Case Study
Real-World Solutions to Complex Challenge
Case Study – Reducing Robot Cycle Time in a Manufacturing Facility
Boost production with optimized Robot Cycle. Cut cycle time from 120 to 20 seconds per unit. Witness a 40% reduction in downtime. Scale up effortlessly.
Overview
A manufacturing facility specializes in the production of decorative components for high-end automotive brands. With a surge in product demand, there’s an imperative to scale up production. However, the existing robot cycle time is insufficient to meet this increased demand. Additionally, there’s an issue with decreasing accuracy ,necessitating extended maintenance hours for adjustments. The company’s strategic objective is to optimize th cycle time to enhance production throughput and address the accuracy concerns in the robotic systems.
Problem
The robot cell has 4 robots and they run 24/7. The robot’s cycle time varies from 60 to 120 seconds per unit from some products, which is too slow to meet the increased demand, Also, because the accuracy of the robots is decreasing every hour, they have to stop the machine often during the shifts to make adjustments. Increasing the machine downtime. The company wants to reduce the cycle time to 20-25 seconds per unit while maintaining the quality of the products and the accuracy of the robots.
Solution
Sidentify Bottlenecks
An analysis of the production process revealed bottlenecks responsible for delays in the robot cycle time. These bottlenecks were primarily caused by slow robot movements and waiting times between robot tasks.
Optimize Robot Movements
To reduce the robot cycle time.several optimizations were implemented. Unnecessary movements were minimized, and the robot’s path was refined. Additionally, certain robot movements were enhanced to increase speed, facilitating quicker transitions between tasks and subsequently reducing the overall cycle time. To address accuracy concerns. therobot’s TCP (tool center point) was checked and calibrated, improving the accuracy and reducing the downtime.
Result
Through the implementation of these solutions, we successfully reduced the robot cycle time from 120 seconds to just 20 seconds per unit, effectively meeting our target. Simultaneously, with accuracy enhancements, downtime saw a notable 40% reduction.This also led to a substantial boost in production throughput, effectively catering to the growing demand for our products.
