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A part of multibillion-dollar conglomerate LuLu Group International, Y International USA of Lyndhurst, N.J. specializes in exporting consumer packaged goods and food to retail businesses across the Middle East and India. The 100-plus person company says it is creating economic growth in the area by generating international demand for local consumer goods and food items, and has its sights set on other U.S. regions as it grows.
Part of that growth plan is in packaging automation, particularly robotic automation. That’s why Y International turned to Tutor Intelligence, a robotics and automation provider specializing in palletizing, case forming, and conveyor transfer robotics. Leveraging artificial intelligence alongside competitive, flexible, usage-based pricing, Tutor financially and technically de-risked robotics for facilities with even the highest changeover requirements, like Y International.
“We are responsible for sourcing all products that are manufactured in the Western Hemisphere, and then we export them to our customers, which are the regions for each store in the Middle East. On a regular basis, which is about a 45-day interval, we have about 5,000 SKUs that come through our warehouse,” says Justin Altman, operations manager, Y International.
The facility processes the complete breadth of shelf stable food products that one might find on grocery store shelves, and each item needs to be individually labeled for sale overseas. “We've been looking for years, even before the pandemic, to go to automation. There's not a lot of margin, and if you screw up and you get robots and they can't do their job, you pay out the nose,” adds Scott Weber, regional manager, Y International.
Tutor says that it uniquely offers facilities access to cutting edge robotic automation through low risk, usage-based pricing. “I mean, we walked over, we saw what we wanted. I walked away with the deal I wanted when y'all told me how it works. If we're going to talk about payment goes, that's what sold it,” Weber says.
In Altman and Weber’s experience, other robotics providers weren't prepared to handle the type of variety that Y International sees on a daily basis. That didn’t give them confidence necessary to invest.
“Most of them wanted to have us purchase their product, and they would see if it would work, and that was not something we were interested in,” Altman says.
“No one's really willing, when they see the task involved, when they see the enormity of what they're going to have to try to make these robots do,” Weber adds. “[Tutor Intelligence] pays attention. You guys dealt with us before we bought anything. You guys worked with us, understood what we needed.”
Tutor's technology is built on a proprietary AI software platform that never needs to be re-engineered. No matter how orders, lines, SKUs, or customers change, that means that line workers alone can re-task a Tutor cobot to begin working with a new SKU. The company says that its customers never need to allocate technicians or engineers to the upkeep of a Tutor robot.
One line worker named Jennifer, who works with four robots, had this to say: “I have four lines. For me, it's very, very simple. It's very easy to work with the four robots because I don't need anything, I don't need anyone's help. The people in my position work very easily. They just have to pack and the robot does all the work for them.”
With each robot system connected to the internet, Tutor says that its ability to remotely monitor robot success and respond to issues in a matter of seconds has raised the bar for customer service in the industry.
“Tutor has been on the ball. Literally, if my leads see any variation in the norm, they answer the phone immediately, they have direct sight into each problem. And typically, have them resolved immediately,” Altman says.
With Tutor's AI robotics on its lines, Y International says that it has pulled ahead of their peers in this space.
“People are scared of change, and that technology is coming fast. It’s coming very fast. You got a lot of old timers out there that just aren't ready. I believe that is the problem in the industry,” Weber says.
Scott and Justin met Tutor Intelligence at PACK EXPO International.
“Our only reason for going to an innovation show was to find this. We were looking for robotics. And we passed an aisle and we saw a demonstration going on with y'all. It intrigued me. I watched some more and we grabbed y'all,” Weber says. “And I told him, show's done, we're using this. I told my Ops Manager, show's done, let's try these guys.”
“Working with Tutor has been easy. We're glad to have them part of our team. When we're giving a tour, whether we're buying a product or selling a service or whatever it is, when people come do the warehouse tour, they always want to stop and ask about the robots and talk about the robots,” Altman says.
According to Weber and Altman Y International continues to expand its automated operations, Tutor Intelligence remains a key ally in their journey.
