Why bundling automation can help in the age of labor shortages and cost spikes

With an increasing number of baby boomers reaching retirement over the past decade, companies are scrambling to find qualified, motivated talent for roles that were previously filled for a quarter of a century. Since 42 percent of millennials change jobs every one-to-three years and express more interest in industries like healthcare and finance, manufacturers have continued to struggle with labor shortages. In fact, an estimated 2 million of 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will be unfilled through 2025.

Even companies who have successfully filled manufacturing roles are struggling to retain employees. Jim Nelson, vice president at the Illinois Manufacturing Association, explains “getting people to work on time and drug-free and alcohol-free is a big challenge.” So, in this seemingly lose-lose situation, companies are struggling to maintain their growing operations with less labor than before.

Thankfully, in the world of packaging and bundling, there’s a solution that can help:

Automation

By introducing automation to their production lines, companies in a variety of industries have experienced higher throughput and more consistent quality than with manual operations. For companies that have successfully retained employees, improved productivity from automation results in a reduction of cost because their operators can focus on less repetitive tasks and aren’t as prone to injury.

For other companies who have struggled to hire operations personnel, fully-automated solutions can reduce the dependency on difficult-to-fill positions in the packaging area. Even better? Most organizations experience a quick ROI after investing in automation, making labor costs savings even larger.

Whether semi- or fully-automated, bundling solutions are flexible, versatile, and can be as robust as needed for each facility and application.

If you’re struggling to hire and retain talent for your operations, bundling automation may be just what you need. Just give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you get started!