Inside Cascade Espresso’s playbook for sustainable, scalable automation

Once you stroll into Cascade Espresso’s facility north of Seattle, you instantly sense two issues: the unmistakable scent of freshly roasted beans, and a group that’s genuinely happy with the work they do.

That second half didn’t occur accidentally.

It’s the results of a daring resolution Cascade made about 4 years in the past: substitute one of the vital painful, turnover-heavy, inconsistent handbook jobs within the manufacturing facility with collaborative robots. What began as a single low-risk experiment snowballed into a scientific, company-wide transformation touching productiveness, individuals, and tradition.

I lately sat down with Cascade’s COO, Ron Kane, to retrace that journey. Ron’s spent greater than 30 years in meals and beverage—Nestlé Waters, Monster Vitality, craft beer—so he’s seen each taste of automation undertaking, from the profitable to the painful. His perspective is extraordinarily grounded in what producers reside every single day.

Right here’s Cascade’s story, and the teachings any meals and bev manufacturing facility can apply.

When development meets actuality

In 2020, Cascade shifted from serving one main buyer (80% of their quantity) to supporting a broad portfolio of manufacturers, particularly revolutionary ecommerce gamers. It unlocked development, however elevated complexity in a single day.

The issue? Almost the whole lot downstream was nonetheless handbook.

• Operators had been hand-stacking dozens of pallet configurations
• Turnover on the palletizing position was over 60%
  
• New hires had been educated virtually weekly on intricate customer-specific patterns
• High quality errors—like misaligned labels on shipments—had been eroding buyer satisfaction

And culturally, no one wished the palletizing job. It was bodily demanding, low selection, and worrying.

“It didn’t present worth for us as a manufacturing facility. It wanted to be carried out, but it surely actually ought to have been automated if there was a approach to do it.”
– Ron Kane, COO

The problem was the identical one many mid-sized producers face: conventional palletizers had been too large, too costly, and too complicated for his or her footprint.

The primary leap: A sensible, low-risk check

When Cascade bought a brand new high-volume Ok-Cup line, Ron noticed a possibility: in the event that they had been upgrading processing and packaging, why cease there?

He evaluated the total image: labor, ergonomics, turnover, uptime, and buyer necessities and proposed trialing a cobot palletizer. The preliminary ROI estimate was slightly below two years, already strong.

What occurred subsequent stunned everybody.

Their native accomplice, Olympus Controls, rolled the system into place. Inside hours, it was bolted down. By the following afternoon, it was palletizing reside manufacturing.

No cages. No complicated programming. No weeks of commissioning.

Operators discovered the interface in minutes. The security conduct instantly earned their belief. And the cultural shift occurred sooner than anticipated: the group named the robotic, adorned it for holidays, and handled it as a further coworker.

“We put in the robotic, didn’t lose any headcount, and it grew to become a part of the persona of the manufacturing facility.”

9 months to payback, not two years

When the primary audit was full, the numbers got here in…

Precise ROI: 9 months.

Why the dramatic distinction?

• Larger uptime than anticipated
• Constant throughput, even throughout variable quantity
• No unplanned labor protection for downtime
• Fewer high quality points
  
• Rising quantity on the road

In three years, Ron can depend on one hand the variety of days any palletizer has been down. And people uncommon points? Normally from packaging anomalies, not the robotic.

That reliability grew to become the rationale Cascade might scale confidently.

Scaling systematically: From one to 6 (and counting!)

As soon as the primary cell proved itself, Cascade replicated the method throughout each retail bag line within the manufacturing facility.

As a result of their mechanics and engineers already understood the interface, subsequent installations grew to become practically plug-and-play:

• Nonetheless delivered in crates
• Nonetheless bolted down in hours
• Nonetheless operational the following day
• Nonetheless straightforward to troubleshoot independently

One line went from crate arrival to working manufacturing by the tip of the primary shift.

And their group began collaborating with our engineers on efficiency upgrades—like early adoption of dual-case selecting to spice up throughput with out rising pace.

The end result was: a standardized, repeatable palletizing technique throughout your entire web site.

Actual enterprise influence: Tens of millions saved, individuals lifted up

Cascade Espresso invested slightly below seven figures throughout all methods.

They’ve already recouped a number of hundreds of thousands in labor effectivity.

However the half Ron speaks about with essentially the most delight isn’t the monetary return; it’s the individuals.

The staff who as soon as rotated by means of the toughest job within the plant are nonetheless there. Many have moved as much as higher-skill roles.

“They’re constructing careers, not simply doing jobs. They’re incomes extra for his or her households. They’re extra assured working larger tools as a result of they discovered on the cobot first.”

Automation didn’t cut back headcount. It really created new alternative.

And it was an incredible match culturally as effectively. The robots have names, vacation outfits, and recurring appearances on Cascade’s LinkedIn web page. They’ve develop into a part of the group!

Classes for producers contemplating automation

Listed here are the takeaways Ron would give anybody simply beginning their automation journey:

1. Your actual ROI will seemingly be higher than your spreadsheet.

Producers usually underestimate the impact of constant throughput and overestimate downtime threat.

2. Begin the place the ache is highest and the labor is hardest to retain.

Palletizing jobs burn individuals out rapidly. Fixing that ache advantages the entire operation.

3. Tradition issues as a lot as know-how.

Talk clearly that automation removes undesirable duties—not individuals.

4. Standardize early.

As soon as one cell is working effectively, you possibly can replicate it effectively throughout related traces.

5. A robust native accomplice makes all of the distinction.

Olympus Controls helped Cascade deploy quick and adapt rapidly, whilst wants modified.

What this story actually reveals

Automation doesn’t should be costly, dangerous, or disruptive. When carried out systematically (and with individuals in thoughts) it turns into a catalyst for higher work, higher throughput, and higher enterprise.

Cascade Espresso went from handbook palletizing with excessive turnover to a totally automated, extremely engaged group that’s assured, rising, and able to tackle extra.

Their journey is precisely why we imagine in Lean Robotics: begin small, scale quick, and construct functionality by means of each part: design, combine, function.

Ron mentioned it greatest:

“You gave us the primary steps. We wouldn’t be pursuing automation this aggressively with out that early success.”

And that’s the type of influence we would like each producer to expertise.

If you wish to see whether or not palletizing automation is smart to your facility, begin with the Palletizing Match Instrument — a fast, interactive approach to see if Lean Palletizing is the suitable match to your line.

Need extra tales from actual factories like yours?

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