Through continuous R&D and numerous industry partnerships, LemuGroup has enabled label converters to greatly increase production volume and overall quality, allowing for a competitive edge in a challenging marketplace. LemuGroup has prioritized Ultra Compact Automation to allow customers to thrive with fewer resources. This technology has led to customer satisfaction and overall business profitability. 

Over the past two years, LemuGroup has assisted a large number of label converters with automating their processes. Converters across the globe have adopted end of line automation to expand their existing systems into a multi-line feed, central automated system. Others have opted for total plant automation.

The days of the, “We have always done it that way” mantra are very much disappearing as the marketplace has become ever more competitive. Wasted time and material are no longer acceptable as it translates to lost money and overhead.

LemuGroup’s equipment ranges from high-speed converting equipment and turret rewinders to full robotic boxing and palletization. LEMU’s system is scalable and modular, meaning it can continually be modified to address the converter’s current needs and be expanded and reconfigured as press lines and business volumes increase. The system is also adaptable to already owned OEM presses and turret rewinders. LemuGroup has also incorporated Data Tracking Analytics into its operations, which provides important information regarding production metrics. Converters now have the ability to track throughput, downtime, and material usage, among other factors. Management can utilize this information to refine process improvement and make exacting business decisions.

This system has been proven to be very easy to use and has shown an ROI within 2-3 years. It has been optimized for the business owner tackling the new normal that is the dwindling American workforce.

LEMU’s Ultra Compact Automation streamlines the end of line process by reducing manual labor requirements and vastly increases press uptime and overall efficiency, thereby requiring only a single operator.

LemuGroup has minimized the need for added staff associated with packaging finished rolls and sheets. Additionally, automation greatly optimizes material usage and waste, further reducing overhead expenses for label converters. Automated systems are less prone to errors when compared to manual processes, creating 30-50% more product at the end of day. With LemuGroup’s capabilities, waste is reduced to virtually zero. “LemuGroup has become the global answer to these and other production issues through robotic automation,” explains Andre Beaudoin, head of North American sales and marketing. “We now deliver proven robotic automation roll label packaging systems that are curing the lacking manpower issues in the industry. These systems can be purchased as turnkey single operator systems or interfaced with existing press or converting systems currently in production in the plant.

“We are also addressing the prime label market with the system that can work with inspection camera systems and eliminate non spec product and package in spec roll labels,” adds Beaudoin. “The client can then decide to rework the defective labels or simply discard them. In effect, this now becomes single pass converting. We are currently discussing this ability with several OEM press builders.”

LemuGroup’s product range includes width solutions from 13″ up to 30″ wide, with total customization engineering capabilities to address nearly any requirement. The company’s high-speed glueless/linerless and automated roll packaging systems are focused on issues facing converters, which include waste reduction, operator efficiency, and 100% uptime production.

Because all of LemuGroup’s systems are scalable, the machinery can be placed with any existing or new flexographic press or converting system in any plant. In fact, LemuGroup’s setup drew strong praise from attendees at Labelexpo Americas 2022. At the company’s booth, one of these systems displayed the automated packaging of digital labels. “The response from converters and other OEMs to our live demonstrations was overwhelming, to say the least,” notes Beaudoin. “LEMU’s systems are the only fully integrated automation solution for the roll label market available today. This technology has been vetted and proven over the last 10 years and actually came from the POS side of our business, where machinery speeds are higher and human intervention only slows down production efficiency.

“LEMU is providing today what converters thought would only be available tomorrow to address the issue of lacking and/or missing production staff,” he adds. “Through these innovations we are giving converters a way to completely make their manufacturing flow efficient and literally non-stop, from the unwind to the pallet.”

LemuGroup systems provide a complete solution, from the unwind roll to closed, addressed and fully palletized products ready for shipment – all in one pass. LemuGroup boasts the ability to automate a single machine or an entire production location with multiple converting lines feeding into one single packaging system. Subsequently, the company can robotically remove the full pallets to the warehouse.

LemuGroup has invested in research and development to address the common refrain of, “We’ve always done it this way.” LemuGroup is, in fact, leading the charge in the new way the industry is shifting. “We have eliminated the need for multiple people standing around doing nothing or slowing down line speeds so people can keep up with the press,” comments Beaudoin. “These people can be redeployed elsewhere in the facility. LEMU’s systems are all digitally equipped with memory retention for repeat work and instantaneous job setups.”

Partnerships with many of the industry’s leading OEM suppliers have played a pivotal role for LemuGroup, as well. LEMU has installed numerous automation systems globally with many of the largest label converters in the industry.

“Not only are we working in the logistics label end of the business, but we are in collaboration with several press OEMs to provide intelligent end of line automation in conjunction with their presses for the prime label segment of the business, which will include roll mapping and defective label removal,” remarks Beaudoin. “We’re ensuring that only good product is actually boxed and shipped to the customer.”

The partnerships have extended to the customer, too. LemuGroup has heard its customers’ pain points and incorporated their needs into its newest equipment. LemuGroup will often collaborate with their customers to design modular solutions that are tailored to the individual needs of the customer – big or small.

“What we’re doing is talking to the customer and listening to their problems, not just throwing a bunch of brochures at them and telling everybody how great we are with an off-the-shelf solution,” says Beaudoin. “We are talking to the converter principal and providing a workable solution for the future with a fast ROI. Their success is our success.”

These systems are not complicated to run, either. “We have installations around the globe where we have one operator running two systems,” says Beaudoin. “That’s how easy these end of line automation systems are to operate, because the systems are totally intuitive. They know based on the roll diameter that’s being ejected because everything is tied in to a central HMI. The conveyors know when to speed up and when to slow down based on the spacing and the timing of the rolls based on their diameter. It’s an amazing thing to watch, it really is.”

LemuGroup’s significant success with the Ultra Compact system is due to the very controlled unit operating program that uses safety checks in the process to ensure only the correct product leaves the production floor. All
electronic parameters are stored within the system’s memory for recall along with run rate data. Any defective or damaged roll is addressed by the robot and removed without stopping the entire system. Plus, the company’s GTU “roll to box” system can often outpace two flexo presses with automated functions and less manpower as it runs at twice the line speed with one operator. This can free up capacity throughout the facility.

“We have assessed that this is what our industry has needed and has asked us to provide,” states Beaudoin. “In response to industry demand, LEMU has directed its attention to the demanding needs for robotics and automation. The future has arrived, and we are here to provide these solutions to label converters – both large and small – with new and advanced operational variations to follow.

“As we continue to evolve and listen to what the industry and converters with whom we meet are asking for, there will be solutions and additional products that will further our reach into defining the label plants of 2024 and beyond. Based on the overwhelming demand for this equipment we see nothing but a continuation of development and product diversity to meet the needs of our installed based and those who are soon to become part of that growing family,” Beaudoin concludes.