How Pearl Crop Increased Throughput, Improved Safety & Added Flexibility with Robot Rentals

Founded in 2007 and based in Stockton, California, Pearl Crop is a family-owned food processing company specializing in nuts, seeds and food ingredients. As a third-generation family business, the company provides a wide range of processing services, including roasting, seasoning, nut butter production and packaging.

Each year, Pearl Crop processes more than 100 million pounds of nuts and seeds. Yet, while demand remains steady throughout the year, nearly all harvested product arrives within a concentrated harvest window lasting only a few months. This seasonal surge creates unique operational challenges, particularly when it comes to staffing labor-intensive production processes.

One of Pearl Crop's biggest challenges was finding and retaining workers for repetitive palletizing tasks. Employees were required to repeatedly lift and stack boxes weighing between 25 and 50 pounds throughout entire shifts. The work was physically demanding, created potential ergonomic risks and often led to production bottlenecks during periods of peak volume.

Recognizing that labor constraints would limit future growth, Pearl Crop began exploring automation as a way to increase throughput, improve consistency and create a safer work environment.

The company found an ideal partner in RentoRobot, a robotics provider focused on flexible automation deployment models. Rather than requiring a significant upfront capital investment, RentoRobot offered a rental-based approach that allowed Pearl Crop to quickly implement automation, evaluate performance and scale deployments as needed. The partnership succeeded because Rent-A-Robot approached the project much like Pearl Crop approaches its own customers: by first understanding operational pain points, production requirements and business goals before recommending a solution.

Working closely with Pearl Crop, RentoRobot deployed FANUC robotic systems tailored to the company's different production environments. For applications where floor space was limited and production speeds were moderate, the FANUC CRX collaborative robot proved to be an ideal solution. Its compact footprint and ease of deployment allowed the system to be moved between production lines while providing automated pick-and-place and palletizing capabilities. The collaborative design also provided flexibility for operations where employees and automation needed to work in close proximity.

For higher-volume applications requiring faster cycle times and heavier lifting, RentoRobot implemented a FANUC R-2000 industrial robot. Designed to handle demanding palletizing operations, the robot enabled Pearl Crop to automate the movement of 50-pound boxes at production speeds that would be difficult to maintain manually.

The impact was immediate. Automated palletizing improved consistency and production flow while eliminating repetitive lifting tasks that previously placed strain on employees. In one operation line, a process that had traditionally required four workers became fully automated. Rather than eliminating jobs, Pearl Crop reassigned those employees to other roles where they could contribute more value and develop new skills.

Employee response to the automation has been overwhelmingly positive. Workers no longer spend entire shifts bending, stretching, lifting and stacking heavy boxes. Instead, they can focus on more skilled operational tasks while the robots handle the repetitive, physically demanding work.

Today, Pearl Crop has deployed more than six robotic systems across its operation, with additional automation projects already planned. The increased throughput and operational efficiency created by automation have enabled the company to focus greater attention on innovation, customer needs and future growth.