How the RB1200 Cobot Palletiser can transform your businesses’ labelling needs
Published on 17 September, 2021 in Flexible Manufacturing
For many businesses, the logistics of transferring large amounts of inventory around their facility is a significant headache. Everything has to be labelled and organised to ensure it gets sent to the correct location for use, storage, or shipping. Even minor errors during the labelling process reduce efficiency and can potentially compound to create costly mistakes. The job itself is not a desirable one, though. Human beings are not best suited for repetitive tasks whilst staying alert and maintaining concentration to ensure mistakes don’t occur. This is, however, a task tailor-made for automation.
With automatic tray labellers or palletisers, you can transform the entire process and ensure your companies’ inventory is easily identifiable. They offer a simple yet flexible solution to a job that poses multiple problems when executed manually.
Problems with Manual Tray Labelling
RSI is a general term to describe pain in muscles, nerves, and tendons caused by overuse from repetitive movements. It typically affects the upper body and is most common in the:
- wrists
- hands
- forearms
- elbows
- neck
- shoulders
Symptoms usually develop gradually and often include:
- pain
- aching
- stiffness
- throbbing
- weakness
- numbness
Without treatment, RSI symptoms can worsen, causing long term pain and swelling in the affected area.
Manually labelling trays for hours at a time is a task prone to developing RSIs. The repetitive motion from lifting and arranging trays place a significant burden on the upper limbs, leading to problems for employees.
Not only do RSIs cause pain and discomfort for employees, but they are also a major problem for employers. Statistics from the Labour Force Survey show more than 200,000 work-related RSIs in the UK every year. In addition, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that 2.6 million working days were lost due to RSI in 2017/18, the average case lasting 14 days.
With so much lost time, RSIs are a tremendous cost to employers. According to the HSE, the average workplace injury cost for employers is £1400. However, this can skyrocket to almost 4x (£5100) for injuries that incapacitate an employee for longer than seven days.
RSIs can prevent staff from completing tasks like tray labelling causing major disruption to employers. They have to scramble to find ways to meet their deadlines still; reorganising their workforce, or looking for alternative solutions.
At the end of the day, the human body just isn’t designed to repeat the same task over and over. Constant use of the same body parts leads to significant problems for the worker. Employers can carry out risk assessments and determine the safest way to complete tasks to mitigate the risks. But repetitive tasks like arranging and labelling trays will always bring some chance of RSIs.
Labor Shortages
The UK job market is currently seeing historic labour shortages (as explained in a previous blog). The post-pandemic reopening has created a surge in need for workers. But with fewer overseas workers due to Covid travel restrictions and Brexit, this surge is not being met with enough qualified and motivated applicants.
With so many jobs available, workers can pick and choose what to apply for. And the pandemic has led many workers to rethink their options, looking for jobs that prioritise safety and flexibility. Unfortunately, these are not two factors that favour physically demanding on-site jobs.
With so much uncertainty in the job market, now is the perfect time for employers to look to fresh solutions for warehouse/factory tray labelling.
Automation
In the modern work environment, tray labelling and organisation is an ideal candidate for automation. With less staff available for a job already disrupted by its health implications, businesses can turn to a new approach for accurately labelling inventory moving around their facilities.
Automating the process with robotic systems offers a range of benefits whilst overcoming the problems of manual performance. They allow businesses to optimise the process, improving efficiency and reducing human error.
No longer relying on manual labour to label your inventory correctly removes the stress of staff shortages or disruptions caused by RSIs. Plus, it reduces the health concerns for a large number of workers.
RB1200 Cobot Palletiser
Designed in collaboration with our partner Reeco, the RB1200 Cobot Palletiser can transform how your company labels and palletises inventory. With a safe and flexible plug and play design, the RB1200 improves production efficiency and saves you money. All this while also offering up to a 50% reduction in cost and a 60% smaller footprint (2.2m x 3.2m) than conventional robot palletisers.
The versatile system allows the application of multiple labels on different tray surfaces before stacking or placement on a conveyor.
Get in touch with us or Reeco today and discover the benefits robotic palletisers can offer your business. Use technology to remove the repeated strain on your workforce and reduce repeated pain on your profits.
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