Wedoany.com Report on Mar 18th, Foliot Furniture, located in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Canada, has addressed the operational challenges of repetitive tasks in laminated furniture manufacturing by introducing collaborative robots. Simon Perrault, the company's Vice President of Operations, pointed out: "We realized that automating some of the operations would be an excellent solution because we could retain our excellent operators and the people with the right skills to supervise these cells." In 2023, Foliot invested in a FANUC CRX-30 collaborative robot, aiming to free employees from mundane tasks and allow them to focus on higher-value work.

Perrault stated that after the pilot's success, the company rapidly expanded the deployment of collaborative robots. Eleven units were installed at the Saint-Jérôme plant, and the rollout extended to their facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. He emphasized: "If you don't choose a turnkey solution, you need programmers. When we hired a technician, a programmer, someone who already had experience integrating collaborative robots, the speed and quality of our deployments improved significantly." This helped the internal team learn programming and reduce dependence on integrators.

The collaborative robot project has delivered significant benefits. By 2026, the number of collaborative robots at the Saint-Jérôme plant increased to 20, with 13 running at the Las Vegas facility, and machine output improved by 15%. Perrault said: "Accidents have decreased. There used to be a few per year, but since we implemented these collaborative robots, there have been zero accidents in these cells." Employee retention has also improved, with no operator turnover since the installation. The collaborative robot investment paid for itself in approximately 16 months. Perrault noted: "Try to find projects with a payback period close to a year. Nowadays, that's hard to find."