Multinational automotive industries are now implementing collaborative robots in their manufacturing processes for ease of production and for better, safer products. The use of robots in the automotive industry is not new. It goes back to the 1960’s when companies like General Motors first started deploying industrial robots in their vehicle manufacturing processes. Since then, the rise of collaborative automotive robots in the industry has seen many companies that make robotic arms come up. One such industry is Universal Robots that aims at producing the best and safest collaborative robots in the market.
The automotive industry is changing very fast with more customers demanding better quality vehicles with more efficiency and precision. Flexibility of the products is another area where that determines how well the product sells. With this high demand for perfection, automotive industries cannot rely on humans and automotive robots that can only do one job at a time. This is why the need for collaborative robots from Universal Robots is on the rise in the production of automotive.
Case Studies
• Audi
One of the automotive industries using the collaborative robots concept is the Audi. Audi has a new production line that is very different from the old assembly line, all thanks to the Universal Robots collaborative robots. The newest Audi concept has a new approach both in mobile and modular methods that keeps up with the high complexities of the newest products in the market. This also allows the company to integrate new and better processes in the production process on a continuous basis.
One of the processes that Universal Robots aids in the production is in the processing of automatic guided vehicles. Many people from all over the world now opt for AGVs, which takes a lot of input and ingenuity during the manufacturing process.
While flexibility is one of the reasons for the Audi company to go for collaborative robots, other issues also came into play. One of these is the need to ease off the strenuous work of the manufacturing process from humans. Some of the work in the automotive is not only strenuous but can have damaging effects to the health of the workers. The robots replaced manual labor making every process easy and enjoyable to the workers.
• Nissan
For years, Nissan Company faced great challenges from a workforce that was aging. The workforce lacked skills that were vital enough for the production of flexible and safe products. This led the company into deploying more workforce to deal with the demanding situation. Deployment of more staff meant putting up more personnel costs and higher labor costs. When this proved too much for the Nissan Company, they had to rethink their stance, which led to the purchase of robotic arms from Universal Robots. The UR10 robot arms solved almost all the problems Nissan faced at that moment.
Now, the company’s no longer faces deployment of human workers thus reducing the cycle turn overrun. Humans no longer have to deal with the heavy lifting of the vehicle body parts, which is what the robot arms do with ease.
• Continental Automotive
Robot arms do not only come in handy for the manufacturers but they benefit the suppliers too. One such supplier Continental Automotive who is one of the leading suppliers of OEM parts in the world. From Universal Robots, continental automotive acquired six automated collaborative robots that handle the PCB boards. This makes the production of panels and other body parts much easier and faster to handle. Besides the ten collaborative robots, Continental Automotive acquired another three UR10 robots from Universal Robots.
Collaborative robots not only benefit the big automotive industries but also the smaller companies as well. Two of these small manufacturing companies like Linaset and SHAD use the Universal Robots cobots in their assembly lines.
Why use Universal Robots
The reasons stated above on why many automotive industries turn to Universal Robots for the collaborative robotic arms technology vary from efficiency to many other reasons. They are safe, easy to use, cost efficient and very modern.
