The A to Z guide of robot technology for beginners: I-L
16 October 2018
In ABB’s latest series of A to Z blogs, covering I to L, it looks at how developments in technology are helping to simplify the integration of robots into the workplace; why robots can actually be a source of job creation; why staying relevant as a manufacturing nation means keeping pace, both with competitors and technology; and how robots can help to support lean manufacturing strategies through reducing waste.
The manufacturing world is changing fast. Factories worldwide are introducing robots in growing numbers as they seek to improve their competitiveness and increase their productivity. With even traditional low-cost economies such as China jumping on the robot bandwagon, countries such as the UK that want to retain their place in the league of top manufacturing nations must do all they can to keep pace.
Yet the International Federation of Robotics estimates the United Kingdom will only have 2,000 shipments of multipurpose industrial robots in 2018. Compare this to Germany, which is projected to add 21,000 robots to its factory floors, and it quickly becomes apparent just how much work still needs to be done to help convince UK manufacturers that now is the time for a switch to robots.
I is for Integration
The development of so-called collaborative robots has been particularly rapid, with the past five years having seen massive strides forward. Figures vary, but research by various organisations points to a compound annual growth in the global take-up of collaborative robots of between 45 to 49 percent in the period between 2017 and 2023.
With robots such as ABB’s dual-armed YuMi and the single-armed YuMi enabling safe and easy integration into production lines alongside humans, the barriers that have traditionally separated robotic and manual workers are quite literally being removed.
This, coupled with their comparatively low price, flexibility and ease of deployment and operation, is leading a growing number of manufacturers to look at ways to combine the advantages of collaborative robots – speed, accuracy and dexterity – with the innate intelligence and adaptability of human workers.
As such, collaborative robots strike an ideal balance for applications that do not lend themselves to full automation but could nevertheless benefit from some degree of automation. Examples include monotonous or repetitive tasks, where performing the same action for hours on end can cause workers to lose concentration and make mistakes. In such instances, putting a robot alongside a worker to share these tasks can typically help them to improve their performance by removing boring or arduous tasks that previously affected their productivity.
As a manufacturer of a range of products, ABB is a good example of a company that is practising what it preaches when it comes to the adoption of collaborative robots. We are using YuMi robots to assist workers in our own factories worldwide, including in our low voltage products plant in the Czech Republic. Used in the production of electrical sockets, the dual-armed YuMi robot has helped to improve productivity by sharing various production tasks with the plant’s manual workforce.
To find out more, read the full story here.
The integration story doesn’t just belong to collaborative robots either. Developments in other areas of industrial robotics are also helping to create an expanded range of options that can be increasingly easily deployed into existing production processes.
Modular or packaged robotic manufacturing cells, for example, are helping to open new production possibilities in locations that might previously have been deemed too small for a conventional automated line. Combining everything needed for an automated line, including a robot, vision system, conveyors and protective guarding, ABB’s robotic manufacturing cells offer a quick and simple starting block for automation in a range of applications, from machine tending through to welding. With programming able to be mastered within just a few hours even by the least experienced operator, the cells also offer the flexibility to handle a range of tasks.
Find out more about our packaged robotic systems.
J is for Job Creation
The theme of robots taking jobs is a popular one with the mainstream media, which seems to delight in creating widespread fears which, on closer examination, often transpire to be largely unfounded.
While it is true that robots are handling a growing range of tasks previously undertaken by human workers, a lot of these tasks often do not make the best use of human skills. Tasks such as shifting heavy boxes or working in hazardous or unpleasant environments, for example, would not feature high on any school child’s list of things they want to do when they grow up, making it sensible to automate them where possible.
There are plenty of examples to prove that using robots can help to generate, not destroy, jobs. In the UK, Jaguar Land Rover, has created thousands of new jobs throughout its manufacturing operations, despite being one of the country’s most heavily automated companies. Many of these jobs have been created as a result of the increased productivity and output achieved by its extensive use of industrial robots, which has in turn led to increased demand for its vehicles as well as helping to generate investment in new vehicles, technologies and facilities.
There is also evidence to show that the introduction of robots can often prove beneficial for an employee’s prospects. In many cases, existing staff are trained to program and operate robots, giving them a new set of skills.
Why the popular media has got it wrong - turning the ‘robots steal jobs’ argument on its head
On the subject of skills, with UK manufacturing companies continuing to point to a lack of skilled workers as an obstacle to growth, it also makes sense to find ways to get as much out of existing staff as possible. Introducing robots can often be the catalyst for this, as can be seen by the example of Shelbourne Reynolds.
