MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Special crop processors could save thousands of dollars a year by automating their bagging lines, says a representative of industrial manufacturer Weitek USA.
National sales manager Nico Nicoletti said 95 percent of companies in Western Canada are still bagging by hand. Weitek is based in Italy and entered the crop packaging market about two years ago.
Nicoletti told members of the Western Canadian Marketers and Processors Association they could increase productivity and the quality of their product through automation.
He said the idea isn’t to replace workers but to increase efficiency and help companies that can’t find the necessary labour.
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“Each plant uses between five and six people per shift,” he said in an interview following his presentation.
“There would still be always two people on the line.”
Some companies have trouble keeping employees, despite investing time and money to train them. Each time they lose an employee, they lose that investment.
“How long does it take for a company to buy a machine or finance a machine?” he said.
Companies also lose money because manual filling is inconsistent. Some bags are overfilled as much as 400 grams. Over time, that is a lot of product given away, he said.
As well, appearance suffers. The tops are sewn on angles on manually filled bags because the weight is not fully supported, and Nicoletti said companies shouldn’t underestimate the importance of consistent appearance.
In an automatic system, the bag would be placed, filled, weighed, sewn and moved onto pallets.
Nicoletti worked with one Saskatchewan shipper and found inconsistency costs, which he calls waste, of $18,000 per shift per year.
If the company eliminated three people from each of two shifts, at wages of $30,000 each per year, it would save $180,000 plus the $36,000 in waste.
That compares to financing a machine at perhaps $10,000 per month.
Companies can improve cash flow and put the money into the business, he said.
Weitek packaging equipment can cost $300,000 to $1.5 million for an automated line including robotic palletizing.
Nicoletti said North American companies, with the exception of the automotive industry, are lagging behind their European counterparts, who automated years ago.
