Manufacturing Automation for Small and Midsize Manufacturers
A majority of manufacturers have automated their primary manufacturing operations for producing parts and products. But when it comes to secondary operations, a huge gap remains between the largest manufacturers and many second- and third-tier component producers.
Today, the manufacturing automation gap is beginning to close. More small and mid-tier manufacturing companies are seeking solutions to overcome labor availability and related workforce factors. Meanwhile, modern technologies, such as collaborative robots (cobots) and vision systems, make automation projects less expensive and more flexible. This has resulted in a new equation in automation savings where it’s easier to cost-justify automating more secondary operations. Let’s explore how automation can be extended to additional manufacturing processes to boost productivity, quality and profits.
Understanding Automation in Manufacturing
The basic concept is well understood: As the uniformity and production volume of an end product increases, the degree of automation used to manufacture it also increases. As the end product become more unique and low volume, the degree of automation falls. So, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and tier-1 manufacturing operations with high production volume and product can justify full automation while processes at job shops remain largely manual.
However, most small and mid-size manufacturers producing component parts fall somewhere in between. They typically automate primary production using precision equipment, such as molding machines or stamping presses. These machines operate in work centers alongside manual secondary operations—for example assembly, inspection, measurement, labeling and packaging—that are frequently difficult to automate.
Why Automation Matters
Today, three industry factors are increasing the return on investment (ROI) that manufacturers of all sizes can gain from automation:
- Labor Costs and Availability: In many markets, labor has become both more expensive and less available. Without operators, there is no production, forcing many manufacturers to reduce or elongate production schedules.
- Accuracy and Reliability: Applying well-designed automation to secondary operations brings a level of inherent predictability, reliability, repeatability and accuracy that is extremely difficult for humans to duplicate.
- Safety: To protect workers from machines and robots, manufacturers traditionally have added safety switches and light guards and built strong barriers against injury, but newer automation equipment is much safer for operators to work alongside.
New Manufacturing Automation Technologies
Two technologies are making automation even more useful: collaborative robots (cobots) and vision systems.
- Cobots are ideal for performing secondary operations in a busy work center. They’re designed to work safely alongside people, are easy to train, and can handle complex tasks. Cobots also tend to be articulated at multiple joints so they can conduct complex movements and traverse more complex paths than older three-axis gantry style robots. This agility makes them suitable for a much wider variety of tasks than previous robotics generations. While cobots are not meant to lift heavy items, they are great for handling smaller parts.
- Vision systems help machines “see” parts and check for quality. Older vision systems were highly sensitive to lighting and part finish. Newer models have access to so much cloud computing resources that they can overpower sub-optimal image captures. The lighter weight fixturing required to achieve accurate image interpretations makes them reliable and practical enough to use in multiple routine situations rather than just highly repetitive or very high-value applications.
Having vision systems interoperate with cobots provides a good degree of adaptive correction for imperfectly positioned parts, which reduces the need for strict positional control and opens the door to cost effectively automating more complex operations.
Making Machines Work Together
Cobots, vision systems, and ancillary work center devices must interoperate with each other to effectively execute secondary operations. This multi-device coordination is performed by the orchestration layer of software, which is typically provided by the robot or vision system vendor or in some cases a third-party software provider. Often, software tools from all three sources are used create the necessary communication, coordination and scheduling between the various devices.
For example, the machine’s native intelligence informs the manufacturing execution system (MES) software that a cycle is complete. Then the MES directs the cobot to extract the parts and hold in scan position, and the robot signals the vision system to perform a validation scan. The vision system executes the validation scan and indicates to the robot that the cycle has produced viable parts. The orchestration continues through the process until the part is packaged and labeled.
Combining Semi-Autonomous with Flexibility
While full automation is a goal, it can be expensive and complicated. Instead, many manufacturers are adopting a semi-autonomous approach where the automation design runs well when conditions are normal, is trained enough to recognize when there are problems, and can safely shut-down and alert the need for operator assistance. This achieves nearly all the possible cost savings while avoiding the next 80% of development costs required for full automation. The semi-autonomous approach also enables manufacturers to reduce the number of operators on hand who can intervene to put a job back on track.
At the same time, the very essence of mid-tier production is that, while jobs run for extended periods of time, they do not run forever and require change-over periods that can be a frequent as days or weeks. This means the attending automation solution must be equally flexible. Any planning for return on investment (ROI) has to include the robots and vision systems along with multiple instances of ancillary tooling, job training, change-over time, and equipment maintenance. Over time, the cost of accommodating multiple jobs will either make or break the automation ROI to a much larger extent than the original robotics cost.
Conclusion
Automation is reshaping the manufacturing landscape, offering solutions to traditional challenges around labor costs, accuracy and safety. With advanced technologies like cobots and vision systems, even smaller companies can reap the benefits of automating both primary and secondary processes. By adopting a flexible and semi-autonomous approach, mid-tier manufacturers can drive their operations’ productivity, efficiency and quality to ensure that their business remains profitable and competitive in the long run.