Sometimes, seeing a problem in action can be the driving force to find a solution. Such was the case with Kitchener, Ontario-based Cober Solutions. Todd Cober, president of the company, explains that as the company grew, it became clear that robotics could be the answer to improve its productivity.
“At peak season, I watched the madness ensue around me and noticed there were so many people moving stuff and everyone was busy, but quite often, they weren’t busy at their work center,” he says. “They were busy taking stuff to the next work center.”
At first, Cober invested in autonomous vehicles and autonomous mobile robots (AMR) to eliminate time lost between tasks as employees took time to move materials from point to point. Then, in 2022, Cober installed a new Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-8P with plate-to-unit robotics. However, it soon became evident the company needed to invest in more equipment to prevent bottlenecks.
“That was a big step for us; it opened up a ton of business and our offset side of the business really flourished,” Cober explains. “But that just pushed the bottlenecks downstream to the point where we had to invest in more folding.”
To alleviate the mounting congestion, Cober invested in a new Heidelberg Stahlfolder TH 82 with PFX Feeder and a six-axis Heidelberg StackStar P industrial robot to match the speed of the Speedmaster, something not possible with human intervention.
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