pouches move, preparation keeps growing

Operator takes pouches straight from delivery box to carton. I prearrange mine in a tray. Our first timing excluded that. Needs doing again.

It does, and don't improve the robot's incoming box before starting the stopwatch this time; that arrangement work is currently part of the job you are proposing

Yes. Same incoming box for both. I'll also count changing the tray between pouch types, not only filling it.

Our simulation omitted replenishment labour. Include every handoff in the real comparison.

How often does the pouch type change in ordinary orders? That determines whether a good run can ever repay a slow setup, without assuming larger batches will appear later.

Usually several changes in an order. One pouch repeats often, but not in large quantities. No big stable order waiting behind this trial.

Then stop selling yourself an imaginary production run; you can assess the repeat pouch, but not by pretending customers order it in a way they currently don't

I would still ask the operator whether the transfer removes a difficult task. Labour time matters, but an easier reach or less repetitive handling could also be worth something if it actually helps them.

Agreed. Measure that benefit too, rather than assuming faster is the only useful result.

And put those benefits beside the support burden. A slower process could still be useful, but someone must decide that with the people doing the preparation and handling, not just the person who designed it.

Operator says arranging seams is more fiddly than manual packing. They like the raised carton position in the trial though. That improvement doesn't need the arm.

Keep the raised carton idea and compare it on the manual station, because rescuing a useful improvement does not oblige you to rescue the whole robot proposal

Thanks, that helps. Proposed a manual-station comparison with the same carton position. No more tray designs while we do it.

Who will maintain the prototype if the proposal stops? Decide before leaving it half-owned.

Lab supervisor will own decommissioning the trial setup and archiving its configuration. We're not handing the packaging team a temperamental backup machine.

That is a sensible distinction. I meant assess a possible narrow use, not insist you find one. The order pattern you described gives very little stable work to spread the setup over.

Decision made: stop pouch automation here. Manual packing with the revised carton position is preferred by the operator and quicker in our comparison. Keeping the findings, not the development queue.

Thank you for posting the decision. The operator's preference and the full comparison are useful to hear together. Will the revised manual position get checked with the other people covering the job?