Raising productivity and protecting worker health at a plastics plant

The solution is a remarkable example of the huge benefits that can be achieved when a medium-sized manufacturing company with 65 employees takes a step from manual to robot-based production.

Power Plastics is a Sydney-based manufacturer of plastic bottles and containers for customers in the food, pharmaceuticals, personal care, househould and industrial segments.

Skyrocketing raw material prices and the operational and human costs of hand-packing 60,000 bottles a day were the key reasons behind the company's decision to switch from manual to robot-based production in its labor-intensive squeezable bottle line.

"We originally talked to ABB because we wanted the best robot we could get," says managing director Russell Barber.

The final decision to automate was made after a particularly bad year with workers' compensation claims from RSI (repetitive strain injury). "The best way to make sure we didn't have any RSI in future was to get a robot," says Barber.

The IRB 4400 robot at work

 

The IRB 4400 in action. Thanks to this one robot, productivity at Power Plastics has increased by as much as 40 percent on weekend shifts, and the working environment for employees has been significantly enhanced.

Prior to the installation of the ABB robot, two operators spent each shift putting the bottles into cardboard boxes, sealing the boxes and stacking them on pallets.

Now a single ABB IRB 4400L robot, with a 2.43-meter reach and a 30-kilogram payload, picks up eight to 10 bottles at a time (depending on bottle size) from two production lines. A single operator is required to seal the boxes and palletize them.

What previously required six employees over three shifts - all running the risk of repetitive strain injuries - is now performed by the equivalent of two operators. This has enabled Power Plastics to reassign the four employees to more productive tasks and grow the business.

Quality and efficiency targets have all been fulfilled by the robotics solution and output during the weekend, when the factory operates with a skeleton crew, has increased by 30-40 percent. Repetitive strain injury is no longer an issue for employees.

Significantly, the solution has enabled Power Plastics to take an important first step into automated production.

"It has given me confidence about this business going forward as a company that embraces technology," says Barber. "I'm delighted with the result. We'll now be looking at more projects."

Read a case study about using an IRB 4400 robot to pack 60,000 bottles a day at PowerPlastics in Sydney, Australia