Electricity and Control August 2021

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT

At a glance  For all manufacturers, there is a point between zero and 100% automation where the greatest ROI in automation technology can be found.  In some situations human flexibility is still the best solution to handling complex processes.  Robot technology is a fundamental enabler of the automated factory and cobots offer a particular advantage in high-mix production plants.

Robotic arms can be designed for diverse applications, here packing finished product in a food processing factory. Enabling technologies Ongoing advances in automation technology mean manufacturers can move closer to full automation. Machine vision is a great example. The development of 3D vision systems means more complex pick-and-place operations are now feasible. Where previously items needed to be carefully presented to pick-and-place systems, vision technology can now readily identify objects randomly positioned in transport bins. A fundamental enabler of the automated factory and critical to any lights out projects is robot technology. For the movement of materials, sub-assemblies, and other items around and within the production process, also referred to as intra-logistics, this would be a key consideration. Traditionally intra-logistics would have involved forklift trucks. But in today’s modern factory, mobile robots can automate these tasks, managed by a supervisory control system which ensures that materials are delivered to machines, work in progress is transferred between production systems, and finished goods are taken back to the warehouse. Mobile robots can carry significant loads and work seamlessly with each other and with people when they are working in the same space. In automating traditionally human-operated tasks, where a degree of dexterity is required, cobots, or collaborative robots, offer a good solution. Despite the name suggesting otherwise, they can also be a valuable addition to the lights out scenario. While the collaborative aspect here would not be so important, cobots are designed to carry out more complex tasks, so they lend themselves to replacing manual assembly or processing tasks. They are simple to programme, particularly when compared to more traditional industrial robots. In a high-mix environment with many products and tasks, the cost of reprogramming an industrial robot tends to outweigh its viability. Cobots are comparatively simple to re-deploy for different tasks, offering a particular advantage in high-mix production plants. Where high-speed repeatability is required, industrial robots – such as delta robots – are ideal. In this category,

Robotic arms handling heavy lifting help to streamline the process in automotive manufacturing. advances in tooling are opening up new applications. One example would be the automated packing of fruit. This has always been difficult due to the need for delicate handling, but development in gripper designs has made automating soft fruit packing with industrial robots a practical option. Other recent developments in robotics have identified innovative ways of deploying the technology. Omron’s MoMa is a hybrid concept that combines a mobile robot, a collaborative robot, and a vision system, opening up a new range of possible functions. The combination of mobility and dexterity means tasks previously hard to automate – like dealing with a jam in a bottle filling line – are now easier to tackle. The factory of the future Will the lights out factory become the norm in future? As automation technology continues to advance, the fully lights out operation will become more viable for a growing number of manufacturers in the years to come. Where today a manufacturer may not be able to justify automating the final 10% of the production process, that figure may shrink to 5% and then 2% and may eventually reach 0%. What is important is that manufacturers fully understand where automation can best deliver value to their business today. This is something that technology vendors and systems integrators are well equipped to support. □

For more information visit: www.industrial.omron.co.za

Electricity + Control AUGUST 2021

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