Tag: automated factory

OM in the News: Reshaping Factory Floors with Collaborative Robots

Collaborative robots work on parts as employees assemble dishwater racks along an assembly line at a Whirlpool Corp. factory in Findlay, Ohio
Collaborative robots work on parts as employees assemble dishwater racks along an assembly line at a Whirlpool factory in Ohio

Companies around the U.S. are reshaping their factory floors around “collaborative robots” that can stop if a person bumps into them. That precaution allows them to operate in tight spaces with little or no protective boundary. Collaborative robots stack spare tires and apply hot glue inside Chevys and Buicks at the GM plant in Lake Orion, Mich. They help install doors and windshields at BMW ’s plant in Spartanburg, S.C. They smooth riveted parts on 787 jets at a Boeing factory in Australia.

A long-term decline in U.S. factory jobs is due in part to automation. But manufacturers claim the automation trend isn’t intended to cut head count–instead it is aimed at improving safety and increasing productivity. “And as robots help manufacturers increase efficiency, they make U.S. factories more competitive versus countries with cheaper wages,” writes The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 9, 2016). If lower costs leads to more sales, factories could expand and add more of the higher skill jobs that remain.

North American manufacturers installed more than 28,000 robots last year. The market for collaborative robots is expected to grow to more than $1 billion by 2020, up from about $95 million in world-wide sales in 2015.

Universal Robots of Denmark sells one-arm robots for $45,000. The robot can work around the clock, taking the place of workers on 3 shifts. The average production worker makes $36,220 year. Manufacturing executives also say the robots save on materials costs because they apply materials like glue more efficiently. The robots also spare their workers from monotonous, laborious tasks that can cause injuries. Factory workers are the most likely to be injured at work by repetitive motion, and manufacturing ranks high among workplaces for injuries stemming from lifting and lowering.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What are the advantages of collaborative robots?
  2. What are their limitations?

OM in the News: Boeing and Airbus Shift to Automated Assembly

A Boeing 777 assembly line at the company’s Everett, Wash., production facility
A Boeing 777 assembly line at the company’s Everett, Wash., production facility

The world’s biggest plane makers are digging deep into the technology toolbox to deliver what they have promised will be an unprecedented boost in airliner production. Boeing and Airbus have racked up record orders over the past several years, thanks to booming demand from global airlines. “Now,” writes The Wall Street Journal (July 9-10, 2016), “they have to deliver all those planes.” To meet the challenge, they are increasingly relying on robots, drones and human workers who wear powered exoskeletons to help them ramp up production in what industry executives say is the aerospace industry’s largest-ever peacetime expansion.

The same march toward automation is sweeping across the manufacturing sector. But for Boeing and Airbus, the sense of urgency is heightened by years of promises made to new customers. The two intend to build 33% more each year by 2020, or around 1,800 planes. Until recently both companies made jetliners largely by hand; but they are learning from the high-volume automotive industry. New production technologies that plane makers are putting in place will help accelerate productivity gains.

Boeing’s new 1.3 million-square-foot Washington facility hosts high-speed robots that lay carbon-fiber tape and automated vehicles that ferry wing components around the factory. Airbus is putting a more automated assembly line in place as it seeks to raise production of its A-320 model to 60 a month in 2019 from the current 45 planes Their facility features automated moving platforms to carry the planes through the assembly process, laser measuring tools to better align components, and adjustable-height robots to drill more than 2,000 holes. Where manual labor is still required, Airbus has started using drones for external inspections of planes, and it has devised a mechanical exoskeleton to boost the strength of workers who bore holes so they can more easily lift the 12-kilogram drill required for the job. The device can also help retain aging but skilled employees.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Why is the airplane industry now looking to the auto industry for change?
  2. Why were planes largely made by hand to this point?

 

OM in the News: Adidas Shifts Production — But Robots Get the Jobs

Adidas unveiled a prototype of a "Speedfactory" in Ansbach, Germany this week
Adidas unveiled a prototype of a “Speedfactory” in Ansbach, Germany this week

Adidas is relocating some of its shoe production from Asia to the company’s homeland — but Germans shouldn’t expect a jobs boom, reports NBC Business News (May 25, 2016). What is currently done by hand will soon be carried out by robots as part of what the firm calls an “automated revolution.”

The sportswear giant just unveiled its prototype “Speedfactory” — a 3,000­ square ­foot, high ­tech facility in the southern German town of Ansbach. The first 500 robot-­made high ­performance running shoes are scheduled to be rolled out later this year. “We believe that this is pioneer work for a fully automated production process,” says an Adidas spokesman, adding that the facility will mean the firm “will be able to get the desired product to the customer much faster.”

Adidas moved its production to Asia in the early 1990s, mainly due to rising wage costs in Europe. It kept just one production facility open in Germany, where 700,000 soccer shoes are produced annually. Overall, Adidas manufactures more than 300 million sports shoes per year. The firm initially plans to produce around 1 million shoes in Germany.

A 50,000-square-foot “Speedfactory” is due to be finished in Ansbach by the end of 2016. A second is expected to open in the U.S. next year while a third is also in the pipeline.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. How does this relate to the return of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.?
  2. What are the advantages of having such a manufacturing facility in Germany, as opposed to outsourcing to Asia?