Industrial robots that do welding and metal fabrication are getting both a lot smaller and a lot larger, depending on the size of the company using them and the type of welding configurations they need. ABB helped make this clear in their recent demonstrations at this year's FABTECH 2011 show, from November 14 through November 17 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
The company's demos highlighted the wide range of emerging robotics welding and fabrication technologies available. Systems ranged from highly engineered, complex configurations for heavy, large-frame welding to small, entry-level packages.
The ArcPack Lean 1410 welding robot package is an example of the smaller, entry-level welding robot packages now available for smaller companies.
(Photo courtesy of ABB.)
"In general, more companies at both ends of the size spectrum are moving into the virtual world of robots," said Mark Oxlade, welding segment manager for ABB Robotics North America. One demo was a 10-axis welding titan consisting of an IRB 140 robot with welding gear attached to the arm of a larger IRB 660 robot to increase reach, accessibility, and cycle time.
ABB developed this configuration in Europe during the past year, and introduced it to the North American market at FABTECH. The system provides an economical alternative to a robot traveling on a traditional gantry column. It also has a smaller footprint and a longer reach. Perhaps most important, it provides much better cycle times by making it possible to work from a fixed position sequentially in four different welding quadrants.
In this high end, there a number of heavy welding and fabrication companies that have never deployed welding robots, but are now deciding they now want to do so. "They may be making large components like crane jigs for welding the hulls of aircraft carriers, for example," said Oxlade. "They know automation is here, but they're not sure how to get into it."
At the other end of the size spectrum, another demo showed the company's recently introduced ArcPack Lean 1410, a fully configured, quick-start robotic welding package that is simple enough to be sold off the shelf in catalogues. The base package of this model is available for less than $35,000, said Oxlade. That includes an IRB 1410 robot, the new IRC5 Compact controller, a power supply and wire feeder, and a 500 amp air cooled welding torch. All the user needs to add are tools and guarding.
In the past, engineers in many smaller companies that are potential users of industrial welding robots assumed that millions of parts were necessary to justify getting only a single robot. But that has changed. "For one thing, controller software for the PC such as our RobotStudio is getting more capable and easier to program," said Oxlade. "It's aimed at non-programmers as well as programmers, with a point-and-click interface option." The problem that software like this helps to solve is how to do smaller volumes and high diversity easily, accurately, efficiently, and quickly.
Industrial welding and metal fabrication robots are being developed specifically for smaller shops and factories, such as companies making switch gears and electrical boxes. With the ArcPack Lean 1410, ABB's intention was to extend the flexout range -- the range of standard cells for arc welding -- into entry-level base equipment, said Oxlade.
Although concern about how easy or hard it would be to program a robot was formerly a big barrier for smaller operations to get into robotic welding, the other potential impediment was price. For companies like these, it's all about the threshold. "Instead of the $200,000 to $400,000 for a large system that used to be the only option, now you can get a base system for less than the cost of a welder for a year," said Oxlade. "That's a convincing argument."
Dave, I, too, was surprised to hear that the robot costs less than an experienced welder. Of course, it still doesn't do everything an experienced welder can do. And, as you point out so clearly, the complexities of the automation process can get in the way of designing a better system.
Rob, you're exactly right, the overall COO is lower. Not only does the entire package cost less, including the robot itself, but the software gives engineers two options: program it yourself in an IDE or use the much easier point-and-click type interface for configuration and setup.
There is no doubt that automation delivers tremendous advantages to shops who employ it. My point is simply that automation brings with it a whole new set of manufacturing challenges. Is it worth it? Sure. But you are going to have to operate within the constraints imposed by the automated system, many of which you won't anticipate beforehand, no matter how hard you try. And if you have smart and innovative process engineers, they will constantly be going up against these constraints and trying to figure out how to "break" them in order to get even more out of the system.
I agree with Alex that many of these production floor advances are not getting the "air time" that they should. Couple the improved automation systems with tighter integration with enterprise software platforms like PLM and MES and you have a recipe for manufacturers to get tighter controls, better visibility, and wring more efficiencies out of their production systems.
It's interesting to see how advance robots, better pick-and-place systems, and improved cameras (machine vision) and camera interfaces are together working in concert to improve reliability on the production line. This is not a trend that's getting a lot of publicity, but when you go and visit plants, they're clearly getting good ROI on this stuff.
You make an interesting point, Ann, when you mention that robot solutions may work for smaller shops. I would guess that means the overall cost of ownership is less. It sounds like it is less not necessarily because the robot is less expensive but because the software is less difficult from a user point of view. Does that mean that set-up is easier? It also sound like the new software doesn't require the programming that previous software required. Is that it?
The fact that a fully-configured arc welding robot can be purchased for significantly less than an experienced welder makes in a year is pretty impressive. Of course, the price of robot itself is only part of the cost of setting up an automated welding cell. Also, automation imposes a whole new set of constraints on a manufacturing process, the consequences of which may not immediately be obvious.
For example, when I worked as a process engineer in highly-automated foundry, I came up with a way to reconfigure a mold which made four castings per pour so that it could make six castings per pour. This was a big deal - the number of pieces per mold was directly related to profitability, and this was a 50% increase! It would have represented over $1 million per year in increased profit.
The only problem was that I couldn't get six castings to fit into one of the totes which was used to carry the parts to the automated finishing cell. (Actually, I figured out a way to get them to fit, as long as they were loaded a certain way. But the way the process was set up required them to be randomly dumped into the tote. Loading them in an ordered way would have required an additional robot).
With human beings, this would be no problem - just train the operator how to load the parts, or else just tell him to put three of the parts in one tote, and three of the parts in another tote. But the automated system was set up such that one mold worth of parts had to go in a single tote! Re-writing the code to allow parts from a single mold to be split up between two totes turned out to be such a daunting task that none of the automation engineers - who were extremely talented guys, some of whom have since gone on to start their own company - was even willing to touch it.
Still, with the price of robots coming down, and increasingly user-friendly interfaces, it looks like automation will be making its way into more small-to-medium sized manufacturers.
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