Manufacturing organizations are becoming more dynamic and sensitive to market demand due to the use of collaborative robots (cobots), which have recently become a significant competitive factor. It demonstrates that the successful integration of collaborative robots into the current industrial environments is producing the desired results for the companies adopting them in their operations.
Universal Robots is a Danish manufacturer and seller of such cobots, and they are a highly regarded company that has quarters all over the world and over 700 employees. They are positioned as a thought leader in the robotics space, and they specialize in cobot arms that are used in various industries. Below are some features and uses of their cobots that have created a buzz in manufacturing and production across all sectors.
The Game-Changing Safety Feature of Collaborative Robots
One of the main advantages of Universal Robots cobots is that they have helped immensely in relieving machine personnel across various industries from laborious, repetitive work that is risky. They can reduce the risk of staff injury while increasing the production speed of high-quality output. This aspect is made possible by the innovative robotic system from UR, which reduces the forces at contact if the robot tending to the machine bumps into someone.
The safety feature allows employees to safely enter and exit the robot’s workspace and load or unload parts when needed. With the help of patented technology, cobots can also reduce its operating force to prevent injury if the robot arm comes into touch with a human when they enter the robot’s work cell.
With spatial detection and awareness, the robot can automatically begin moving at full speed as soon as the employee exits its area. It is a significant improvement over conventional industrial robots, which are far less flexible and require safety caging to keep workers away from the work area during production.
Collaborative Robot Use in Plastic and Polymers Production
Without a closed mold, injection and blow molding processes when producing plastics and polymers cannot be effective. However, most employees find it difficult to perform the boring, repetitive, and injury-prone process of loading and unloading items from the machine. Such issues make this task perfect for automation.
Fortunately, there are several reach and payload capacities for UR robot arms. One can incorporate them into already-existing facilities that produce high-mix, low-volume goods. Due to their flexibility feature, cobots are valuable in automating many other processes around a plastics manufacturing facility. These include finishing operations like polishing, de-gating, grinding, and applying labels on plastic components.
Since most plastics producers use additive techniques like 3D printing, cobots can operate continuously to keep the printer machines running smoothly. The broad reach of the robots, when installed on movable carts, allows them to load and unload plates from several printers. They are very precise in such tasks, enabling the manufacturers to eliminate the common errors when human workers are involved.
All facets of manufacturing plastic and polymers, including injection molding applications, can use UR industrial robots in their operations. The IMMI (Injection Molding Machine Interface) option comes with the control box connector module and cable needed to connect the machine to a cobot. They also have user-friendly programming templates for quick and simple setup, simplifying the connectivity and deployment task.
A Case Study
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is a perfect example of a successful company that uses collaborative robots in the sector. The firm is a Danish plastic and polymer manufacturer which needed a practical way to optimize production for orders that ranged from a single unit to several million.
The new CNC machines consumed more cubic meters than conventional turning machines. As a result, using traditional robots to optimize processes was not always easy. The company spent years looking for suitable robots on the market, but each required a safety cage. Adopting the options was impossible due to the difficulty in extending the actual production functioning at their Danish manufacturing site.
Fortunately, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions decided to employ the Universal Robots robot arms. They currently use 42 cobots from Universal Robots to conduct machine tending jobs, particularly on CNC machines, allowing them to achieve the precise and agile production needed.
Collaborative Robot Use in CNC Operations
CNC Operations are also among the most frequently automated applications. Cobots are ideal for these repetitive activities because they can work more quickly than humans and provide precise, constant movement for superior manufacturing quality and increased efficiency.
Some Case Studies
For instance, Whippany Actuation Systems, a New Jersey-based producer in the aerospace and defense sector, needed to expand its production capacity. Their most viable possibilities were to add a second CNC machine and efficient robots to facilitate unattended machining. They enhanced their current machine by adding a second shift and introducing a cnc robot arm with a Robotiq gripper from Universal Robot.
This move enabled them to increase their output capacity by allowing the machine to run during unattended hours while also enabling their skilled personnel to concentrate on other jobs instead of loading and unloading the machines. Due to the better margins, increased competitiveness, and shortened lead times brought about by automation, the company also decided to add two more manufacturing cells to their robots program.
Another successful collaborative robot adoption in automation is the RSS Manufacturing and Phylrich company, which produces plumbing fixtures and faucet fittings in Costa Mesa, California. The firm discovered Universal Robots while looking for an effective solution to fulfill a sizable and quick-turn order of 700 valves.
Their previous CNC machine could handle 400 valves each month with two shifts, which was not enough even if they added a third shift, hence the need to acquire another machine. A Universal Robots UR5 was deployed by the company and set to work round the clock. As a result, RSS Manufacturing & Phylrich fulfilled the order in 11 days while adding 30% more capacity to the machinery that was already in place.
The company also realized that the modern lightweight and adaptable cobots were simple to reprogram to work well with their different types of CNC machines in various operations such as pick-and-place, welding, polishing, and gluing. They also mechanized all their manual activity by reusing previously defined scripts for recurring activities to speed up redeployment.
Conclusion
Cobot arms have the potential to add value to your company and provide a guaranteed return on investment more quickly than any other robot in the sector. With cobots, you can swiftly modify production lines for new products with the robot’s quick and flexible deployment. The robot’s portable size and lightweight feature also make it easy to deploy in new environments if the workflow changes.