Page 39 - Packaging News Magazine July-Aug 2020

July-August 2020 | SMART FACTORY 39
Cardboard packaging dimensions typically vary by 3%, so how well a product fits can change from batch to batch of packing supplies.
PEOPLE
Regardless of what equipment you purchase, what machines you have bought or what robot you install, if your production team is not committed and on-side to make the project work, it won’t work. When the thing stops – is the operator going to say, “I told you it wouldn’t work”? Or are they going to ask, “How can I stop that from happening”?
Get your team involved right from the start. Get the people who are going to make the system run buying in from the beginning, especially since they are probably the ones with the most insight into the subtleties of the product and the process.
I have seen perfectly good and capable automation projects strug- gle because the shop floor team does not want it to work. They might see it as a threat, or just feel sidelined. Whatever their moti- vation, if the production crew doesn’t want a piece of equipment to work – it will never work, no matter how good a job your system integrator has done.
We recently installed a major upgrade to a palletising system that runs 24/7. Almost every night, the system was getting locked up at about 3am and the crew could not recover the system so an emer- gency crew had to be called in to hand-palletise. We did more train- ing of all the crews, updated alarms and messages, but the problem continued. One day we told the crew we were getting the CCTV camera moved so we could understand what was happening so we could fix it. Funnily enough, the problem never happened again.
Conversely, I have seen some less than perfect systems run very effectively because one of the crew has taken the machine under their wing and wanted to make it work.
The most successful automation projects are those where the whole team is involved and committed to success, and where every- one’s input is used to ensure a thorough definition of what is needed. When you have covered the products, the process, and the people, you will have the three Ps covered and will be set for a successful automation deployment. ■