3 Keys to Deploying Cobots for Machine Tending

Recently I saw a really good post by Chase Fearing over at Sub-Zero where he shared his experience and lessons learned in implementing cobots on the manufacturing floor.

They were all really good points and things not everyone thinks about when undertaking a cobot automation project for machine tending.

Thought I’d build on his summary to cover some best practices and key considerations from our experience at Flexxbotics.

1. Cobot Success Requires Planning

• Focus on Rapid ROI Projects
• Target operations with immediate ROI where measurable results can be identified in advance
• Select consistent / repetitive steps rather than pioneering new things or choosing to automate activities with variable or unpredictable movements
• Complexity geometry parts are OK, just need to select appropriate in/out-feed, workholding and gripper configuration

• Make sure Operations are ready for Robotic Automation
• Consider in-feed/out-feed, work holding, reach distance & angles, etc
• Take into account whole cell / process including secondary operations like deburr, washdown, blow-off, in-line inspection, etc – don’t create new bottlenecks, think about overall throughput

• Identify Your Requirements & Iterate

• Write down your requirements, even if just bullets in an email
• Iterate and add to requirements as you go, there will be emergent / un-foreseen “shall / shall not” items that come up
• Consider doing a half-day requirements gathering session with key people directly involved in your org to get everything on the table… don’t wait until the end for someone to say “it’s going to have to _____”

• Vendor Support Limitations
• Don’t select projects with complexity that exceeds the staff competency of your vendor, distributor or systems integrator… alternately, ensure that you select a solution provider that can handle your project requirements

2. Know Your Cobot

• Cobot Limitations
• Understand inherent cobot limitations to prevent unnecessary frustration
• Connectivity and communication with factory machines can be essential if coordinated operations are important such as human safety, precision quality, downtime reduction, and others
• Protective stops (aka P-Stops) that are non-safety related can occur periodically for a variety of reasons such as work holding contact; if not promptly restarted they can adversely impact capacity, it’s important to have a plan or way to get alerted and restart your cobot to keep production running
• Cobot Safety
• Cobots are not inherently safe out-of-the-box; use safety measures/sensors
• Conduct safety and risk assessments or have your solution provider do them
• Avoid Sub-Optimal Operating Modes
• Don’t pick a process / design a procedure that requires operating in power and force limiting mode if possible
• Purposeful Automation
• Focus on process improvements rather than just adding cool new robotic automation; if it doesn’t solve a business problem and deliver ROI, don’t do it
• Understand Root Cause of Problems
• If there’s an issue: Perform root cause analysis, consider all factors contributing to below target performance, learn from mistakes / don’t repeat
• Continuously improve, understand that optimization will be required to hit all your project targets

3. Project Communication & Buy-In

• Involve Those Required Early

• Get associated engineering personnel and managers involved early; engage the appropriate roles in your org – mechanical eng, automation eng, production eng, facilities, plant mgr, production mgr, etc – whoever might need to participate, provide authorization or could be required at your org
• Have a training plan for people impacted – operators, maintenance techs, personnel doing set-ups/change-overs, other plant personnel, etc
• Get people involved/engaged; maybe let them name the cobot… if not Farrah, could be Steve Austin (Bionic Man :-))

• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

• Let people know the Goals
• Communicate the plan
• Give everyone periodic updates
• Celebrate success!

The benefits of using collaborative robots in factory production are substantial, and can have a material impact on both revenue and margins when implemented appropriately.

At Flexxbotics we believe robots with autonomous process control in manufacturing are the key to smart factory autonomy. However, your ability to run ‘lights out’ relies on more than just buying a cobot. 

Robotic automation requires step-by-step planning and deployment for success and continuous operation.

That’s what we do at Flexxbotics and why the Flexxbotics solution exists.

