“Cage handling automation does not work!” How often have you heard this in the hallway discussions of industry conventions or meetings?

The reality is that cage handling automation has come of age and is successfully working at a number of prestigious facilities around the world. The facilities that have installed the latest generation of systems have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor, energy, and other costs, and will continue to add on to these savings year after year.

So why do we continue to hear the negative dialog about automation? The early systems that pioneered automation had a number of challenges to overcome, including specialized washers, underperforming tooling that would loose cage grip, weak scraping, incomplete cage stacking, and complex robotic software, just to name a few. Little credit is given to the OEMs, facilities, and consultants who were the cutting edge, “brave souls” that staked their reputations on developing new  and better systems for arguably the most hazardous of duties – handling thousands of cages per day. While most people know of stories of people being fired and systems being torn out, much was learned from these early automation systems, and the pioneers can take a good share of credit for today’s highly functional and efficient systems.

The basic function of a dirty side automation system is to unload cages from a cart, scrape and empty cages, and place them onto the tunnel washer. On the clean end, the basic function is to flip the cages upright, fill them with bedding, and stack them on a cart. Other needs of the system may include handling water bottles, plastic and metal lids, and food.

Is automation a “no-brainer”? No. Each facility must analyze its specific needs and challenges. Considerations should include labor issues, available footprint, throughput requirements, washer needs, cage assembly, environmental concerns, and energy usage. Depending on the needs of the facility, a system can go from purchase order to install in less than six months, but can take up to twelve months for specialized applications. Many issues can affect this timeline, including facility infrastructure such as the accessibility of electrical power and pressurized air.

Cage Handling: Human Factors
The issue that continues to be in the forefront of cage handling discussions is the human factors of cleaning and stacking cages. Employee health and welfare, worker compensation claims, and future litigation regarding long term health issues are taking on more importance in the laboratory environment and in many cases, will drive the decision to automate or not. Creating a stable work force with limited turnover continues to be one of the lab animal industry’s biggest challenges. Many times, technicians have a variety of job responsibilities they find interesting and enjoyable, yet they are unhappy due to cage handling in the wash area. With an automated cage handling system, where thousands of cages are processed in an eight hour period, only two people are needed in the wash room and they are present primarily to monitor the operation and move the carts. The technicians I have interviewed agree that system monitoring and cart coordination is much more rewarding and less hazardous than cage scraping and stacking!