared to an old piece. This means there will be less downtime, allowing your employees to work smoothly, without any interruptions.
The packaging industry can significantly affect the way production is handled. This is why selecting the right case packing machinery is important for productivity to survive. A good system will lead to higher speed and less downtime.
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