After an internal ergonomic risk analysis, the L'Oréal India Private Limited plant in Pune realized that their workers were at risk handling manual tasks in the end-of-the-line operation i.e. putting the boxes on the pallet. Each operator lifted 8,500 kilograms of product per 8-hour shift, presenting what L'Oréal classified as a Level 4 ergonomic risk – one of the highest levels of danger to the human body and posture, with Level 5 being the severest.
L'Oréal India Private Limited, Chakan, Pune, India
Cobots do the Heavy Lifting at L'Oréal India
L'Oréal – one of the world’s largest cosmetics companies – was facing issues at its Indian plant in Pune, as end-of-the-line operations were being carried out manually, posing a severe ergonomic risk to workers. The deployment of collaborative robots for automatic palletization proved to be efficient, while completely eradicating ergonomic risk, allowing for flexibility in deployment on the shop floor for various applications. The cobots are also worker-friendly and maintenance free, and led to the plant witnessing a 5% Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) improvement due to the time saved in pallet replacement.