automation, robotics & assembly
MACH 2008 was primed with working examples of robotics and machine tool automation -
but is automation the right choice for you? What are the benefits? Different companies have
different objectives, and often overlook important secondary benefits. By Martin Oakham
MACH speed automation
Performance and
quality control have
been significantly
improved by Panasonic’s
Fusion Technology which
integrates robots and
welding machine controls
in a single, 64-bit control
system.
ONE way to look at any workshop equipment is to ask
yourself what portion of a machine’s potential output are
we able to use. The hours that go unutilised represent
capacity that has been paid for without actually obtaining
anything. In other words, the number of hours per day that
the machine spends actually machining will determine
what you are actually buying for the price. This figure is
often as low as 40% of the full potential, and rarely above
70%. Automation increases the price of an installation, but
in turn it also increases the return on your investment as it
increases the efficiency of the process greatly.
For parts with short cycle times, the main reason to
automate is productivity. If the part is relatively
lightweight, an automated system is likely to load and
unload it faster than an operator. For parts with long cycle
times, the reason to automate is unattended machining. Of
course, the most attractive aspect of automation is the
chance of reducing the cost of labour intensive processes,
and ultimately ‘lights out’ manufacturing. Automated
pallet loading equipment is already widespread and often
comes incorporated as part of a new machine tool.
However, automation also offers the chance to detect and
replace broken tooling and control material requirements.
Robots are widespread in fabrication environments
where they are used in welding, assembly and quality
control systems. In fact, most machines are already robot
44 MWP july 2008
systems under the control of computer programs; an
ancillary system or ‘robot’ is just an extension of this. It can
either be incorporated under the same axis management as
your machine or controlled using an independent system.
Providing you have the potential capacity and the work
to meet that capacity, the labour saving benefits of
automation are clear. Robot systems can be set up very
quickly using user friendly drag and drop interfaces similar
to those used to program CMMs. For example, AA
Robotics, the UK distributor of Denso Robots, held a series
of daily seminars at MACH to demonstrate how an
operator without any previous experience could set up a
Denso SCARA HS robot to palletise components using ‘eprogramming’.
Such innovations leave operators free to use
their skills where they will be of more benefit.
Another important benefit of automation is consistency.
How valuable is it to be able to accurately predict how long
the entire production run of a part will take? Knowing just
the machining cycle time is not enough to make this
prediction. The amount of time between each cycle is a
variable if it relies on an operator loading and unloading a
component; it is influenced by which operator is doing the
loading, how he/she is feeling at that moment and to what
extent he/she gets distracted. By contrast, automation turns
load/unload time into a fixed and repeatable value, in
addition to potentially shortening this time.
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