A manufacturer of agricultural machinery based in Suffolk, Shelbourne Reynolds initially introduced a robotic welding cell as part of a drive to automate the production of articulated hedge cutting tractor attachments. Part of the strategy for the cell was to use it to handle repetitive and time-consuming welding tasks, freeing up the company’s team of high-skilled welders to perform other more challenging tasks.
As well as helping to speed up production times by 66 percent, the cell enabled the welding team to be deployed to add value to other production processes, including tasks requiring a fast turnaround and anything that was too large for the cell to handle.
Read the full story here.
K is for Keeping Pace
The advent of digitalisation has been a game changer for manufacturing. The explosion in internet shopping has raised consumer expectations of what they can get and how quickly they can get it, creating a new normal for manufacturers who must be able to deliver a wider range of goods in less time but without any impact on quality.
Achieving this requires a production line that can respond with the minimum of time and fuss to changing demands, whether in terms of goods being produced or sudden spikes in delivery.
With the ability to handle multiple programs, robots offer the flexibility that today’s manufacturers need to keep pace with the demanding nature of the modern consumer.
Dutch bakery company Interbanket is finding this flexibility ideal for handling demand for its range of cookies. One of its production lines is used to make 19 different kinds of products, which can be packed 30 different ways into a tray. With the company wanting to optimise the line to help reduce the changeover time between batches, the decision was taken to introduce robots.
After installing seven ABB IRB140 robots, the company has been able to reduce the time needed to switch between different cookie batches, with changeovers now taking just five to ten minutes to complete.
Read the full story here.
As well as flexibility, robots can also offer the ability to produce goods more quickly without any impact on quality. In an innovative application, US shoe manufacturer KEEN Footwear is using two ABB robots to create its distinctive UNEEK shoes, which feature an upper made of interlocking cords. The robots are used in its UNEEK Robotic Cell – nicknamed ‘the world’s smallest shoe factory’ – to help produce shoes on demand. Created by ABB Robotics Value Provider, House of Design in the USA, the cell is currently on a world tour, having already travelled around the US, Germany and Japan.
L is for Lean Manufacturing
With their focus on doing things faster and better whilst minimising cost and waste, lean manufacturing practices are widely practised by many UK manufacturing companies in their production processes.
The lean manufacturing philosophy focuses on reduction of seven manufacturing-related wastes, namely:
1. Overproduction
2. Excessive movement throughout a process not required to build an item
3. Delays between production steps
4. Excess inventory
5. Excessive movement of people or equipment than is required in the processing of a part
6. Over-processing of parts
7. Finding and fixing defects
Each of these wastes can be met through robotic automation. When properly integrated into a production process, robots can help to ensure that the right quantity of products are produced at the right time to the right levels of quality.
Improved performance through high accuracy and precision, for example, can help to ensure that products are finished quicker with little or no defects and with little or no delays between production steps. By effectively eliminating waste, there is no need for products to be reworked, which removes the time and extra materials needed to correct errors. As products will be completed right-first-time, inventory levels can be reduced too, with no need to hold excessive levels of spares or materials.
Robots are also a good way of minimising one area of waste that is typically not covered by lean, specifically people. While lean focuses on minimising the excessive movement of people in processing a part, it largely ignores the way in which those people are actually utilised.
A good example is machine tending. While automated equipment may be used to handle the processing of parts, such as grinding, fettling or extrusion, the actual feeding and removal of those parts still tends to be done manually in many companies. Tying a worker to a machine in this way is a massive waste of their potential.
In such instances, the answer is to ensure you ‘sweat the assets, not the people’, using automation wherever possible to handle low-value tasks that do not make the best use of a worker’s potential.
A key benefit of robotic machine tending solutions is their ability to enable companies to get more both from their machines and their workers. Capable of operating around the clock and with little or no need for a manual worker to load up new parts between batches, robotic machine tending cells can offer a typical machine utilisation rate of 80-90 percent, compared with just 45-50 percent for a manual-based operation.
Worker utilisation can also be significantly improved, with operators able to be used for supervisory roles rather than for loading and unloading machines. As one person can typically supervise multiple machines in a robotic machine tending installation, the number of operators required per shift can also be reduced, enabling workers to be deployed to handle other, higher-value tasks.
In our next blog
Look out for our next blog, in which we will be spelling out some more of the key reasons why an investment in robotic automation represents a smart move forward for UK manufacturing. To find out more about how your organisation could benefit from introducing robots, sign up to our next Switch to Robots seminar or subscribe here for the latest ABB Robotics news.
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