For many businesses within the food industry, the automation of food packaging processes is becoming an increasingly viable and beneficial step to reduce costs and increase efficiency and productivity. Introducing automated packaging processes remains a large investment for many companies, and one that can often be daunting: concerns around initial costs and value for money are valid and understandable concerns. Yet automation within the food packaging industry continues to grow, due to the numerous advantages and substantial return on investment it offers. For many companies, the introduction of automated packaging processes is being seen increasingly as an investment in the growth of the business and a necessary step to improve the efficiency and quality of the packaging process.
Why Automated Packaging Processes are Important
If you are considering making a worthwhile investment in automated packaging for your business, then read on to learn more about how the process will benefit your business.
End-to-End Traceability
The automation of food packaging processes offers businesses the opportunity to record and monitor all processes regarding the packaging of food and to trace the exact route that a product has taken as it is packaged. Secure traceability and accountability systems are integral to maintaining high quality standards and by automating these processes, businesses ensure the relevant information is collected, protected and easily accessible when needed.
Lower Costs
The labour requirements of food packaging are significantly reduced by making the switch to automated processes. Many food packaging businesses encounter frequent additional costs, such as fluctuating requirements for, and costs of, labour, loss of time due to error, and loss of produce or packaging. Whilst the initial upfront cost of purchasing and installing the machinery is often large, this investment in the future often results in the cost of labour, packaging, and lost productivity being greatly reduced for years to come.
By adopting an automated food packaging system, companies ensure that the packaging process is completed by a machine that guarantees the highest level of productivity and efficiency, as well as the rare ability to calculate the exact amount of energy required to power the production line, ensure no excess packaging is wasted, and expensive errors are avoided completely. This specific allocation of resources, energy and expenses is near impossible to do when coordinating a large workforce of packers and often incurs unforeseen costs – a concern which is eradicated by automated food packaging.
Improved Employee Satisfaction and Morale
By adopting an automated food packaging system, businesses can unlock substantial amounts of staff time that would otherwise have been lost to repetitive packaging jobs that can be done efficiently by automated processes. Many packaging processes are repetitive, straining jobs that offer minimal job satisfaction and the automation of the food processing industry continues to demonstrate that the need for humans to undertake these roles is unnecessary. By introducing an automated system, businesses can free up the time of their employees for more pressing, value-adding areas of the business that benefit from the attention of staff, as well as ensuring that less employees are assigned physically and mentally draining jobs, which in turn will improve staff retention and employee satisfaction.
Better Product Quality
The unfortunate reality of modern food packaging is that it is a time-sensitive process held to impeccable health and safety standards and levels of quality control. This often results in significant quantities of produce being wasted due to damages to the produce, errors in packaging, long times spent in transit and, unfortunately, human error. Opting for an automated packaging system avoids the majority of these issues, as packaging machinery is able to carry out packaging processes in an efficient, productive manner with a high degree of precision that almost eradicates costly damages to produce or packaging. This guarantees a high level of quality for each product that is packaged, reducing waste produce and keeping costs down.
Reduced Waste
The concerns around human errors are no longer a consideration, including the often overlooked environmental issues around food packaging processes. The automation of these processes reduces waste, scrap packaging and the overordering of packaging materials.
Investing Automated Packaging Machinery
Is your business ready to take the next step in productivity, efficiency and quality control? Intamac Packaging Systems are a family owned business specialising in supplying a variety of packaging machinery solutions to the UK and Ireland.
Intamac Packaging Systems has the experience and the expertise to accommodate even the most complex packaging requirements and will be able to deliver the best-fit automation process to suit your company’s specific requirements. To get in touch with their team of experts, visit their website or contact them on 01420 593 682.