Two palletizers powered by Universal Robots and Robotiq help Chicago-area Napco Brands grow its private-label coffee business despite labor shortages, increasing productivity 15% and reducing injury risk while freeing up eight workers per day for more valuable tasks.
The Business Transformation
“At Napco, we have a lot of capability to pack for private label,” explains Eric Latsch, VP of operations for Napco Brands, that roast and packs coffee beans. But finding enough workers to support the private label business has been a challenge. To address labor shortages and employee safety, and to boost productivity, the company installed two AX10 automated palletizing solutions from Robotiq featuring the UR10e collaborative robots (cobots) from Universal Robots (UR).
Latsch had looked at many different types of packaging equipment to improve production but found the costs to be prohibitive. “There’s a large barrier to entry when you’re talking millions of dollars in a single packaging line that may or may not help you,” he says. Collaborative robots were a much easier and more cost-effective option. In fact, the Robotiq Palletizing Solution paid for itself in less than a year, freeing up eight valued workers per day.
