Hello Print Shops: do you want to double your workforce?
…Probably not. Even if you plan to double your business, you do not want to double your workforce. Just think of the nightmares you will have finding the right people, training them, managing and motivating them and hoping they are willing to work the night shift. How good and reliable will that new staff be? And once you have them, do you want them to perform low value activities?
Operators walk away from their press
The reality is that operators walk away from their press or their finisher to get new substrate or bring printed media to the next finishing device. They could be walking about on the print shop floor for 10 to 15 minutes just to move a pallet. When you plan to grow your business in the next few years, NOW is the moment to consider automating your material handling. Envision your production being more efficient, more productive when mobile robots take care of transporting pallets or trolleys containing substrate and printed media. All perfectly timed for the next job. No more operators performing manual pallet transport, no more dropping pallets at the wrong place, no more looking for pallets for the next job, no more cluttering your shop floor with pallets you don’t need yet.
Having your operator available at the press or a finisher will increase your operational efficiency because the presses and finishers keep running. It will also motivate your highly skilled operators when they no longer have to spend 30 percent (customer estimate) of their time on no value adding tasks, allowing them to concentrate on their value adding work, at a press or a finisher.
We see that businesses investing in growth, often start to think about automating material handling as well. Being more efficient with pallet and trolley movements allows you to plan your layout knowing you don’t need to reserve huge amounts of space for buffering pallets. Your internal logistics becomes more reliable and predictable as your mobile robots continue to move pallets, three shifts per day. Your operators no longer need to spend 30% of their time pulling pallet jacks, now you are able to limit that time.
So, if you want to double your print business without doubling your workforce, now is the moment to start automating your material handling. If not, you run the risk of having that double workforce but with half the profit (if any).