“Cable cutting is probably the most physically difficult job to do on a job site for electrical contractors, so we do it for them, but we were looking to automate the task because it’s also very difficult to do. hire employees to do this work and keep them, ”explains Serge Leblanc, president of Lumen, which has nearly 400 employees.
However, the base salary in the distribution center is now $ 19 an hour, plus bonuses are added for cutting the cable, for the evening shift, for the night shift, etc.
Increase the pace
Since there is no automated cable cutting system in North America, Lumen, which is a member of the Sonepar Group, based in France, found what it was looking for in Europe. “We have adapted the system slightly to make it work here,” explains Mr. Leblanc.
Currently, with around 30 employees who cut cable, the 24-hour company can perform up to 800 cuts per day. With the automated system, the target is to achieve 2000 cuts per day.
PHOTO KARENE-ISABELLE JEAN-BAPTISTE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Serge Leblanc, president of Lumen
Increasing our cable cutting capacity through automation will allow us to serve our customers even better. Currently, there are three to five days of waiting for this service because the demand is so high. It is the only product that we do not deliver the next day. We would like to be able to make it happen with this investment.
Serge Leblanc, president of Lumen
While labor is scarce, Lumen wants to keep around half of its current employees cut, especially to do material handling, and then move the rest to other areas of the distribution center. “It will also be necessary to hire new talents, in particular to do upkeep and maintenance of the robots”, indicates Mr. Leblanc.
Already a lot of automation
Lumen is not its first automation project. Already, a system brings the bins of products to the employees who prepare the boxes to be shipped to the customers. It is also a robot that picks up the boxes and places them on the right pallet.
“Before, we did everything manually. Automation has allowed us to eliminate errors and have better productivity, says Leblanc. We deliver everywhere in Quebec the day after the order, so that doesn’t allow us to have a lot of downtime in the preparation. ”
Expansion work is expected to continue until September 2022, and cable cutting automation is expected to be fully functional in August 2023.
Lumen was founded in 1962 in Saint-Eustache and the company has been a member of the Sonepar Group since 1984.