Mrs. Gerry’s was once rising, however its packaging line was once changing into a bottleneck. Minnesota-based maker of refrigerated salads and facet dishes trusted a hand-packing procedure that required as many as 12 staff.
Common product changeovers and inconsistent product orientation additionally slowed manufacturing, making it more difficult to stay tempo with call for whilst keeping up potency.
As an alternative of including extra hard work, the corporate invested in automation. Running with an integrator (Delkor Methods), Mrs. Gerry’s put in an absolutely computerized packaging and palletizing line (FANUC) with robots. The device automates product orientation, case packing, case forming, sealing and palletizing, developing a continuing float from the spiral chiller to completed pallets.
The brand new line delivered instant effects. Hard work necessities dropped from 12 staff to 2 or 3, whilst the automatic device now helps manufacturing of roughly 36 million kilos of product each and every yr. Simply as necessary, the corporate reached complete manufacturing inside 10 days of set up, minimizing downtime all the way through the transition.
Past decreasing hard work, the automatic line created a extra constant packaging procedure. Merchandise now transfer via case packing and palletizing in a continuing float, decreasing guide dealing with whilst making it more uncomplicated to care for throughput all through the day. The automatic device additionally offers Mrs. Gerry’s the versatility to answer converting buyer orders with out slowing manufacturing.
“We had to have this challenge up and operating in 10 days,” says Stuart Ness, director of IT and challenge control at Mrs. Gerry’s.
Automation additionally solved probably the most corporate’s greatest day by day demanding situations: common product changeovers. As a result of Mrs. Gerry’s applications quite a few refrigerated salads in more than one bag sizes, manufacturing schedules incessantly require switching between merchandise a number of occasions an afternoon.
The brand new device was once designed to maintain the ones adjustments briefly, permitting the corporate to stay manufacturing transferring as buyer call for shifts.
“We’ll every so often move from a 2-pound bag to a 5-pound bag as a way to meet buyer call for,” Ness says. “The Delkor line doesn’t ever grasp us up.” The rate of the set up proved to be some other productiveness achieve. Reasonably than spending weeks bringing the brand new line on-line, Mrs. Gerry’s changed its guide packaging procedure and reached complete manufacturing in lower than two weeks.
“Some of the smoothest installs we ever went via,” Ness provides. “We went from our hand-packed line to the totally computerized line in a couple of week. Now not at 50% capability, however at complete capability inside 10 days.”
For Mrs. Gerry’s, the challenge wasn’t merely about decreasing hard work. It additionally created a packaging operation that would maintain common product adjustments, care for throughput and stand up to hurry briefly after set up, giving the corporate room to develop with out including other folks to the road.
