4 ways injection molding automation is great for employee morale & job satisfaction

Collaborative robots have allowed small and medium-sized companies to automate most of their major processes. This has led to an improvement in quality, increased flexibility, and productivity, and it has also allowed businesses to enjoy all the benefits of margins of scale.

The fact that these robots are relatively more affordable when compared to traditional robotic systems has been a lifeline to small companies that had been finding it to be increasingly difficult to keep up with their larger-sized competitors. However, an important benefit that most people fail to appreciate is the effect that deploying these robots has on employees. The following are reasons why you should definitely consider using injection molding robots in your facility.

Free up employees to do meaningful work

Some of the basic plastic injection moulding tasks are quite repetitive. Others, like unclogging the plastic feeds or moving plastic pellets in boxes, do not offer any sense of accomplishment and are just routine. Both of these things can turn into a soul-draining bore.

You can program collaborative robots to handle routine and repetitive tasks. Doing this will help to free up your employees to do more meaningful work — work that allows them to feel that they are making a valuable contribution to the company. This will give employees the opportunity to develop their skills and to grow their careers. In the end, it will lead to better job satisfaction.

Reduced stress during high demand periods

If your company is in an industry that experiences seasonal fluctuations in the demand for your products, you likely have periods when your company just cannot keep up. These periods are usually stressful for employees. They have to pull all-nighters, deal with customer complaints, and adapt to stricter deadlines. Even in cases where the company gets new hires, it is rarely enough to offset the pressure since these new hires need training. And even after training, they always need time to get used to completing the new tasks.

Cobots can take most of this pressure off. These robotic systems can help a company to increase production on a moment’s notice. This is because they can go on 24-hour shifts without needing a break. And the fact that they are faster, and that they can multitask, makes them ideal for this stressful period.

Another reason why automation can make the job less stressful is because robots do not make mistakes, no matter how fast they work. They are precise and accurate in the execution of their tasks, something that reduces wastage and eliminates the frustration that is common during high-pressure situations. Therefore, using collaborative robots can go a long way towards boosting employee morale by simply making it easier to cope with the pressure that always comes with tight deadlines.

Improved quality gives them something to be proud of

One of the main things that help employees to be proud of working in a company is knowing that the company produces quality products. This is something that gives employees a sense of accomplishment, the idea that they are contributing towards competently solving their users’ needs. However, if a company has a reputation for not manufacturing quality products, an employee is likely to have lower morale. Things will even be worse if they are being lambasted with customer complaints.

Since collaborative robots are both precise and accurate when executing their tasks, they will guarantee higher quality molding results. Their precision will also make it easy for a company to be consistent when it comes to its products. These two things will work towards building a company’s reputation. A good company reputation will in turn make employees proud of being part of a team that produces products that are worth bragging about. This will lead to better morale among employees.

Reduced injury incidences

Several aspects of the molding process feature tasks that are incredibly dangerous. With a typical molding operation, there is a risk of employees getting splashed with melted plastic, falling, getting their fingers or limbs crushed, and getting electrocuted. Constant exposure to these risks, especially if there have been major injuries in your company, can drain morale. In such a case, automating dangerous tasks like injection molding could be a morale boost.