And if you want to know “How & Why” Flexxbotics helps with the points above, our Marketing group got a hold of my post and ADDED comments in-line below…

1. Cobot Success Requires Planning

• Focus on Rapid ROI Projects
• Target operations with immediate ROI where measurable results can be identified in advance
• 🦾 ADDED: at Flexxbotics we help you map your business outcomes, ROI justification and identify the complete automation solution required to achieve your goals which can including throughput, yield, cost savings, capacity, efficiencies and others

• • Select consistent / repetitive steps rather than pioneering new things or choosing to automate activities with variable or unpredictable movements
  • 🦾 ADDED: our Flexxbotics experts help you identify the best candidate operations for robotic automation with our Discover Workshop

• • Complexity geometry parts are OK, just need to select appropriate in/out-feed, workholding and gripper configuration
  • 🦾 ADDED: we propose automation designs that are right for your part types and the range of parts that will be processed

• Make sure Operations are ready for Robotic Automation
• Consider in-feed/out-feed, work holding, reach distance & angles, etc
• Take into account whole cell / process including secondary operations like deburr, washdown, blow-off, in-line inspection, etc – don’t create new bottlenecks, think about overall throughput
• 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics discovery workshop leads your team through the comprehensive robotic automation considerations necessary to achieve your stated objectives

• Identify Your Requirements & Iterate

• Write down your requirements, even if just bullets in an email
• Iterate and add to requirements as you go, there will be emergent / un-foreseen “shall / shall not” items that come up
• Consider doing a half-day requirements gathering session with key people directly involved in your org to get everything on the table… don’t wait until the end for someone to say “it’s going to have to _____”
• 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics discovery workshop is designed to get your personnel to surface the business and technical requirements up-front and then keep them updated throughout your project

• Vendor Support Limitations
• Don’t select projects with complexity that exceeds the staff competency of your vendor, distributor or systems integrator… alternately, ensure that you select a solution provider that can handle your project requirements
• 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics professionals have decades of experience and are knowledgeable in the most complex robotic production scenarios and requirements

2. Know Your Cobot

• Cobot Limitations
• Understand inherent cobot limitations to prevent unnecessary frustration
• 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics expertise extends from the cobot / robot itself and end of arm tooling / grippers to factory machinery, inspection equipment and automation technologies and include world-class manufacturing best practices for automation and digitalization

• • Connectivity and communication with factory machines can be essential if coordinated operations are important such as human safety, precision quality, downtime reduction, and others
  • 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics breakthrough innovation, FlexxCORE, is specifically designed to enable robot+machine interoperability for continuous operations

• • Protective stops (aka P-Stops) that are non-safety related can occur periodically for a variety of reasons such as work holding contact; if not promptly restarted they can adversely impact capacity, it’s important to have a plan or way to get alerted and restart your cobot to keep production running
  • 🦾 ADDED: the Flexxbotics solution includes our patent-pending Intelligent Recovery option for non-safety related auto-restarts as well as Alerts & Escalations on text and email

• Cobot Safety
• Cobots are not inherently safe out-of-the-box; use safety measures/sensors
• 🦾 ADDED: With Flexxbotics the robot is instructing the machines to perform operations taking into account human safety and assuring that the robot is not in a unsafe position before initiating an action.

• • Conduct safety and risk assessments or have your solution provider do them
  • 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics offers the option for safety and risk assessments for each project we undertake

• Avoid Sub-Optimal Operating Modes
• Don’t pick a process / design a procedure that requires operating in power and force limiting mode if possible
• 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics designs your cobot automation to optimize your production and avoid sub-optimal operating modes

• Purposeful Automation
• Focus on process improvements rather than just adding cool new robotic automation; if it doesn’t solve a business problem and deliver ROI, don’t do it
• 🦾 ADDED: at Flexxbotics we believe robotic automation must be business focused with results included in every proposal

• Understand Root Cause of Problems
• If there’s an issue: Perform root cause analysis, consider all factors contributing to below target performance, learn from mistakes / don’t repeat
• Continuously improve, understand that optimization will be required to hit all your project targets
• 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics provides on-going optimization services with root cause analysis of any issues

3. Project Communication & Buy-In

• Involve Those Required Early

• Get associated engineering personnel and managers involved early; engage the appropriate roles in your org – mechanical eng, automation eng, production eng, facilities, plant mgr, production mgr, etc – whoever might need to participate, provide authorization or could be required at your org
• Have a training plan for people impacted – operators, maintenance techs, personnel doing set-ups/change-overs, other plant personnel, etc
• Get people involved/engaged; maybe let them name the cobot… if not Farrah, could be Steve Austin (Bionic Man :-))
• 🦾 ADDED: Another benefit of the Flexxbotics discovery workshop is getting the right personnel involved across the organization to achieve your project objectives

• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

• Let people know the Goals
• Communicate the plan
• Give everyone periodic updates
• Celebrate success!
• 🦾 ADDED: Flexxbotics provides materials to support your communications efforts – both summary and detail – on an ongoing basis so you can show the measurable results attained