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Manufacturing companies worldwide are facing an acute shortage of skilled labor. According to research by The Manufacturing Institute, 93% of manufacturing companies struggled to find qualified applicants despite an average of 800,000 open jobs in the market. A manufacturer said they found it hard to find candidates with the skills to operate complex packaging equipment.

At a time when manufacturing companies are under immense pressure to meet customer demands, a shortage of labor can impede the company&#;s growth. That&#;s why packaging automation is so helpful.

Packaging automation helps in:

• Accelerating the packaging speed 

• Reducing errors by catching nearly 100% of errors and improving the quality of packaging 

• Saving manual intervention and enabling the workforce to focus on tasks requiring specialized skills

While packaging automation improves productivity and saves cost and time, it can sometimes fail to deliver the expected value. A single issue in packaging automation can delay or bring operations to a standstill.

Let&#;s find out why that&#;s the case and what manufacturing companies can do to optimize the value of packaging automation.

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1.  Increasing Operational Costs
   Automation is often seen as a solution to reduce labor costs and accelerate the packaging process. However, the high cost of automation can outweigh the savings in labor costs, making it a less viable option. Additionally, automation can lead to increased energy costs as automated machines consume more energy than manual labor.Besides these direct costs, there are also indirect costs associated with automation. These include the cost of training employees on how to use automation and the cost of downtime when automation is not working properly.Manufacturing companies must do a thorough cost-benefit analysis to determine if automation will save operational costs and generate revenue. They must opt for automation only if the cost justifies the value it delivers.
2. Not Factoring in Overall Equipment EffectivenessOverall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) measures the packaging equipment&#;s performance. It measures how long the equipment is available to run, the speed and output of the equipment when it&#;s running, and the number of defective products it produces.By optimizing OEE, manufacturing companies can run the packaging lines more efficiently, produce more products, and reduce waste. It can also significantly increase the company&#;s profits. Ignoring OEE could result in financial losses and lost opportunities to generate more revenue due to poor equipment performance and availability and higher maintenance costs.
3. High Maintenance CostAccording to research by PMMI, 26.3% of the instances of machine downtime occur due to general wear and tear, 22.1% due to product changeover, and 21.1% due to operator errors.The purpose of using packaging automation is to accelerate the packaging process and meet the client&#;s demands. However, unexpected downtime can delay the packaging process and deliveries. Moreover, a lack of preventive maintenance and unplanned downtime could increase the maintenance cost and impact the company&#;s bottom line due to interruptions in business continuity.Frequent preventative maintenance is, therefore, the only way to reduce wear and tear and maintain the machine&#;s health.
4. Using a One-Size-Fits-All Packaging ApproachThere&#;s no doubt that packaging automation can improve the productivity and quality of the overall packaging process. Every machinery, from conveyors to palletizing robots, streamlines and accelerates the packaging speed. While various packaging automation tools are available, a one-size-fits-all automation approach will not work for every manufacturing company.For example, a palletizing robot that places and stacks goods onto a pallet may be ideal for large manufacturing units. Similarly, they can invest in multi-disciplinary robots to perform various steps simultaneously. However, smaller manufacturing companies may lack the infrastructure or investment capabilities to use advanced automation machinery. This could prevent them from making the most of automation capabilities.
5. Lack of IntegrationsAutomating packaging operations faces a challenge due to the lack of integration between picking, packing, and shipping automation solutions. This can cause bottlenecks and hinder companies from fully benefiting from automation.Integration is crucial for successful packaging automation projects. It ensures seamless communication, increases efficiency, and improves flexibility. By getting the integration right, companies can reduce bottlenecks and fully realize the benefits of automation.

How To Optimize the Value of Packaging Automation

The benefits of packaging automation are numerous, but as we saw, not prioritizing preventive maintenance, using the wrong packaging automation products, or not doing a thorough cost-benefit analysis before automation can render packaging automation useless. It could also lead to productivity loss and unnecessary complexities.

Therefore, companies must define the automation&#;s scope, re-engineer the existing processes to incorporate automation seamlessly, and analyze the benefits of packaging automation before opting for it.

But more importantly, manufacturing companies must choose the right products to make packaging automation successful. A wrong packaging automation product that does not meet the objective, goes over budget, or is not designed for specific areas can lead the company to losses.

At NextFirst, we understand the significance of packaging automation. That&#;s why we have designed a fit-for-purpose product suite that improves the performance of your packaging, assembling, testing, and inspecting systems. It can improve speed and productivity without disrupting operations.

Manufacturing companies can change and configure product specifications to meet specific packaging needs for a wide range of products. For example, a case label applicator can be used to apply labels on cases for product identification and traceability. An End of Arm Tooling (EOAT) can be used to fold and form a box from a non-folded carton blank.

Contact us to know which automation tools can automate your packaging process and deliver value. We will be happy to help.

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