The first real bottleneck you run into as a successful e-commerce, or third-party logistic, is the package. Hence, we claim its seems to be the starting point for automation journey there. Over time, a manual packer has difficulty producing more than 50 packages per hour. A packing machine however, can produce anything from a few hundred to thousands per hour.
No matter what packaging machine you think is best for your own business, e-motions can always help you install and integrate them all.
A packaging machine is an innovation that automatically seals the freight packaging for your order.
A manual packing operation from the operator usually consists:
Select the appropriate type of packaging
Select the appropriate size of the chosen packaging type
Fold and tape the box (worst case scenario)
Control scan each item
Place the items in the erected and taped box
Add filling material so that the goods arrive undamaged
Seal/tape the box together
Print out the shipping label and stick it on top of the box
Place it in the correct parcel cage (if automatic sorting is not included in the process).
The whole purpose of a packing machine is to eliminate as many of the above steps as possible to become more efficient. Packing machines are now available in all sorts of designs and can even be interfaced with robots, if desired.
Yes, there are! There is a lot of machines and machine suppliers in e-commerce. The first thing to distinguish is whether the goods should be sent in a plastic bag or some kind of paper fiber-based solution (cardboard), and whether they are fully automatic or semi-automatic.
A semi-automatic solution requires a physical operator to stand and sign for each pack via a button, for example. A fully automated solution means that no physical operator needs to be present.
e-motion's cold.seal packaging machine is a great entry-level model that makes it easy for those who want to take the first step into packaging automation. A mechanical & electrical machine with minimal maintenance requirements or staff with mechanical expertise that occupies very little physical space. Works well as a "stand-alone" as well as in a larger system.
Advantages of entry-level machines (semi-automatic)
– Investment in relation to efficiency (Max capacity: 600 packages/hour)
– Never uses more material than necessary
– Available in branded material
– Automatic application of the freight label
– Works extremely well if product range is reasonably similar in dimensions
Another common type of packaging automation comes from what is called tray erecting and optimizing. In short, you have a single machine (tray erector) whose only job is to erect new cartons. These can be glued as well as taped at the bottom.
Shortly after the box has been erected, it is given an ID via an external printer. This ID aka "license-plate" is used to link the order to the box.
The carton can either go out on a larger conveyor system and end up in a perfect slot at a packing table. Alternatively, if a larger conveyor system does not exist, the operator can pick the remaining cartons onto picking trolleys.
Once the goods have found their way into the nesting box, a scanner will read the license-plate of the box just before it is optimized. The information from the license-plate controls what type of lid, or on-demand printing (logo) to print on the box and which shipping label will take the package to the correct final destination.
Advantages of Erecting & Optimizing
– Proven concept with few "touch-points" (where the operator touches the goods)
– High speed up to 900 packages/hour
– Possibility to use several different lids in the same machine
Disadvantages of Erecting & Optimizing
– Locked to the foot-print of the traveled box i.e. bottom plate. An erector can generally only raise one size. If more foot-prints are needed, more raisers are required.
– Raising and optimization requires two printers and associated conveyor systems, which means that the cost quickly rises. Few eCommerce manages on one or two footprints, which means that you need to invest in several sets of the same machines
The third and final type of packaging machine is in a class of its own - but also involves looking deep into your savings. A pack-on-demand machine is based on a "fanfold" which is similar to large blankets of cardboard that are almost bought in bulk and used to cut a unique box according to the contents of the order.
The idea of this type of solution is that whatever product(s) you place on the machine's input, the machine will measure the contents and build the packaging accordingly. Whether it's a pair of shoes, a perfume bottle or a kitchen assistant, the finished package will always come out fully optimized according to the content.
Advantages of Pack-on-demand (fully automatic)
– Minimal air is sent in each shipment
– From 13–5 packages/minute (depending on sizes)
– Replaces all packing staff
Disadvantages of Pack-on-demand (fully automated)
– Large investment
– Requires constantly present automation technicians
– No redundancy. If the machine stops, everything stops.
– Space consuming
– Much packaging waste
Plastic bagging machines are a proven concept with high reliability, relatively low investment and a high capacity (pack/hour). As the world becomes more anti-plastic, and customers more aware, this may become problematic. Also the sourcing of the raw material becomes less and less attractive to produce due to political pressure. This type of machinery is still very common in the fashion segment of e-commerce.
The size of investment | ROI
Stepping into automation involves a new level of investments. This kind of investment amounts can make the most thick skinned person lose sleep over the risk of it not working as promised by the salesman. e-motion's cold-seal is a perfect "beginner's machine" where the cost via a leasing arrangement amounts to about 60% of what an operator costs per month. At the same time, it replaces somewhere between 3-6 manual packers which means your ROI rarely exceeds 12 months.
Packaging consumption | Environmental aspect
Coldseal itself is a cellulose-based solution that can directly replace the use of plastic in e-commerce. In addition to the environmental aspect, this is the only machine that only disposes of exactly the amount of packaging required. Compared to, for example, erection & optimization, the same amount of packaging is always used, regardless of whether the box is optimized down a lot or not.
Likewise for pack-on-demand, the machine has large amounts of packaging waste for each unique carton created.
This also means a big difference in your wallet each month if you can make sure to use minimal packaging for each unique order. E-motion's cold.seal packaging machine offers, among other things, a top-fed camera that ensures that the package is never larger than it needs to be.
Integration with WMS
A major gap in many other machine suppliers is the ability to communicate with the organization's WMS, which is the heart of the entire warehouse operation.
e-motion's cold.seal packaging machine is built and designed to make direct communication exchanges with the company's WMS, so integration and installation is lightning fast. In addition, through the master data and WMS connection, we can have the machine suggest to the operator how to place the goods in the packaging machine to make the smallest possible package.
Are you interested in talking more about how a packing machine can help your logistics? Call or email Jeff.
