A lot of business owners are reluctant to use automation at certain points in their production line for some reason. They may assume that certain steps don’t need to be automated or are afraid to make a big one-time investment in machinery. But not automating crucial processes could lead to lower production, put more strain on your employees, and increase turnover rates. You will also have difficulty keeping up with competitors who know how to automate properly. Let’s take a look at a few signs that your packaging line needs more automation.
Your Employees are Complaining about Bottlenecks
One of the clearest signs that you need to automate your processes is if people are constantly complaining about the production line slowing down. You will often hear from your employees when some parts of your manufacturing processes could be improved, and they need more help. Or you may hear complaints from someone working at a certain station. If you get complaints, take them seriously and map your processes. Monitor each step and see if you can spot accumulation at certain stages. You can then decide if automation is a good option.
You Constantly Have to Switch People Around
If you constantly have to switch people from one station to another because of surges in work volume, then it’s a sign that something is wrong there. Instead of moving people or hiring temporary workers, you could get a machine that can handle any type of workload.
A machine will eventually pay for itself after a while, so don’t be afraid of the big one-time expenditure. You should also know that you could get the machine through financing and spread that cash flow hit.
If you constantly have to appoint more people to erect cases, for instance, then you could look at some of the automatic case erectors companies like Insite have to offer. They have all sorts of automatic case erectors for different applications and with different capacities. They can also help you with financing and you can lease from them too, so give them a call today and see how they can help.
Your Employees are Quitting
Poor employee retention is another thing you should be looking at. If you have employees quitting at multiple levels, then it could be a sign of widespread issues with the workplace or company culture. But if specific employees on your production line quit more often than others, then you might want to assess their workload.
This is one of the clearest signs of an overworked employee. This means that you will have to evaluate if automating that part or appointing more people to this stage of the process could help.
These are all clear signs that you might want to look at automating some parts of your packaging line. Buying advanced machinery may seem like a big investment, but it will eventually pay dividends both in the form of lower labor costs and higher production, so consider the option today.
