Industrias Roig: 100 metric tons of thermoplastic paint per day, palletized without physical effort

Industrias Roig manufactures the thermoplastic paint used to mark roads, bridges, and parking lots in the Dominican Republic. It all began fifteen years ago with a small hopper and 10 or 15 metric tons per day. Today it produces 100 metric tons per day.

The end of the production line wasn't keeping pace with that growth: 25-kg bags loaded by hand, with the resulting downtime, injuries, and medical costs.

Project Overview

Client	Roig Industries
Sector	Thermoplastic paint for road markings
Country	Dominican Republic
Cell installed	Bag palletizer
Format	25-kg bags
Startup	2020
Spokesperson	Kelvin Plata, engineer

The Starting Point

The decision wasn't based on a productivity analysis, but rather on an assessment of the plant.

What made me think about building a robot was that I would walk into my factory and see my employees loading bags, often looking tired. We were spending a lot of money on medical bills due to back pain, so I said, “We have to find a solution to put an end to this.” Kelvin Plata, Industrias Roig

Results

• The robot palletizes 100 metric tons on a normal workday, without night shifts or overtime
• Production multiplied by 7 since the company's inception
• Zero manual handling of 25-kg bags
• Without the break times and lunch hour that affected manual packing

Fear of Technology, and How It Was Overcome

At a plant where no one had ever worked with robotics, the resistance wasn't to the robot itself—it was to touching it. The operators and technicians avoided the controls for fear of breaking something.

The issue was resolved with support: Atlas Robots provides online support, and, according to the customer, there hasn't been a single complaint or problem since then that couldn't be resolved remotely.

The Full Interview

Transcript of the interview

Kelvin Plata, an engineer at Industrias Roig (Dominican Republic). Transcript slightly edited for readability.

My name is Kelvin Plata. I'm an engineer, and my company is called Industrias Roig. We manufacture thermoplastic paint—the kind of paint people see on streets, roads, parking lots, highways, and bridges.

Fifteen years ago, when we first started, we had a small hopper with which we produced an average of 10 or 15 metric tons. Now we're producing 100 metric tons per day.

A lot of time is wasted during the packing process when you use staff to load 25-kg bags: lunch breaks, when they have to step away, or when someone gets injured… With this type of equipment, we no longer have that problem. The robot can palletize 100 metric tons without any trouble during a normal workday, not counting night shifts or overtime.

What led me to build a robot was that, whenever I walked into my factory, I would see my employees carrying bags—often looking exhausted. We were spending a lot of money on doctors because of back pain, so I said, “We have to find a solution to put an end to this.” That’s how we got started: we searched online and contacted Atlas Robots.

It’s a feeling that runs through my veins: being happy to see a fully automated production plant and watching how my workers have been making progress. Before, they’d all come in covered in dust; now they’re clean. The robotic arm is, as we say, our little girl: she doesn’t complain, she doesn’t ask for overtime. For us, the robot is everything—it’s the apple of our eye.

At first, new technologies present major challenges. Robots are a novelty in the Dominican Republic, and the workers and technicians who weren’t familiar with the software were afraid of them—they were even afraid to touch the controls, for fear of damaging them. But Atlas has a 24-hour online support service that has always been there for us. Thanks to that, we haven’t had any complaints or problems, and they resolve any issues we have online.