Key Takeaways:
- lbs. Distribution had the goal of creating a robust and efficient supply chain of legal cannabis throughout California.
- The team went from manually filling and sealing bags (1,500 units a day) to 2,200 units per day with the addition of a 14-bucket combination scale.
- Then in January of 2023, the firm installed a High Tek bagging machine. Integrated with the High Tek combination scale, it lets a team of two operators package nearly 6,000 units per day.
Founded in 2017 by a group of cannabis entrepreneurs with the goal of creating a robust and efficient supply chain of legal cannabis throughout California, lbs. Distribution has lately been on an automation journey. In the early days, the West Sacramento, Calif.-based firm managed to manually fill and seal 300 pre-made bags per person per day. So with a team of five, that was about 1,500 units/day.
A significant improvement was made in 2020 when the firm installed a 14-bucket combination scale from High Tek. Operators held the premade bags beneath the discharge chute of the scale and manually put the bags through a heat-sealing system, an approach that got a team of five to 2,200 units per day.
Integrated with this combination scale, a new bagger lets a team of two operators package nearly 6,000 units per day. That's 300 parts per labor hour, up from 40 parts per labor hour.
Then in January of 2023, the firm installed a High Tek bagging machine. Integrated with the High Tek combination scale, it lets a team of two operators package nearly 6,000 units per day. The bagger uses vacuum pickup cups to pick a premade pouch from a magazine feed and place the pouch in a shuttle. The pouch is mechanically pinched to help open it. Then a puff station blows a burst of air into the pouch to fully open the bottom gusset. At this point the pouch is ready to receive product from the discharge funnel of the High Tek combination scale. Next is a station where the pouch is aggressively shaken to settle the product down into the bottom of the pouch.
All that remains is a station where two wheels come together to pinch the zipper reclosure shut. The pouch then passes through checkweighing, executed by a component made by High Tek. Finally, heat sealing jaws produce a heat seal above the zipper reclosure.
Both 3.5- and 14-g sizes are produced on the weigher/bagger system. Director of Operations John Perrino says throughput is in the range of 10 pouches/min. He calculates that with strictly hand packing one person could produce something like 40 units/hr. “Now we run a team of two and they knock out almost 600 parts/hr,” notes Perrino. “So that’s 300 parts per labor hour, up from 40 parts per labor hour.”
Perrino is greatly pleased by improvements like this, and he adds that one more upgrade is on the way: a Videojet thermal-transfer overprint unit for lot and date code information that will be integrated with the High Tek bagger.
