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ECOS and Garrett Brands Find Flexibility and Labor Advantages in RaaS

Representatives from an eco-friendly cleaning product manufacturer and an iconic popcorn brand discuss their experiences with Formic's Robots as a Service (RaaS) and other automation solutions.

Formic Standard Industrial Palletizer
The above image shows one of Formic's standard industrial palletizers, a popular choice amongst manufacturers.
Image provided by Formic

Automation can be an effective way for manufacturers to keep up with product demand, save costs and labor, and improve efficiency. These benefits and more are what representatives from ECOS, a California-based eco-friendly cleaning product manufacturer, and Garrett Brands, the company behind Chicago’s Garrett Popcorn Shops and Frango Chocolates, highlighted during Formic’s Automation Showcase in Woodridge, Illinois on Jan. 23.

Formic is a provider of Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) automation for U.S. manufacturers. The company collaborated with the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network to bring together several packaging and processing companies to late January’s event.

Mike Martini, quality director at ECOS, started by giving other brands a look inside his company’s process of adopting and scaling Formic’s automation machinery.

Martini began by describing the challenges that led ECOS to consider automation.

“Every one of our facilities has at least one, maybe two lines of producing a 50-lb container of laundry soap continuously for at least one shift, some two shifts. After the pandemic, we struggled [to hire], and the [employees] we did hire, we struggled communicating with,” Martini said to the group of company representatives attending the showcase.

Martini further explained that ECOS dealt with some employees having back injuries from heavy lifting. The company had a policy for employees to change positions every hour to prevent ailments, but automating the task would help improve safety and efficiency.

ECOS asked Formic for a recommendation, and renting an industrial palletizer seemed to be a strong fit for the cleaning product manufacturer.

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