Applied Robot, is it really right for you?

Philosophers say that repetitive and boring labor in factories alienates people and goes against human nature. Indeed, when the new generation of the Internet enters the workplace, more and more of them are no longer willing to be screws on the assembly line. This is a challenge that most Chinese manufacturing companies need to face and face, and replacing manual labor with automated equipment such as robots has become a viable option for many companies.

When the enterprise application is in progress

In the production workshop of Xiamen Guangpu Electronics Co., Ltd. High-speed glue dispensers, fully automatic LED aging production lines and other automation equipment are orderly conveying materials and processing products. "After our automation equipment is fully completed, the required manpower can be reduced by at least 50%-60%." In charge of production Yao Jidong, deputy general manager of Guangpu Electronics, said, "For example, we used to manually lock screws, and one took 7-8 seconds. Now, after the introduction of the locking screw machine, it only takes 2 seconds. Including dispensing, every point is required to be very straight. It is very uniform, and it was impossible to do it manually in the past, but now it can be done with an automatic glue dispenser, and it is faster than manual work."

And a welding workshop for the production of fan protection nets in a home appliance company in Guangdong , Under the sound of the booming machine, no workers were seen working, but fully automatic equipment was used for welding and assembly. "This kind of workshop is very noisy, filled with harmful dust, and is very hot. The environment is very harsh. People can't stand it for a few hours, and no employees are willing to do it." The provider of this automation equipment, Dongguan Zhongtian Automation Technology The general manager of the limited company Tang Kangshou said.

As an equipment provider, Tang Kangshou has an in-depth understanding of the automation needs of many manufacturing enterprises in various industries, "whether large or small enterprises, they are very willing to apply robots and other equipment. It has been rising, profits have been declining, and it is no longer profitable to use robots.” He pointed out, “At the same time, employees are becoming more and more aware of their safety and health. Therefore, although the initial investment is a bit large, many companies are still willing to invest in these products. equipment."

According to Tang Kangshou's experience, after the introduction of robots, the production efficiency can generally be increased by more than 30%, and the quality and consistency of the products can be improved, and the defective rate is low. "For example, our robot has powerful feedback, travel control, and dust collection function. It will not happen when manual labor was used in the past, and there will be more hits in one place and less in other places. The product is packaged directly after it comes out, and no need to wipe it. .”

Not only in the manufacturing process, robots and other equipment can gradually replace people, and the logistics handling system of the factory can also be completed by robots. In the workshop of a toy factory in Foshan, an AGV automatic trolley playing a light happy song slowly moved to a station full of semi-finished products, then turned around skillfully, put on a good posture, and waited for the conveying device on the station to smoothly move the place. The filled material is pushed onto the trolley, and after a while, the trolley starts and turns to the next station. At the same time, the workers beside him shuttled back and forth without hindering each other.

"The direct benefit of automatic guided trolleys is to save people, like the previous forklifts and porters, which can be saved, which reduces the difficulty of management, and improves the accuracy, real-time and standardization of management. Moreover, it can bring the flow of information flow and intelligently manage the inventory of different stations." said Liu Jiachang, chairman of Guangzhou Puhua Lingdong Robot Technology Co., Ltd., the provider of the AGV equipment, "AGV brings another The advantage is flexibility, the rhythm can be fast or slow, faster in peak season, slower in off-season; second, when the production line needs to be extended or shortened, the route of AGV equipment can be easily extended or shortened accordingly.”

Are robots really right for you?

The above three examples let us feel the broad application of robotic equipment in the manufacturing field. Now, with the intensive introduction of various incentive measures, large-scale media reports, and the influx of capital from all walks of life, the development of the robot industry is in a state of rapid development. It seems that "machine substitution" and "black light factory" dream is about to come true. Many companies are also worried that they will fall behind if they don’t get on the robot! But is it really that optimistic?

"It is more cost-effective to apply robots to enterprises and production lines with large production volumes. If you invest in a robot, if there is no production for four or five hours, it will cause a lot of waste." Tang Kangshou pointed out, "The output is large, which means that there are many people who used it originally, and the robot can operate 24 hours a day, so the cycle of cost recovery will be shortened a lot."

Liu Jiachang also believes that a certain scale of production enterprises is more suitable for use AGV, "These enterprises themselves have talent reserves such as mechanical and electrical engineers, technicians, etc., and it is relatively easy to get started. Because the use of AGVs is standardized in the management of production sites, the requirements for personnel are relatively high. Small and micro enterprises can also use them, but they are often relatively simple. , small-scale application.”

If it is an enterprise with more complex requirements for models, functions, materials, etc., is it difficult to use robots? The case of Optoelectronics tells us that this is not the case. "Our current production line is modular. Whenever a new product demand arrives, we will adjust some of these modules to adapt to changes in order demand." Yao Jidong pointed out, "This is also to meet the needs of the LED lighting industry. , because the final products are directly sold in supermarkets, there are many requirements for styles, and we need to cooperate in the production process." The modular idea of Guangpu Electronics' automation transformation is not only applied in a production line, according to Yao Jidong introduced that they also planned a series of plans for different business divisions and different production links, implemented step by step, and finally guided their cooperative suppliers to carry out automation transformation, so that they could be integrated into Guangpu's entire enterprise production system.

As equipment providers, Tang Kangshou and Liu Jiachang are like consulting customers every time they do a project. They need to conduct a detailed analysis of their current manpower situation, production layout, hardware conditions, etc., and then come up with a plan. , is a long-term service process. "Most enterprises do not use them in large quantities at one time. The adjustment of production lines and personnel is carried out one line at a time, or one section by section, and one station by one station, rather than knocking down and starting over." Liu Jiachang said. For manufacturing companies, incremental improvements may be more pragmatic.