Why Automation in Mattress Production?

The word "automation" is a broad term that conjures up a different image for different people. Thanks to futuristic tales of science fiction 50 years ago, many still think it means the total conquest of the manufacturing factory by full-scale robots. In truth, there are many degrees of automation and most are much more attainable than you imagine. In the purest form of the word, automation does imply using mechanical means to replace or reduce your reliance on human activity to perform a task. Your “automatic” garage door opener is a popular example of automation, and that’s not so intimidating, is it?

Let’s look at the manual steps this simple automation has replaced:

• Temporarily Park the car
• Get out (possibly in the rain) and walk to the garage door
• Raise the garage door
• Return to the parked car
• Drive the car into the garage
• Get out the car and return to the garage door
• Pull the door closed

Like your garage door opening activity, we need to identify repetitive human activity in your factory and see what can be replaced with automation. Be sure to analyze the sub-tasks involved with the process to make sure nothing is taken for granted. Notice that in the garage door example, only steps three and five add any value to the process. The other five steps are non-value-add activities that offer no benefit to the outcome.

As far as our mattress industry is concerned, the bed-in-a-box is an example of how automation has changed the mattress industry. Our ARP20 Model is capable of Automatically wrap, compress and roll the mattress which is simply removing the human work of putting the mattress in a plastic bag and then bringing the mattress to a compressor and then rolling it by hand. We have secondary roll pack options available with Atlanta Attachment which does secondary rolling to make the length of rolled mattress to half. So in a truck where you can put only 110 mattresses can be filled with .510 mattresses, basically 5times more!

WHAT MAKES AUTOMATION?

• Optimize Labor
• Inventory Reduction
• Productivity Increase
• Deskilling Operator
• Multi-tasking Equipment
• Material Handling

Optimize Labor

Workforce optimization is the biggest goal of automation. Efficiency still greatly depends on the employees operating the machines and making their way around the factory floor. To increase labor efficiency, it's crucial to place workers in the right place at the right time with the right resources. One of the big segments of resources is machines. For example, our K-25 semi-automatic mattress tape edge machine, the worker needs to sew, move around the table, flip it with hands, etc. Producing 90 to 100 mattresses in a shift Now if we replace this machine with K-40 Fully automatic model, the worker needs to just focus on sewing which improves the efficiency of labor as he is producing more mattresses in much lesser time. We can produce around 160 to 240 mattresses in 8 hours depending on different sizes.

Inventory Reduction

Reducing and optimizing labor leads to a reduction in inventory. For example, every operator needs at least 3 pieces. 1 piece in the process, 1 piece waiting to be processed, and one piece after the process. means if you reduce this operator, you have at least 3 pieces less in the process. In our factories, we use bundles, which means at least 20 pieces’ lees per operator. So a machine covering 4 operations reduce 4 operators which means around 60 mattresses less. hence a great reduction in inventory. In the picture, you can see the units are laying on conveyors because you only can add a particular amount of mattresses that can fit a conveyor which means one piece of conveyor can just have one mattress, not a bundle of mattresses lying.

Productivity increase

Automatic machines increase the speed of the process leading to great output capacity. An example of the same is our Full Border solution machine 3261P from Atlanta Attachment USA. A single unit is doing automatic serging or overlock of both the sides of the border, measure, marking label cutting, and losing it. We can make 100 to 120 finished borders in just 1 hour.

De-skilling operator

If it's not possible to replace the labor with full automation, simply making the task easier and safer for the employee is a beneficial step. The 4300BN Automatic Vertical Handle machine is a good example of the same. A worker just needs to press a button and the machine will do automatic overlocking, measuring, attaching vertical handles, and cutting.

Automatic Vertical Handle Machine Dual Overlock Module
Model: 4300BN

Multi-tasking equipment improves productivity exponentially

Machinery makers like UMIT Makina and Atlanta Attachment have identified many ways to combine process steps to fewer machines can perform all the tasks required to create the product. This type of machinery typically performs repetitive tasks that are easily computer-driven like measuring, cutting to size, electronic sensorcontrolled sewing, and much more. Most can store hundreds of programmed dimensions in the computer's storage for batch processing. Our TH-40 Automatic Mattress Gluig line is one of the best examples of it has endless mattress production recipes of gluing applicable from multilayer to single, Bonnell to pocket even Allows Hybrid mattress production as well.

HCA with Atlanta Attachment and UMIT Makina are capable to automize any mattress factory across the globe. Umit Makine is an equipment supplier based in Istanbul, Turkey has been supplying machinery to the furniture and mattress industries for more than three decades. It exports to more than 100 countries. The brand Umit Makina has become one of the most known and reliable firms among mattress machinery manufacturers. Umit Makina's strategy towards the customers and manufacturing processes helped a lot to match the brand name to trust, high quality, and innovation. Umit Makina has managed to export 95% of its production to numerous countries. They have more than three thousand machineries operating in the mattress production industry throughout the world.

HCA is being associated with Atlanta Attachment for years. Their mattress manufacturing machines are considered to be one of the highest quality materials and workmanship. They utilize heavy-duty industrial sewing machines for building their workstations. Founded in 1969 as an innovator of custom-made sewing machine attachments, folders, hemmers, binders, and other labor-saving devices for apparel sewing equipment. AAC is now one of the industry leaders in developing sewing automation for mattress production. Their technology solutions extend to mattress packaging equipment, quilting machines, decorative border workstations, and other mattress manufacturing machinery.

HCA with UMIT MAKINA and ATLANTA ATTACHMENT has one aim to reach every mattress maker and help them in their journey to make their mattress-making facilities automated and affordable with our 24 x 7 service and after-sales support.