REINVENTING MANUFACTURING
The future is only too bright for the manufacturing
industry with the intervention of automation and collaborative robots
Industrial automation has always been part of
manufacturing industry on a limited basis. Over the past few decades automation
has become a necessity in the manufacturing industry due to global competition.
This has helped in efficient manufacturing processes and in mass-production of
goods. Automation has become inevitable globally in the manufacturing industry
today. The application of robotics and automation has been successfully
achieved in a wide range of industries dealing with well-defined processes and
products like the manufacturing industry, FMCG, automotive industry, the healthcare
industry, the pharmaceutical industry, to name a few.
With this idea of higher production rate and the need
for human interaction with machine automation, collaborative robots (or cobots)
were first pioneered in 2008. With humanrobot collaboration as the fundamental
basis of these cobots, these are different from traditional robots. The idea is
for humans and robots to be inter-dependent and achieve what each of them does
best. There are a few things that must be done manually, whereas the accuracy, precision
and mass production at higher efficiency is taken care of by the robots.
For manufacturing companies, collaborative robots are
the new, economic alternative to expensive, traditional industrial robots. They
make automation affordable and thus a realistic choice, especially for small
and medium sized enterprises as cobots help them compete more effectively,
offering new opportunities for employees, and even improving worker safety.
Cobots are specifically designed to work side-by-side with the human workforce,
without any costly, spacegrabbing protective installations. Therefore, cobots
are ideally suited for companies which produce a wide range of products and
small lot sizes.
This approach is particularly appealing to the Indian
Manufacturing Industry, especially the Indian SMEs because labour-intensive
conditions and the collaborative robots together can help the Indian market
achieve the best of both worlds. The Indian platform has begun recognising the
significance of inclusion of cobots as a part of manufacturing.
The Indian clientele has seen a visible growth in
quality, output, productivity, along with increase in efficiency, absence of
error and reduced costs of production.
The incorporation of collaborative robots will be a
timely introduction to revolutionise the Indian industries, which is expected
to optimise processes, reduce waste, improve yield in production, with higher
efficiency and precision. The functions that have already embraced automation
will continue to prevail with incremental improvements from the normal cycle of
technological innovation.
Some manufacturers have taken a step forward from
mass customisation to mass personalisation, which means return of the human
touch to manufacturing. The high-tech cobots exemplify productivity,
adaptability and reliability. Equipped with intuitive programming, versatile
use and an almost endless list of opportunities for add-ons, they are able to
complement production seamlessly.
According to a study at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology undertaken by Julie Shah, who studies human-robot collaboration
at the BMW plant, has discovered that teams of human and robot collaborators
worked with better efficiency and precision with higher productivity, when
compared to an all human or an all robot team. This co-operative process
reduced the human idle time by 85% and she also observed that humans do not
mind robots taking the lead.
By putting human beings back at the center of
industrial production, aided by tools such as cobots, the industry not only
gives consumers the products they want today, but gives workers jobs that are
meaningful and take a step ahead in manufacturing.
So far, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg when
it comes to making use of the innumerable opportunities there are in having
people and robots collaborate. Together, they are a formidable team with
enormous potential for the manufacturers that choose to take advantage of the
opportunities.
ET25OCT18
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