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GreenSeed Contract Packaging Increases Line Efficiency Through Automation

A pay-by-the-hour robot model has mitigated the effects of labor shortages and provided scalability for the contract manufacturer.

Formic palletizer in the GreenSeed facility.
Formic palletizer in the GreenSeed facility.

Located in Batavia, Ill., GreenSeed Contract Packaging underwent an expansion but was then challenged by the ongoing labor shortage still affecting the industry since the beginning of the pandemic. The company, which serves large and mid-sized consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies in the food industry, sought new ways to drive distribution efficiencies while keeping costs down.

GreenSeed’s solution was to turn to automation on the line in positions which could be easily replaced and even performed more efficiently by a robot or collaborative robot (cobot). Though purchasing a robot or cobot was not what the company had in mind. They decided renting was the way to go.

Formic—a Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) provider, headquartered in San Pablo, Calif.—designed, deployed, and maintains uptime for GreenSeed’s first palletizing systems as a rental system.

A different way to invest in automation

Contract manufacturers and packagers (CM/CPs) can benefit from the flexibility robots, and cobots specifically, provide and palletizing is a job easily replaceable by automation, which further allows the contract packager to move its employees to more complicated positions. But considering the fluidity within the contract packaging space, buying a robot may not always make sense.

Misa Ilkhechi, vice president of solutions and partnerships, and co-founder of Formic.Misa Ilkhechi, vice president of solutions and partnerships, and co-founder of Formic.Formic’s RaaS solution delivers customized robotic systems from robotic vendors such as Fanuc, Universal Robots, and Yaskawa Motoman to customers who pay by the hour for usage. The RaaS solution is designed to remove the risk, complexity, and upfront cost usually associated with the technology, and enable small and mid-size companies, such as CM/CPs, to scale their automation efforts to meet supply chain demands without relying on slow capital budgeting cycles.

“We spec the machine, we work with our builders to design the machine given the CM/CP’s footprint available, and given the requirements in terms of speed rates and safety requirements they might have at their facility,” said Misa Ilkhechi, vice president of solutions and partnerships, and co-founder of Formic.

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