Consumers today demand more – more customization, more performance, and more value for their money. In response, manufacturers look for their OEMs and integrators to support them with equipment that is:
• Flexible: swapping from a three pack to a six pack, for example, just requires the click of a mouse.
• Accurate: able to generate quality product at high throughput but low price point.
• Easy to use: OEMs and integrators can’t afford to spend large amounts of time learning a new technology.
Robotic solutions have the ability to satisfy all of these requirements. The latest generation of robots is lightweight, easy to deploy, and flexible enough to support the transition to the elusive batch of one. Read on to discover whether one or more robots might be right for you.
Not your grandfather's robot
The mention of robotics in manufacturing evokes the image of a large fixed robot arm operating at high speed in an enclosure. These systems typically perform a single task or a handful of tasks. Sweet spot applications include aerospace, automotive, and packaging/shipping.
Traditional fixed robots can save a company significant money by replacing human operators, where appropriate, with improve operational equipment effectiveness (OEE) faster, more accurate, and more reliable fixed robots. In the right application, fixed robots can save the end-user money but these designs are not particularly flexible. The new breed of lightweight, redeployable robots provides an option.
The business model of today’s economy is minimal staffing and lean inventories marked by just-in-time manufacturing. Redeployable robots support this approach, bringing us ever closer to the elusive batch of one. Redeployable robots are fast, lightweight designs that can be redeployed from one spot on the factory floor to another in minutes. They typically include vertically articulated or SCARA robots. Proper choice of application will enable similar end of arm tooling to be used for multiple tasks. At that point, the changeover just involves a software update.
Redeployable robots are generally quite light. Alternatively, heavier designs can sit on platforms that can move them around the factory floor.
How can robots improve your operations?
For suitable applications, replacing human labor with robotics can provide many benefits. A task might be uncomfortable, difficult to repeat, or potentially dangerous for most people to execute on a day by day or hour by hour basis. A robot can reduce the chance of injury while freeing up staff for more complex tasks that cannot be performed with automation. Some companies introduce robots in order to reduce staffing costs. The capital investment may be high initially but cost of ownership drops rapidly. If a process step generates a high percentage of scrap, a robot might improve quality. Robots can almost certainly increase throughput compared to human operators. The result is reduced cost over time.
Robots provide the most efficient approach to flexibility. A purely mechanical system with gears and cams can be configured to run multiple products. That process typically requires new hardware and a significant update, however; changeover times can run from days to weeks.
Motion control systems are much more flexible. Dedicated machines can be modified to toggle among different recipes. Changeover can be more complex, however, and introduce more nuances. As a result, they can take from hours to days. If a machine does not perform properly, it can be tuned and modified. This process typically requires expertise and only addresses the problems apparent at a given time. Redeployable robots provide a more effective alternative.
Robots, particularly redeployable robots, are inherently flexible. Changeovers simply require a programming change and potentially a different end effector. When developers follow best practices, system performance and flexibility changes accordingly. Some systems even apply machine learning to develop the ability to solve problems independently. As a result of all of these factors, changeovers, even those requiring redeployment, only require minutes to hours to accomplish.
The path to success
A number of factors go into a successful automation program. It begins with selecting the appropriate application for automation. For this step, start with the operators. They know the processes that are difficult, uncomfortable, or even risky to perform. They may have special tricks they to use to get optimal results. They can help you identify the optimal process steps to invest your automation dollars.
The next step is to choose the appropriate automation technology. There are different horses for different courses, as the saying goes. Some applications are best served by dedicated machines while others are most appropriate for robotics. Making this distinction requires having a clear understanding of the trade-off between speed and accuracy.
There is an inverse relationship between speed and accuracy. The higher the speed of a system, the lower the accuracy, and vice versa. In terms of the overall performance, robots are faster than human labor but not nearly as fast as motion-control-based systems. Most system specifications do not exist in a vacuum, though. Other factors that should be taken into account include flexibility and budget. Here, robots shine. They are both more flexible and less expensive than dedicated machines for the same task.
To choose the optimal solution consider the specific needs of your application. If you require high speed and high accuracy but little flexibility, a dedicated machine using motion control technology is undoubtedly your best bet. This particularly holds if you’re not budget constrained. If you need high speed and accuracy along with significant flexibility, you’re better off choosing a robot. A robot solution will not deliver the accuracy and speed of a dedicated machine but the trade-off is the flexibility that the process demands.
One way to improve throughput for robotic systems is to use multiple robots processing in parallel. Remember your budget, however. It’s essential to conduct a full ROI analysis to be sure that this approach will work for both your financial and system requirements.
