Pack Expo 2019 was an amazing show spanning 900,000 square feet with over 2,000 exhibitors serving industries such as food and beverage, packaged goods, and pharmaceuticals/medical device. With over 30,000 attendees this year, there were a lot of conversations about industry needs, but there were two key needs that surfaced among the majority of end-users and OEMs we spoke to.
● The need for an automated packaging system that provides the flexibility and adaptability needed to handle variable or changing products
● The need for this process to be quickly deployable on the production line – providing immediate ROI
● To show end-users and OEMs how flexible, adaptable robotic grippers are not only accessible – but can be EASY and FAST to deploy
● To demonstrate real solutions to real application challenges in real-time – providing immediate ROI
In our Pack Expo booth, we hosted a “Bring it, Pick it” challenge where customers were invited to bring any product they needed picking and we built a live collaborative solution to successfully pick their product – in under 2 MINUTES. At Soft Robotics we know that flexible manufacturing means not needing to train every SKU or needing one EOAT for each product – which is why we were able to pick items live in the booth without having seen the items prior.
Through this challenge, we’re able to highlight the Soft Robotics gripping technology as easy to use and adaptable enough to pick a wide variety of products with little to no gripper reconfiguration (i.e. – little to no downtime for your production line). From ice cream cones, to corn on the cob, to strawberries, and deodorant, we successfully handled all of the products immediately, proving that we have the flexible, adaptable solution that our customers are asking for. Check out the video below to see for yourself.
These products need to be handled with care and dexterity. Soft Robotics mGrip product line is a modular tooling solution that does just this. From the soft, yet firm grasp, to the FDA CFR 21 and EC 1935/2004 compliant tools for handling food products, our gripper solution snaps together like Legos and easily adapts to customer needs.
Didn’t get a chance to join the Bring it, Pick it Challenge at Pack Expo 2019? Don’t worry – we’re always ready to be challenged!
Learn more about how choosing the right EOAT can future-proof your manufacturing processes.
Download our checklist to learn the top ten considerations you must make when choosing your end of arm tooling.
