The packaging industry is seeing revolutionary changes especially in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) category with integration of intelligence, mobility, and sensing capabilities opening doors to new applications for robotics.
Expanded intelligence, mobility, and sensing capabilities are opening up new applications for robots and collaborative robots (cobots) in a variety of processing fields including primary, secondary, and transport packaging. Robotic technologies often captivate human attention for their broad, still growing autonomous operating capabilities, changing the very face of industrial operations.
Nearly 84% CPG companies operate robotics somewhere on the line, which according to forecasts by automated future infographics, robot and cobot applications could reach a high of 93% in the next five years.
Cobots are low cost industrial robots that are safe to operate in close human proximity. Being more flexible than the standard industrial robots, cobots can be deployed on a wide variety of tasks ranging from machine tending and welding to packaging and palletizing.
Deployment of cobots will see a strong growth with usage more than doubling, from 27% in 2022 to 57% in 2027. Improvements in functionality such as artificial intelligence (AI), self learning, and vision will spur adoption.
Installation of robotics can help CPG companies reduce labour and repetitive tasks, increase speed and productivity, achieve repeatable quality and consistent product handling, improve operator safety, and minimize waste and human error.
Robots of today are far more intelligent, faster, capable of lifting heavier loads, and easier to operate. Cobots on the other hand have sensors for feedback, use hand movement-based guides for self learning, and are more mobile.
Though easier to programme and needing a smaller capital investment, some of the main challenges to robots and cobots adoption is ROI justification; internal shortfalls; cost of ownership; OEM support for integration, training, and service; technology and functionality; and identifying appropriate applications.
