Robotic Palletizing -- the Ergonomic Solution

“Ergonom­ics” – peo­ple hear that word thrown around the work­place all the time. There are ergonom­ic chairs, ergonom­ic exer­cis­es for those sit­ting at desks, etc. So what exact­ly is ​“ergonom­ics”? Ergonom­ics is an applied sci­ence that cen­ters on equip­ment design that intends to max­i­mize pro­duc­tiv­i­ty by reduc­ing oper­a­tor fatigue and discomfort.

What does that have to do with indus­tri­al robot­ics, or more specif­i­cal­ly robot­ic pal­letiz­ers, you ask? Well, I’m here to tell you.

When human work­ers per­form pal­letiz­ing func­tions man­u­al­ly, they are forc­ing their bod­ies to lift, bend, and twist sev­er­al times per hour. This can cause severe back, neck and leg injuries over time. These injuries dri­ve up labor costs for the man­u­fac­tur­er and are dan­ger­ous to the employee.

These injuries can also decrease pro­duc­tiv­i­ty as work­ers get slow­er due to aches and pains, or when a new per­son has to train in an area due to a work­er who is out of work due to injury.

This sit­u­a­tion can cause a huge prob­lem with the ergonom­ics for man­u­al pal­letiz­ing. No mat­ter how sci­en­tists slice it, humans have their lim­its, and over time, their bod­ies will break down due to strained, repet­i­tive tasks. 

Enter the pal­letiz­ing robot. This machine does not need breaks. It does not take sick leave or vaca­tion. It does not even need a cou­ple of days off here and there. It could, in the­o­ry, run 24 hours a day, sev­en days a week, 365 days a year.

The robot is stronger and faster than a human – even a human using a lift assist. Some robot pal­letiz­ers from Fanuc, Motoman, and KUKA can lift as much as 1350kg at a time with an increased accu­ra­cy and repeata­bil­i­ty over man­u­al applications.

The improved pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and cycle times are a plus for man­u­fac­tur­ers. These robot­ic pal­letiz­ing sys­tems not only decrease the cycle times for pro­duc­tion lines, they save on labor and pro­duc­tion costs while increas­ing the man­u­fac­tur­ers’ return on investment.

Switch­ing to auto­mat­ed robot­ic pal­letiz­ing may be the only ergonom­ic solu­tion for pal­letiz­ing in the work­place. It keeps work­ers away from heavy lift­ing and trains them on how to run the robot. This gives work­ers a new set of skills and saves them from painful and dan­ger­ous back-break­ing labor, which ulti­mate­ly cre­ates a win-win sit­u­a­tion for man­u­fac­tur­er and employee.

Robots​.com, a cer­ti­fied inte­gra­tor for Fanuc, ABB, Motoman, Uni­ver­sal Robots, and KUKA robot­ics, has sev­er­al pal­letiz­ing robots and work­cell sys­tems that can cov­er sev­er­al dif­fer­ent pal­letiz­ing needs. There are robots that can be mount­ed from the floor, wall, shelf or ceil­ing, lend­ing to diverse lay­outs and work­space availability.

If you in the mar­ket to switch to auto­mat­ed pal­letiz­ing to decrease labor costs, increase pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, and pro­tect your employ­ees, con­tact Robots​.com today online or at 877−762−6881. Our engi­neers will work with you to find the right robot pal­letiz­ing sys­tem to fit your facility’s needs.