While standing at Pack Expo East, a pair of engineers stood staring at the Box Butler™ demo. When I approached, they told me, “You finally solved THAT problem!”
What were they so excited about? What was the problem? Simply put, we were able to create a system of automated box opening and decanting that is easy and ready to be integrated into your assembly line.
Keep reading to learn more!
Why Do We Need Automated Box Opening?
Why is opening boxes a problem?
We have all heard it a thousand times; the post-COVID-19 world has left us in a labor shortage. At no fault of their own, laborers must consider how they are to battle illness, quarantine protocols, fear of close-quarter work, and childcare.
All those factors impact how many workers you can have on the floor at one time and ultimately affect how efficient your business is. We all find ourselves figuring out what work we have enough people for every morning rather than what we should be working on.
Before Automated Box Opening
We have stood on docks and seen the piles of boxes waiting to be opened. Large shipments come in, and it is up to human power to unbox everything and get it organized.
Each employee would wield a box cutter, an extremely sharp tool used to open boxes. Safety teams warn about how the knives are a danger to everyone, and that repeat operations result in body fatigue.
We have tried to swap box cutters for safety blades to make the operations safer, but it is still labor-intensive. As discussed, labor is not something easily found anymore. The world needs automated box opening.
Trying to Find an Answer…
So why were those two engineers at the show so excited about us solving “that problem?”
We have all tried to make something so mundane automated at some point in our careers. Trust me; there is nothing more ordinary than opening boxes. Any engineer can think – oh, it is so simple, just run a knife across the box – and tada!
These two engineers had spent four years trying to automate box opening but resulted in a system with more pitfalls than what plagues the manual process. Blades punctured and damaged products and would wear out and become a maintenance nightmare. Overall, it was just easier to hand a knife to a human.
It turns out they are not the only ones who tried this. Worldwide, many have played in this space, and everybody agrees that automated box opening is not as easy as it sounds until now.
The Benefits of the Box Butler™
So how does the Box Butler™ solve our problems?
The labor issues are self-explanatory. Any automation system allows you to take the team you would typically relegate to opening boxes and apply them to more value-added applications.
The Box Butler™ is the next generation of automated box opening.
Using patent-pending processes, we can cut boxes open quickly with no damage to their contents, dispose of the cardboard, decanter the product into an output of your choosing, and avoid all the pesky maintenance requirements of traditional automation.
Check out our videos of the system in action!
In short, the Custom Technologies’ Box Butler™ works in a four-step process:
- The box containing the product enters the laser-opening station. This occurs due to conveyors and robotics that place the box in the correct position.
- A precision laser cuts around the bottom of the box, leaving the top and sides of the box (the dome) intact.
- The box and the product robotically move out of the laser-opening station.
- The Box Butler™ robotically unboxes the product by lifting the dome away and removing the product.
If this sounds like a solution to help your ongoing operations – give us a call.
Custom Technologies
At Custom Technologies, we make it a priority to be on the cutting edge of technology. As turnkey manufacturers, we know how important it is to keep employees safe while ensuring we meet or exceed quota expectations. For more information about what we offer, visit our website at https://customtechnologies.com/.
Are you interested in our services? Please call us at (573) 756-1433 or contact us by providing your name, email, and a message about your inquiry. We cannot wait to hear from you!