{"id":3357,"title":"Custom robotics, automation and sustainability in our factory","description":"Robots are amazing fun and they play a big part here at our Teemill factory. It's really important to consider technologies like this when thinking about sustainability, and we'll explain why.","content":"<p>In this video and blog, we're going to talk about robots. Robots are amazing fun and they play a big part in our factory. It's really important to consider technologies like this when thinking about <a href=\"\/blog\/?search=sustainability\">sustainability<\/a>, and we'll explain why. So join us, to learn about custom robotics and automation in our sustainable UK factory.<\/p><div class=\"youtube\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XJH7OzKZ0fQ\/?modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;vq=highres\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><em>Before we get started, make sure you <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/teemillstore?sub_confirmation=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subscribe<\/a> to us on YouTube, so you can keep up to date with all our latest videos.<\/em><\/p><p>All the products we make are made from natural materials using renewable energy and everything we create is designed from the start to come back to us when it's worn out. We chop that old material up and make new products like our <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/circular-fashion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">circular <\/a>t-shirts.<\/p><p>When you try and do all that really good stuff for the environment and make products as sustainable as possible, what people don't talk about is how much more it costs to actually do it. You can't just ask people to spend more and buy less, so we asked ourselves how do we make more sustainable clothes, more accessible.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5e846e6d9cf8d7.18089789.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"48212829\"><br><br>The best way to do that is using modern technologies like artificial intelligence and robots to make parts of the supply chain really efficient. Then we take those efficiencies and reinvest the money that we save to pay for the things that are important to us, like organic, recycled materials and renewable energy.<br><br>We design these systems to make things really easy in our factory. You don't want loads of brain-box people creating ultra intelligent robots as this could end up designing people out of jobs. And that's not good. We found it's better to encourage the people in our team that know how to build robots, to build technologies that help our colleagues and their jobs rather than take over them.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5e84b4f95ae996.02313977.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"48237237\"><br><br>So instead of designing people out of a job, they get a new, better one. Either a job where they can do more productive work because the robot does all the boring parts, or if they've got the skills, they can learn to become a robotics engineer themselves.<br><br>Robots have to have their own little brain to know what to do and that's what we call code. Coding can be hard to do, so to learn we use these little things called Raspberry Pi. They are mini computers that help to teach beginners how to code. Inside are little wires which help people learn how to make it light up using special coding. <br><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5e84743dedb324.86151644.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"48214463\"><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5ea1a122ab6f73.39385401.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"49716757\"><br><br>So whilst the Raspberry Pi's help with the coding side, we create our own small circuit boards to connect to the mini computers. These circuit boards basically have all the electronics to control all sorts of machines including serious industrial equipment. When the circuit board and the Raspberry Pi connect together, you now have the ability to control big robots easily. <br><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5ea1a0c5b9f7f0.49333252.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"49716534\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5ea1a0b405eac5.48919916.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"49716499\"><br><br>One example of the robotics we've built is one automated conveyor that transports products around the factory. There's lots of different parts on the conveyor that can be connected to the circuit board, like sensors to let the machine know there's a tote waiting to be moved along. Another thing we use is something called a solenoid which is a switch we use to control airflow. If we have a tote waiting by the sensor then the switch will kick in and use the airflow to move the tote along to where it is needed next.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5e84c250da5e90.10122531.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"48241590\"><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5ea1a1d7974ae2.82578002.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"49716933\"><br><br>All orders get brought down from one part of the factory and then get moved along the conveyor to be packed. Our robots help the team to be more productive. They don't have to walk back and forth, or do any moving or lifting between each process. Each order is brought to each team member so they can be really efficient.