A plastics injection molding plant in Taiwan applied 4 EC66 cobots in its production line to load and unload injection molding machines. This ensures not only automation of an individual workstation but also addresses the problem of staff shortages, difficult working conditions related to high noise intensity, thereby limiting potential hazards at the plant.
01 Introduction
This medium-sized enterprise from Taiwan deals with comprehensive injection molding. Over the past 8 years, the company has focused on research and development as well as optimization of injection molding technology. It wishes to provide high-quality exercise equipment products to end users in Europe and North America. After many years of developing the technology, the client now feels the need to implement automation of their production line. On one hand, they are counting on achieving the objective of repeatable quality and expanding activity to mass production. On the other, the production line’s flexibility and low diversity of personalization requirements additionally necessitate the introduction of automation.
02 Problematic issues
In recent years, the client has successfully automated production lines. Many machines that have been in use for a long time are also at the plant. This combination of old and new equipment means that there is not much space near the production line. Operators entering the production area are not only exposed to excessive noise but also to other hazards. For example, due to the difficult working conditions and tiring, repetitive operations, the plant has difficulty employing the right personnel for supervising injection molding machines. Especially in the case of a periodic increase in the number of orders, employees leave due to the large influx of tasks, resulting in severe labor shortages at the plant. Hence, plants have difficulty dealing with such high elasticity of demand and increasing production. This led the client to introduce automation solutions.
Conventional robots are used for loading and unloading of injection molding machines. However, the client cannot apply a traditional solution there. Besides limited space and issues related to the safety of machine operation by humans, another important matter is the robot’s complicated operation during collection of material: The robot must maintain a specific posture to reach the proper angle during work. Next, it must additionally clean the head. A traditional robot is not capable of performing such an activity. For this reason, the client chose a different solution.
In recent years, the client has successfully automated production lines. Many machines that have been in use for a long time are also at the plant. This combination of old and new equipment means that there is not much space near the production line. Operators entering the production area are not only exposed to excessive noise but also to other hazards. For example, due to the difficult working conditions and tiring, repetitive operations, the plant has difficulty employing the right personnel for supervising injection molding machines. Especially in the case of a periodic increase in the number of orders, employees leave due to the large influx of tasks, resulting in severe labor shortages at the plant. Hence, plants have difficulty dealing with such high elasticity of demand and increasing production. This led the client to introduce automation solutions.
03 Solution
Through a Taiwanese distributor of ELITE Robots, the client learned that a 6-axis cobot can solve the above problems. A robot arm with a lifting capacity of 6 kg was selected, which can be positioned on one side of an injection molding machine without the need to install protective fencing. A single joint of an ELITE Robots cobot provides ±360° rotation. It is able to flexibly reach set points during extraction of material. In this project, the client can expect a return on investment within 1.5 years. In comparison to a single investment in robots, such an experienced injection molding plant generally has difficulties with finding workers in the event of an urgent need to reconfigure the production line. This provides a strong incentive to introduce project automation. Following introduction into actual operation, the client was surprised that the implementation of the ELITE Robots cobot reduced the time until return on investment to 12 months. It is worth mentioning that the introduction of cobot technology into the injection molding plant was a relatively rare case on the local market and could therefore be considered a significant discriminant on the market in technological terms. Production line workers generally do not have a specialized education or experience in servicing cobots. “This is why, after the introduction of collaborative robots, it was necessary to help users to understand the ease of programming, become familiar with servicing them and strengthening the self-confidence of first-line personnel”. This is the opinion of the manager, Mr. Zeng, who is responsible for distribution, with regard to this project. In the future, the client hopes to compensate for personnel shortages by introducing safe and flexible cobots. The application of collaborative robots makes it possible to ensure the co-existence of humans and machines, to transfer human resources away from the production line, optimize production efficiency, limit the risk of workplace injuries, and create a friendly and safe environment for employees. It was worth waiting for the cobots!