David Roberge

By: David Roberge on January 28th, 2016

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Packaging Line Woes: Product Change-Overs

Equipment | Plant Performance | Investment

What A Multi-Product Manufacturer/Distributor Can Do To Stop Lengthy Change-Overs

automation_graphic.pngIf you are a big-name retail manufacturer with several products and a few different lines, you may face a lengthy product change-over process when it comes to your packaging lines. One of our customers had this issue and this is what we did to help:

A customer of ours that produces several items per week on their floors had a problem with product changes taking anywhere from 4 to 8 hours to complete. They were utilizing two packaging lines at 20 packages per minute, and the equipment was a blend of legacy design and old technology. During these tedious product changes, this meant that as many as twenty employees were hanging around and waiting for their components before they could produce.

Our Packaging Specialist determined the best solution for this customer would be to integrate high-speed packaging lines, and strategically redesign not only a single-line layout that supported the ability to package 40 products per minute. Not only did this cut down on the time spent packaging their products, it also drastically reduced the amount of time it took to change over products on the lines, making it an almost seamless process. What once took a full shift to switch from one product to the other took no time at all. No more labor/employees left sitting around for hours. Additionally, they opted for 100% electric packaging machinery. With zero pneumatics, the lower utility costs added to the huge savings from the packaging line changes. 

If your products create unique packaging challenges like this, talk to a Packaging Specialist today.

AUTOMATE YOUR PACKAGING 

About David Roberge

I am grateful for my 9 years as part of the outstanding Industrial Packaging team. I was able to hang out with some of the most knowledgeable folks in the packaging industry. I feel even luckier that I was able to share that knowledge with you. I love learning, hiking, and growing people and teams both personally and professionally, and helping companies grow better.