LTO’s new machine may address license plate backlog in 4 months

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) got a new machine that produces up to 700 new license plates per hour. With a backlog of around eight million plates since 2014, the LTO is taking steps to increase its productivity to meet the demand of the previous and coming years. With an estimate of 1.9 million new vehicles to be registered next year, the machine will prove invaluable in working around the clock to deliver the numbers required in order to alleviate such a big backlog. 

The machine is named the IDeRobot. The LTO claims that it can produce 5,600 plates in an 8 hour work day. The LTO also promises that the machine can produce the plates in a safer and more systematic way compared to the previous methods utilized by the transport office. 

Currently located in Quezon City, the machine is housed in a facility that comes with its own manufacturing equipment from Germany. Motorists will also be pleased to know that the materials used to produce the plates meet international standards. The automated machine also works in tandem with five manual plate making machines, and seven units of manual embossing machines; both of which are capable of producing 22,000 plates per day. There is also an automated embossing machine that has been operational since August of 2018, and is rated to make 12,000 plates per day. 

On the note of the backlog, 1.7 million plates have already been produced by the since March 2019, which leaves around 6.3 million plates still in the pipeline. Add to that the projected 1.9 million cars to be registered this year, the number of plates needed rises to 8.2 million by the end of 2019. 

The question of whether the machine will be able to meet the demand by 2020 is what has us puzzled. In one week, considering the machine works for 8 hours a day, non-stop, and without breaking down, 5,600 plates can be produced. The LTO also stated that it wants to be able to address the backlog issue by the year 2020. Doing a little math shows that if the machine works tirelessly for the remainder of the year, it will be able to produce a little over 1.5 million units at a rate of 700 per hour, for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. This brings the backlog, plus the projection of 1.9 million, down to 6.7 million plates remaining by the start of 2020. 

Of course this is assuming that the machine will be the only one toiling away to produce the plates. Adding the other plate making machines working in tandem to chip away at the enormous backlog, with a rate of 22,000 plus 12,000 per day, the total output of the LTO’s manufacture is increased to 49,600 plates per day. Assuming that no slowdowns happen, like machines breaking, or material shortages, the backlog doesn’t seem as big as we thought. Adding the new machine’s productivity into the mix, and considering we have 9 months left in 2019, gives us an estimated 14 million plates that can be produced with the assumption that the machines work tirelessly every day for 8 hours until the end of 2019. Not bad. Assuming that the LTO pushes its machines to meet the backlog, we can expect the rest of the plates to make it in around 4 months time. Though this is a very idealistic assumption, we’re just glad that the LTO’s capability to produce has gone up substantially.