Robotic Automation

The Basics and Benefits

What follows focuses on the advantages of robotic-based automation in general, without regard to specific machine tools, robots or other accessories.

The contributors have designed, built, installed and trained users of hundreds of robot-assisted automation systems. Some of these systems are on the factory floors of Fortune 100 companies. Others have improved productivity for smalljob shops by automating part production on asingle CNC machine tool.

Primary Benefit of Robotic Automation

Regardless of the size or complexity of these automation systems, users enjoy results that are much the same.

Robotic automation systems can:

Improve machine tool utilization by eliminating wasted wait times, missed cycles, and enabling more consistent machining throughput.

Reduce cost-per-part by making unattended operation possible, and eliminating labor-intensive activities such as part loading and unloading, excessive part handling and inspection.

Reduce overhead by increasing CNC machine productivity and amortizing skilled labor over greater numbers of parts. By increasing the productivity of direct labor per man-hour and square foot of factory space, you effectively reduce overhead costs.

Increase production flexibility by enabling machine tools to produce diverse families of parts by using available technologies and efficient programming techniques.

Increase income potential by producing more parts in less time, thus freeing spindle time for additional, incremental parts production.

Enhance part quality through consistent part handling and eliminating human error.

Today’s industrial robots operate virtually flawlessly and consistently. They are proven performers that don’t take vacations, sick days or holidays, and eliminate payroll taxes, insurance and other benefit costs. There are over 200,000 robots in use in U.S. factories, however experts say that manufacturers use robots in only 10% of potential applications.

Would Your Company Benefit from Robotic Automation?

Together the benefits of robotic automation can make a shop or factory more productive and profitable. But would it really make that much difference for your business?

Ask yourself these questions:

What is the difference between 100% utilizationof your production capabilities and actual net production? The delta represents lost potential production capacity and revenue.

What is it that prevents you from achieving your true potential production? Why are your machines missing cycles? Typically, many of the answers are labor related. These include operator-paced activities that robots can perform more efficiently and cost-effectively, or manual operations the operator can perform while a robot produces parts without missing precious machine cycles.

Can your operators produce parts 100% of the time and work consistently and error-free throughout the day without fatigue? Not unless they are superhuman and can forego meal times, breaks, restroom visits, preparation, cleanup, and discussions with other employees and managers. Robots, on the other hand, function flawlessly without any of these limitations.

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Do one or more of the following scenarios apply to your situation?

You have CNC machines dedicated to specific parts or parts families (parts that have common sizes and share machine tools and common routings)
You produce families of parts requiring similar machining processes
You have weekly or monthly repeat production orders
Your machining processes are fundamentally stable or controllable
Your production is limited by operator availability
Your machine tools are not utilized to their fullest potential
You have quality issues associated with inconsistent part loading

Are you concerned about any of the following pressures on your bottom line?

Increasing global competition
Customer demands for lower prices, better quality, and quick deliveries
Difficulty in finding qualified labor
Increasing costs of employee benefits, especially healthcare
Increasing materials and energy costs

For most companies, the answers to these questions make a strong case for automating at least some aspects of their operations. That’s why from 2009 to 2011 U.S. companies investment in capital equipment and software has increased 31%, while private sector jobs have only increased 1.4%.

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(NOTE: In the above illustration the 10% efficiency loss is due to machine downtime. In the computation below, the loss is20% based on the amount of operator time involved, including material handling and inspection.)

Based on these figures, we see that:

Operating @ 100% efficiency yields 40,000 pieces
Manual operation @ 70% efficiency yields 28,000 pieces
Automated operation @ 90% efficiency yields 36,000 or 8,000 additional pieces

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Clearly, automation greatly reduces the cost-per-part. However, automating your process does require significant capital investment, and this cost must be taken into consideration. The following chart shows this in greater detail.

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Although the capital expense amount is greater for the automated system during the 5-year amortization period, factoring in the labor savings as illustrated above brings the real costs into focus. Investing in automation reduces the total cost-per-piece produced by 30.9%.

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In this scenario in which production increases from 28,000 pieces manually to 36,000 pieces from the automated system, with the $1.99 total cost savings per piece, the overall savings on 36,000 pieces amounts to $71,428.57.

Now consider what your profit would be on the additional 8,000 pieces you can now produce. And, how does this increased production absorb overhead expenses?

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Here’s one more example, based on working 3 shifts to produce 54,000 pieces, which reduces the total cost-per-piece produced by 40%.

Running 3 shifts increases production to 54,000 pieces from the automated system. The $2.07 total cost savings per piece brings the overall savings on 54,000 pieces to $111,780.

However, as the foregoing illustration shows, under the right circumstances there is a great deal to be gained by replacing manual machining with robotic-assisted automation. If you think you might be a candidate for factory automation, the Automation Within Reach team will meet with you to discuss your goals, analyze your situation and, assuming they find that automation will improve your productivity and profitability, will design, build and install a system that is precisely tailored to your requirements.

Automation Within Reach specializes in machine tool load/unload, material handling, palletizing, automated inspection, and material removal applications. As part of a company with over 90 years of machine tool experience, and with hundreds of successful installations, Automation Within Reach brings unmatched experience and expertise to manufacturers of all sizes.

Robotic Automation

The Basics and Benefits

Primary Benefit of Robotic Automation

Would Your Company Benefit from Robotic Automation?

A Cost Justification Example

Now Let's Look at the Dollar and Cents Ramifications

What about your specific situation?

Every manufacturing situation is unique, of course.

Automation in Action

Ready to Explore Robotic Automation?