Customer: Morenita Foods, Napa, CA
Producing gourmet tortilla chips for their stores and surrounding restaurants.
Their operation involved a single shift operation palletizing boxes of tortilla chips weighing up to 8 lbs., at a rate of 5 boxes / minute. Boxes were stacked to 84” high, then stretch wrapped.
The process required one and sometimes two people to palletize and stretch wrap the product. Delays in palletizing or stretch wrapping would stop the upstream case packing operations affecting overall productivity. Because the boxes were light, and the stacks tall, the load was unstable until after stretch wrapping. The turntable speed of the stretch wrapper had to be very slow, (3-4 rpm) to prevent the boxes from toppling.
A PALLETPOD-Stretch was the solution they were looking for. Combining two tasks into one machine, Palletizing and Stretch wrapping. Another unique attribute of the POD-Stretch is that it can be set for in-process stretch wrapping. The POD will complete a single wrap around the first layer or two, capturing the load to the pallet, then wrap layer by layer until the stack is complete. Total wrapping time has been reduced because this process allows the turntable to operate at higher speeds ~14 rpm, (vs 3-4 rpm previously). No more dealing with unstable stacks. The finished pallet is removed from the POD completely wrapped and ready to go to the warehouse. Now they utilize their warehouse forklift driver to service the POD versus a dedicated production employee.
Morenita was introduced to the PALLETPOD-Stretch as a possible solution by FORMIC Robotics. FORMIC offers Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) across the USA to companies seeking automated end-of-line solutions without a CapEx investment. Utilizing FORMIC allowed them to deploy a POD-Stretch and realize immediate savings. The monthly cost of the POD-Stretch is less than the cost of an employee. Essentially Morenita “hired” a POD-Stretch to do two jobs.
Under normal cost justification, the Return on Investment (ROI) for purchasing a POD-Stretch in this specific case, would be a bit over 3 years. Not an investment most would make. With FORMIC, the cost justification is greatly simplified. Compare monthly costs of equipment vs employee costs, add increased production, reduced product damage, improved workplace safety.
PALLETPOD Rentals range from 3 months to 5-year periods. Maintenance, programming and installation are included. Morenita isn’t required to do any of the PM’s, replace any wear parts or should the need arise replace any machine component. This is all handled by FORMIC’s 24/7 support team.
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