[ad_1]
How do you elegantly scale manufacturing when your processes depend on handbook steps?
For French producer Alliora, robotic palletizing was the reply…
When 2021 introduced a brand new want for automation for Alliora
It was Could 2021 and Antoine Bruno was the brand new Common Supervisor at Alliora.
Alliora is a producing firm primarily based in Fougères, France. They specialize within the manufacturing and packaging of inflexible packing containers. They work with industries resembling pc gaming, cosmetics, and for any firm whose merchandise are packed in such inflexible packing containers.
Antoine grew to become the Common Supervisor of Alliora after buying the corporate in December 2020. A number of months in and he may see the necessity for automation.
He explains:
“It was actually a technique for me to automate the road.
“Our imaginative and prescient is that when the extent of orders is low, we use individuals on the road. When the extent of orders will increase loads, we use a robotic. This fashion, it will likely be simpler for us to reply to the market.”
When handbook processes cease you from scaling manufacturing
Antoine knew they wanted to have a option to proactively scale manufacturing to satisfy the altering market calls for.
The issue? That this wasn’t but possible with Alliora’s present setup. Their manufacturing was too depending on handbook work.
Antoine says:
“The principle problem is that we’ve lots of people. Generally we are able to have between 10 to fifteen individuals engaged on the road.
“The problem for us is to scale back these numbers of individuals. Our goal is 3, 4, or 5 most. It is for that reason we have determined to make use of a collaborative robotic.”
Why palletizing? Deciding on the precise process for robotic automation
A typical query individuals have when getting began with automation is which is the perfect process to automate first.
For Alliora, palletizing appeared like an apparent selection.
Antoine says:
“There are 2 causes we selected to automate palletizing.
“Firstly, it’s a very bodily job. The packing containers are between 5 kg and 12 kg. It is rather repetitive, it is vitally heavy, and it is vitally bodily. Folks do not like doing the palletizing process.
“Secondly, typically we’ve a excessive stage of orders. On this case, we will not have any individuals on the road.”
Even if you’ve chosen palletizing as your process, there are a whole lot of diversified options in the marketplace for robotic palletizing. It may be laborious to know which resolution to decide on.
Antoine explains:
“Step one was to satisfy a whole lot of suppliers with totally different options. Afterwards, we made some assessments with two programs with SterkElec.”
Discovering the perfect palletizing resolution in your wants
SterkElec is a French distributor specializing in automation. They’re a associate of Robotiq. When SterkElec visited Alliora’s facility in Could 2021, they got here with a robotic for demonstration.
Antoine explains that this step was crucial…
The right way to proactively sort out worker uncertainty about robots
Worker uncertainty is frequent if you’re getting began with robotics. If employees aren’t aware of utilizing robots, they are often anxious concerning the know-how and what it’s going to imply for his or her jobs.
Antoine says:
“For Alliora, automation may be very, very new. The individuals in Alliora do not know what automation is. Generally, individuals are petrified of automation they usually do not need to work with a robotic.
“When an organization like Alliora needs to buy a brand new machine, it is vitally essential for us to see the machine earlier than buying. And never solely me, because the supervisor, as a result of I can extra simply transfer to your plant or to an indication workshop to see the robotic.
“It is rather essential for the operators, for my individuals, to see what sort of machine I need to purchase. If I purchase a brand new machine with out the settlement of the individuals working within the line, it will likely be very troublesome to acceptable the machine.
“I appreciated it that when SterkElec got here to the plant and we may see the robotic. Then, we noticed it once more in movies. Afterwards, we moved to their workshop to see the machine working once more.
“In the long run, the individuals “claimed” the machine themselves. It was solely attainable as a result of, throughout the course of, the industrial assist was excellent, each from Robotiq and SterkElec.”
Easy vs complicated: The right way to examine palletizing options in the marketplace
At Robotiq, we’re clearly very happy with our palletizing resolution. However, we all know that there are different palletizing options in the marketplace.
Antoine defined the variations between the Robotiq resolution and the others that he had seen throughout his seek for an answer.
He mentioned:
“The Robotiq system was quite simple to make use of. That was the primary motive we selected it over the opposite options. You may take any operator on the road they usually can use it. If somebody needs to make use of the machine, we want solely 3 hours of coaching. After that, they will use it.
“The opposite options we noticed are extra complicated. We’d additionally want extra machine parts to do the identical factor. I believe this resolution may be very tailored to our course of and merchandise.”
This simplicity and adaptableness are essential for an organization like Alliora the place their manufacturing modifications loads. In the identical week, they will change the manufacturing twice to deal with two kinds of merchandise. That is simple to do with the Robotiq resolution.
Antoine provides:
“The second motive we selected this resolution is as a result of the assist from SterkElec and Robotiq was excellent.
“When we’ve small issues, we are able to name them and we at all times have an answer, at all times a advice.
“For instance, we’ve somewhat downside now with massive, 9 kg cartons that we can not transfer with the present setup. We had a name with Robotiq, he requested us about our cartons, he made some assessments and gave us an answer. It was very fast. The industrial assist and the technical assist are excellent.”
How lengthy does it take to deploy a palletizing robotic?
We frequently say that the deployment of cobots is fast in comparison with typical automation. However, how lengthy does it actually take to deploy a palletizing robotic to your line?
Antoine says:
“From the time we acquired the machine till we used it… 5 days. Every week.
“It was very, very fast as a result of the system may be very easy. We took it out of the field, we put the machine on the finish of the road, we made some assessments for about 2 or 3 days, we put it on-line, and we produce with the machine.
“During the last two months, we’ve produced with the robotic day-after-day. And day-after-day the employees are very blissful.”
The Consequence: What advantages have Alliora seen with Roboitiq palletizing?
Folks typically assume that productiveness good points would be the core profit when they’re contemplating automation for the primary time. Nonetheless, with comparatively gradual speeds of about 1200 packing containers per hour productiveness wasn’t an important issue for Alliora.
Antoine explains an important profit they’ve seen:
“We’ve lowered the price of manufacturing by 5%. That is the worldwide value of the complete manufacturing. However, not by the velocity of the robotic. Primarily it is as a result of we’ve lowered the numbers of individuals on the road.”
Which means that Alliora can now scale their high-volume orders with out that bottleneck of handbook processing. They will preserve their individuals on the decrease quantity strains and reply extra successfully to modifications out there.
What’s subsequent for robotics at Alliora?
Antoine is now looking forward to how they will incorporate extra robotic automation into their processes.
Like many new collaborative robotic customers, he can see alternatives for brand spanking new functions, together with different packaging duties.
He says:
“At this time we solely use it for palletization. However, I believe it will likely be attainable to make use of the robotic for one more perform than palletization as a result of it’s totally versatile. We will think about utilizing it for earlier levels within the packaging course of.
You may be taught extra concerning the Robotiq Palletizing Answer on our options web page.
What questions do you may have about robotic palletizing? Inform us within the feedback under or be a part of the dialogue on LinkedIn, Twitter, Fb, or the DoF skilled robotics group.
[ad_2]
