Jenkins Freshpac Systems Ltd reposted this
Keeping it simple is the key to trusted automation. Machine automation can be a complex process to master well and often the end user faces a similarly complex process to operate the very automation that has been purchased to simplify things! When you look around modern packhouses, you can often see automation tools that require a skilled operator to change parameters for new packaging or fruit variety. Not so, in the packhouses that deploy our Āporo technology, for the simple reason that Āporo is incredibly easy for a packhouse to use. It’s automation made simple! At a recent tradeshow we were asked by a potential customer why Āporo has been so successful and why we are recognised as the world leader in produce packing. The answer was easy, simplicity. The user has very little to do, making Āporo quite unique compared to other automation tools. Achieving this dynamic level of simplicity wasn’t so easy. The mantra of the development team at Robotics Plus from day one was to automate. To achieve this, Āporo was built on a platform of machine learning. Today our customers pack an order on fibre, paper or plastic trays or single layer boxes without ever touching their Āporo. We use AI and camera vision to orientate the apples and find the pocket to place them in. The Āporo is independent of variety or pack type. The Āporo also features an incredibly intuitive touch screen interface that provides packline operators with full visibility and easy adjustment depending on current demands. Simplicity! Having achieved simplified automation is one thing, another pivotal step is building the confidence of the packing staff using automation. Too often when things go wrong, as they can do with automation, recovery is left to the packhouse technical team. When this happens, packing staff get scared or don’t want to interact with the automation and, as a consequence, packhouse downtime shoots up. Which is why the Robotics Plus team also designed in the recovery/reset on the Āporo. Because when you mix machine vision, software, embedded systems and mechanical design together sometimes things go wrong. Āporo features high levels of automated recovery and simple resets and on the rare occasion UI instructions for the packhouse operators to follow with confidence and … simplicity. Simplicity is something we take very seriously at Global Pac Technologies, both in our simple vision to deliver the best fruit packing line technologies across the globe and in ensuring we also deliver simplicity, flexibility, reliability and consistency to allow those very packhouses to optimise packhouse production and reduce labour costs. As Bill Gates said. “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” Either way, the optimum solution lies in simplified automation.