Can robots replicate the flexibility of operators?
For a number of years now robots have been employed on the production and packaging lines, taking care of standardised and repetitive tasks. But what about robots in processing functions? Automation has been largely under-utilised in this area as humans have traditionally offered the greatest flexibility, but is this still the case? Here we explain how robots are more than up to the task.
Operator flexibility
The challenge with any automation project is that people are hugely flexible; they can move from one task to another seamlessly, for example changing quantities of raw materials from one batch to the next and switching outputs at a moment’s notice. Labour in the UK and many other countries has also traditionally been highly cost-effective, which made humans an ideal solution on the processing line, scaling up and down to meet demand.
But as labour costs rise and skills shortages, as well as operator availability, continue to hit all industries hard, it’s clear we need to re-evaluate our reliance on operators and explore new automation opportunities to future-proof production.
It’s understandable that some manufacturers feel that robotics will never be able to replicate the flexibility of a person. It’s often assumed that robotic engineers will be needed onsite to set up each line and make the necessary programming updates for each product changeover. Not only would this be time-consuming but most manufacturers wouldn’t have access to engineers with this sort of expertise, which has meant that robots haven’t appeared to be a viable solution for lines with multiple changeovers. Yet with the right solution, this is not the case at all. Manufacturers need robotics systems to be easily configurable for different products or raw materials and able to adapt to the changes that inevitably occur within any manufacturing facility. With their speed and agility, robots are ideally placed to handle frequent product changes as is often required in today’s manufacturing environment, particularly as we must increasingly cater to the batch of one.
Robotic accuracy
When assessing operations to automate, it can be easy to miss certain vital tasks that operators complete. For example, if you take an operator who weighs out powders to a recipe, on the face of it the primary task is weighing. However, the person is also conducting various secondary tasks, e.g. validating the raw materials and their quality, locating the raw material, cleaning etc. If these secondary tasks aren’t incorporated into the robotic solution, the system won’t offer the required performance. It’s important to fully evaluate the full remit of each operator to understand the exact scope of the solution required to deliver positive results from day one and ensure no flexibility on the line is lost.
If, for example, you’re looking for a robotic solution to powder weighing with frequent product changeovers, the first question to answer is, how to define flexibility? In the case of the APRIL Robotics Weighing System, flexibility is defined by the number of raw materials stored and the dosing range. In this instance, the use of robotics gives us a wide operating envelope. This means that, for example, we can go from weighing out a small batch of cocoa powder to a large volume of salt in the same operation with no cross-contamination or time-consuming set-up as the robot is designed to work flexibly. The system has different programmes depending on what is needed for a given run, allowing manufacturers to adapt for a wide range of variables. An operator merely needs to select the correct programme and the APRIL Robotics Weighing System takes care of the rest. Very little expertise is needed to operate the system, and no extra time is required to make the change, bringing all of the benefits of robotic automation, such as increased accuracy and uptime, without the concerns around flexibility that many manufacturers have.
How to build a case for robots
System studies are a great way to explore automation and how it would meet your requirements without risk or commitment. You can trial your processes on our test equipment to understand how robots would fit into your processes and gain a realistic idea of the return on investment you’re likely to achieve. This makes the whole process a lot safer, not only because you can be sure our robotics solutions will work in your facility but also because it makes it easier to put the financial justification to the business when there is a clear roadmap for payback for the upfront investment.
