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Flexible Automation Saves $500,000 Annually For a Cosmetics Brand!
When fixed automation doesn’t cut it, mobile cobot systems just might. And they sure did for Coty Cosmetics, handling 12 presses and freeing up 13 employees
Catherine Bernier
March 26, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
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If you have multiple presses producing products and require automation flexibility for picking and packing… there aren’t a lot of simple solutions you could deploy quickly.
But that’s what cobots are for, if done right.
Coty Cosmetics is a US cosmetics company serving a worldwide market.
At the company’s Maryland factory, they needed to automate the picking up and packing of godets for powder after the quality inspection process.
“We currently have twelve presses, and the challenge with automation is always how do you, in a cost-effective manner, automate such a large operation?” - Paul Baublitz, project manager at Coty Cosmetics.
A creative mobile cart deployment with Universal Robots UR3e and UR5e saved the company $500,000 annually while reducing safety hazards.
Cobot Brand: | Supplier: | Application: |
|---|---|---|
Universal Robots | Sydorko Automation | Machine tending |
The Key Problems: | How The Cobots Were Implemented: | The Results: |
The need to automate a relatively large operation but to stay cost-effective. Removing the repetitive tasks and improving efficiency. | 8 UR cobots on 4 mobile carts automate product handling on powder presses. The cart mobility allows Coty to use cobots where they are presently needed. | Annual savings of $500,000, freed up 13 employees, achieved 3 shifts, and reduced workplace safety hazards. |
The Challenges Coty Faced Before Automating
Coty Cosmetics wanted to improve production efficiency and staff safety using automation.
The repetitive and unergonomic nature of manually picking and storing the produced powder godets wasn’t efficient and caused a significant waste of resources compared to the same automated process.
Likewise, the press work area has a noisy and dusty environment due to all the powder. Coty knew automation could help redeploy their employees to more interesting tasks and reduce hazard exposure.
However, every time they looked at possible automation systems, the available technologies weren’t economical or possible to implement.
Installing a traditional robot for every press wasn’t cost-effective. And it wasn’t feasible to create a mobile traditional robot solution due to safety concerns.
Weight was the issue too. Many traditional robots couldn’t be easily moved by staff even if safety wasn’t a concern.
The Cobot Solution
Paul brought in Sydorko Automation, an integration firm, to help create a robotic installation that would tick all of the boxes.
“The challenge for me was to try to determine how I could build a robotic system that was mobile enough to meet their automation needs while still being cost-effective enough to meet their budgetary needs.”
Sydorko Automation was able to design a cart-based cobot system to handle all presses as required.
Unlike traditional robotics, cobots can safely work alongside operators and don’t require significant safety enclosures and space, making it possible to move them around the work area.
Likewise, cobots are lightweight and use low voltage. So, there was no need for high-voltage electrical installations. These cobots, in particular, worked using 110V.
Coty Cosmetics staff moving the mobile cobot cart system to the press.
Sydorko created a system with four mobile carts, each with two cobot arms. Staff could easily move the carts manually and automate product handling at presses.
Each cart contains:
UR3e - picks up godets in groups of 2-4 after they pass automated inspection and places them on a tray. If the godet fails the inspection, the UR3e puts it in the rejection bin.
UR5e - picks up a full tray and places it in a storage box. Next, it takes a storage tray from the cart and places it in the area where UR3e deposits the inspected godets.
Storage trays.
Storage boxes.
Controller.
“It is much more cost-effective than having twelve different stations with robots at them. It made a project go from not being possible from a financial standpoint to being possible.” - Paul
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The Impressive Results Coty Achieved With Mobile Cobots
Not only did Coty manage to save half of a million dollars per year with this setup, but they were able to go from one shift to three.
And… they redeployed 13 staff members to more rewarding tasks!
Increasing the number of shifts in a process while reducing the repetitive tasks. That’s a win-win!
Coty employees were quick to adapt to using the cobot, which is critical for any cobot deployment.
Their staff could deploy the cart cobot to the press in just 15-30 minutes!
“If there’s ever any troubleshooting that’s needed, the integrator that we worked with is always a phone call away. But at this point, we’ve been running with the carts for months and we’re comfortable enough that we can troubleshoot 99 percent of the issues in-house.” said Paul.
Learn more about the Coty Cosmetics story and Sydorko Automation below:
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Enjoy your week!
The Cobot Spotlight Team