<\/p><p>It also solves a lot of problems with sustainability too. For example, years ago we really wanted to do packaging that's not full of plastic but to have sustainable paper packaging, it was going to cost us ten times more than the plastic stuff. It's crazy and it's part of the reason people and companies say they can't afford to do it, but we were determined to find a solution.<\/p><p>We decided to build all these robotics which increased the productivity of our packing team. This meant the money we saved from increasing the productivity was able to go towards making our radical plastic-free packaging possible.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5e84c519733049.60812762.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"48242077\"><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5ea1a25ca90990.23217980.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"49717208\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/5ea1a24c8a6192.79844966.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"49717193\"><br><br>That demonstrates how modern technology and sustainability are not completely different things. Robots can help us make sustainability happen and that's what they should be for. <br><br>We hope you found this video and blog useful on how things work behind the scenes in our factory. Don't forget to <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/teemillstore?sub_confirmation=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subscribe<\/a> to our YouTube channel to keep up to date with all the latest tutorials, feedback and help videos.<\/p>","urlTitle":"custom-robotics-automation-sustainability-uk-factory","url":"\/blog\/custom-robotics-automation-sustainability-uk-factory\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/custom-robotics-automation-sustainability-uk-factory\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/custom-robotics-automation-sustainability-uk-factory\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1585733751,"updatedAt":1680622298,"publishedAt":1641984900,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":12,"name":"Teemill"},"tags":[{"id":457,"code":"video","name":"video","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/video\/"},{"id":658,"code":"sustainability","name":"sustainability","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/sustainability\/"}],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5e846553730861.26448941.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5e846553730861.26448941.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5e846553730861.26448941.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"Sustainable Factory Automation | Teemill Factories","metaDescription":"Robots play a big part in automation at the Teemill factories. In this blog and video, we show you how we use them to support sustainability.","keyPhraseCampaignId":4163,"series":[{"id":9,"title":"Sustainability","description":"Learn more about the work we do to make your products sustainable","createdAt":"2020-06-10T08:11:03.000000Z","updatedAt":"2020-06-10T08:11:03.000000Z","published":0,"urlTitle":"online-course-circular-fashion-sustainabililty-circular","url":"\/blog\/series\/online-course-circular-fashion-sustainabililty-circular","editUrl":"\/blogs\/series\/edit\/online-course-circular-fashion-sustainabililty-circular\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/series\/online-course-circular-fashion-sustainabililty-circular\/","division":12,"image":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5ee08787abf356.78111553.jpeg.jpg?w=640&h=auto","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5ee08787abf356.78111553.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=auto"}}],"similarReads":[{"id":3021,"title":"Fast easy content (and epic SEO)","url":"\/blog\/fast-easy-content-and-epic-seo-points\/","urlTitle":"fast-easy-content-and-epic-seo-points","division":12,"description":"A lot of content platforms serve content that they think people might like, kind of like the Instagram feed. While content marketing on Instagram is a good idea - your stuff might end up in front of people with the same interests as your brand - search engines are used by people with an other intent.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5e8602b7e3ff90.05460563.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5e8602b7e3ff90.05460563.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":3116,"title":"How to sell sustainable art prints online","url":"\/blog\/sell-sustainable-art-prints-online\/","urlTitle":"sell-sustainable-art-prints-online","division":12,"description":"In this blog we explain how our sustainable prints are made, what you need to do to add them to your store, and how you can get professional free marketing images to start selling your art prints online right now.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5eb40f0c3f1ad2.69783885.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5eb40f0c3f1ad2.69783885.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":3121,"title":"Getting Started: How to Create a Website for Free With Teemill","url":"\/blog\/building-a-homepage-on-teemill\/","urlTitle":"building-a-homepage-on-teemill","division":12,"description":"In this tutorial, we\u2019ll walk you through the Teemill website builder. This is the tool you can use to set up an awesome and free custom website for your brand so you can get traffic, then convert visitors into customers.\u00a0Use pre-built templates, customise content blocks, add images, text, embed your social media posts and more. We've even included some pro tips on how to make your Homepage stand out from the crowd.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/qq7auq5dkxbhhjnwplmgorhzsixayxgiwo7o1uv3bcrzthui.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/qq7auq5dkxbhhjnwplmgorhzsixayxgiwo7o1uv3bcrzthui.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}