Robots and the Future of Paper Mills
Overview
The progression of technology increasingly sees robotics and automation shaping the future of many industries, not least the traditional paper mills industry. This guide explores the relevance, challenges, and opportunities the integration of robotics can chronicle for paper mills. It highlights the role robots can play in addressing decreasing profit margins, declining worker availability and efficiency, and high accident rates proportionate to manual labor in paper mills which, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, averaged 3.5 per 100 full-time workers in 2019.
Profit Margins and Efficiency
Profit margins in the paper industry have always been a topic of concern. In order to address this issue, the integration of robotics can play a crucial role. As per the McKinsey Global Institute, automation can improve production capacity by between 20% and 25%. This statistic underscores the potential value of robotics for paper mills. Beyond merely boosting direct production, robots can aid in peripheral tasks such as inventory carrying and quality control, subsequently reducing operating costs and increasing overall efficiency.
Workforce Availability and Performance
The industry's ageing workforce represents another challenge for paper mills. According to a report by the National Council on Aging, people aged 55 and older represented 23% of all workers in 2018, a proportion expected to rise to 25% by 2026. Robots could help address this issue, offloading physical tasks from human workers. Moreover, an IBM study indicated that robot-human collaborations could increase worker performance by up to 85%. In a time of declining workforce availability, the performance increase offered by robots could prove significant.
Workplace Safety
One of the most appealing benefits of integrating robotics is improving safety conditions. According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, the paper manufacturing industry saw a nonfatal incident rate of 3.1% in 2019. Robots can help decrease this percentage significantly by carrying out potentially hazardous tasks, such as heavy-lifting operations. This perspective is further supported by a study by MarketsandMarkets which projected that the industrial safety market, buoyed by the integration of robotics, will grow at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2020 to 2025.
Key Takeaways
- The integration of robotics can help improve profit margins and efficiency, benefiting the paper mills industry
- Robotics can assist in managing the challenges associated with an ageing workforce and scarcity of younger workers
- Workplace safety can be considerably enhanced through the integration of robotics, mitigating the sector’s high incident rates
3Laws Robotics: Enhancing Safety and Efficiency
3Laws Robotics, an innovative software developer, is creating solutions to enhance safety and reliability for robotics systems. Leveraging the power of Control Barrier Functions (CBFs), a technology developed at Caltech, 3Laws aims to simplify the certification process for robotic companies - a significant hurdle in the industry. The company's software, 3Laws Supervisor, supports applications such as warehouse automation, human-robot interaction, and unpredictable environments.
3Laws’ solutions are future-ready, adaptable across mobile robots, cars, drones, and manipulators, and compatible with popular robotics middleware such as ROS and ROS2. The prospective efficiency gains - as represented by an autonomous forklift customer who achieved a 40% efficiency gain resulting in a 6-month payback period - underscore the potential of their cutting-edge solutions.
The 3Laws approach extends beyond traditional e-stop methods and aims to unlock the full potential of robots with dynamic, predictive safety that can be safety certified for ISO 3691-4 and ISO 26262. For the paper mill industry looking to embrace the future, 3Laws Robotics represents an optimal solution for enhancing safety, efficiency and productivity.