Across all industries, manufacturers want to achieve peak efficiency, advanced flexibility, and high-cost savings. Thanks to the advancements of Industry 4.0, those goals are more accessible than ever.
The advancements in automation in recent years make it the perfect solution to reduce plant downtime, increase output, and improve quality. By working with your existing operators, automated solutions allow for the greatest amount of control on assembly lines, a vital component to creating the most efficient Smart Factory. Read on to discover how collaborative robots are helping to streamline production.
Cobots and humans: Working together
Like with any assembly tool, automation often works best in cooperation with your operators. Collaborative robots, also called cobots, work in unison with operators to complete tasks. While the solution tightens bolts, your operators will be nearby, assisting with the more complicated portions of the application when needed.
By automating some of the application, you can:
- Boost cycle time
- Reduce recalls and rework
- Improve consistency in production
- Increase uptime
- And much more!
Station automated
As automation experts, we provide our customers with proven solutions and support to get the solution up and running. Whether you’re integrating more standard automation or an entire turn-key automation solution, we have the products, including in-house tightening, vision, and screw-feeding technologies, and the manpower to help you reach your automation goals and achieve peak efficiency.
Real-life cost reductions
Since automated solutions work so well to improve the overall productivity of an application, we knew it would help improve an automotive manufacturer’s assembly. Our experts proposed a semi-automated solution that would automate the fastening process, enabling the operators to aid the cobot by staging the application, installing the flex plate, and pre-starting the fasteners in the prior station. Once the cobot fastened the bolts, it would return to clear, and the parts would be transferred.
After implementing the collaborative robots, our customer was able to reallocate some operators to more complex portions of the application. This, along with the increased quality, efficiency, and reduced TAKT time, saved our customer thousands. In as little as 6 months, the solutions will have paid for themselves in reduced TAKT time.
Why choose Atlas Copco?
At Atlas Copco, we pride ourselves on our longstanding experience supplying turn-key automation solutions to our customers. As more and more manufacturers turn towards automation to optimize their assembly stations, we will continue providing our customers with our in-house fastening, vision, and screw-feeding technologies and expertise, enabling our customers to find a solution to best fit their specific needs.
Are you ready to start operating with automated solutions? Contact our experts today to see if automation is right for you.