[Rethink Robotics Helps Blow Molding Manufacturers Fill Labor Shortage] US blow molding manufacturer CoxContainer deployed Rethink Robotics' Sawyer Smart Cooperative Robotics at its Alabama plant to fill the factory workforce gap and remove employees from tedious repetitive tasks. Freed up, engaged in more creative work, and improved employee satisfaction. Like other manufacturers in the injection molding industry, CoxContainer faces “recruitment difficulties†and it is even harder to leave skilled employees. In order to solve these problems, CoxContainer began to use automated solutions to fill the labor gap while increasing plant productivity.
Founded in 1984, CoxContainer was formerly B&DPlastics. At present, the CoxContainer plant has a total area of ​​73,000 square feet (about 6,782 square meters) and has several blow molding machines that operate 24 hours a day. Unlike many other colleagues, CoxContainer provides custom production services. Therefore, factories need different modes of operation and frequently switch between high-volume, low-mix and small-batch, high-mix, which requires more flexibility for employees and machines. Like most manufacturers in the world, CoxContainer encounters "recruitment difficulties" and "difficulties", especially when it takes two employees to cooperate with each other to perform bottling tasks. If only one person is recruited in this position, the workload will be too high and the speed will not be able to keep up. If two people are assigned, too much human resources will be available. The Sawyer intelligent collaborative robot helped CoxContainer resolve this dilemma. Sawyer assists an employee in packaging and other employees can work in other positions in the factory. With all shifts, Sawyer can liberate three full-time employees who can engage in more creative work.
Gary Fox, CoxContainer plant manager, said: “We have relatively high requirements for recruiting employees, so it has been a headache for us to find suitable employees. Now that we have Sawyer, we have reduced the number of employees by 50%. And for some employees to change jobs so that they can perform some of the more value-added work. Thanks to this, our talent retention rate has increased significantly."
In the CoxContainer plant, the Sawyer Smart Collaboration Robot picks up bottles from conveyors and places them in a custom-made box. This box is specially designed by CoxContainer. When the box is half loaded, Sawyer picks up a piece of cardboard from another picking area, places it in the box, and continues to load the other bottle. When the box is full, the operator will give Sawyer a new box and perform a new packing job. The operator will complete the final packaging of the product.
Jim Lawton, chief operating officer of RethinkRobotics, pointed out: "A collaborative robot like Sawyer is easy to deploy and can help manufacturers fill labor gaps and free employees from tedious tasks to perform more creative tasks. This can improve talent retention. In the increasingly competitive market, for small manufacturers such as CoxContainer, cost-effective automation solutions are the key to technological innovation and improved adaptability.â€
GaryFox said: "The Sawyer Smart Cooperative Robot has been deployed and operating smoothly in less than a day since it was delivered to the CoxContainer plant, and the company expects to see a return on investment in six to eight months. We will train Sawyer upon arrival at the factory. On the second day of the assignment, he will be able to perform the bottling work. Since then, Sawyer has never been late for leave and has not had a rest. He has been very dedicated and reliable."
In the coming year, CoxContainer hopes to deploy more Sawyer intelligent collaborative robots on three other production lines.
Gary Fox said with great interest: "Sawyer is an important part of our team, filling the vacancies and directly driving the business. I now have many ideas and want to deploy the Sawyer intelligent collaborative robot in other areas of the factory."
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