Cobot and flexible production - Future-proofing SMEs?

Many countries in Europe, such as the UK and Germany are likely to experience serious labour shortages over the coming decade, especially in relation to technical specialists. At the same time, product lifecycles are becoming shorter. Despite this, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) might be reluctant to invest in additional automation. However, collaborative robots (cobots) are easy to set up and offer a quick and cost-effective solution. They can increase the flexibility, quality and speed of production and enable companies to respond rapidly to changing market conditions. Omron’s TM series of cobots are a good example of this versatility.

Are robots likely to kill jobs or will they help to future-proof SMEs? Robots were first used in industrial manufacturing in the 1960s and since then, their number has increased inexorably. Some 500,000 to 600,000 new robot systems are now becoming operational throughout the world each year, although the increase is particularly noticeable in the Asian market, as reported in ‘World Robotics 2019’ by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) and Fraunhofer IPA.

If small and medium-sized production companies in Europe want to keep up with constant economic growth internationally, they need to invest more in automation for cost reasons alone. Meanwhile, there’s an increasing shortage of workers. According to forecasts by Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, low birth rates will reduce the available workforce from around 44 million in 2013 to around 40 to 42 million in 2030. Other European countries are likely to experience similar shortages. According to BCG (Boston Consulting Group), there could be a labour shortage of up to 7.7 million people. Greater automation is therefore needed to counteract this decline.

Cobots were first introduced in 2008 and represent a relatively new category of industrial robots. In contrast to traditional robots, which have to be shielded from the human workspace by a security fence, cobots were developed to work safely with people. Users also need less time and money to program an application with these ‘helper robots’.

In addition, cobots can be easily moved from one location to another to work on different tasks, whereas conventional industrial robots have to stay in one location and can normally only be used for a specific task within the robot cell. Cobots therefore provide much greater flexibility. The diverse tasks they can handle vary from simple pick-and-place applications for parts handling, sorting and palletizing, through to machine assembly, order picking, packaging and testing. They can help to apply adhesive and sealants, assemble or disassemble parts, measure, test, check and take over screwing operations. This results in significant benefits for the employees, who no longer have to carry out monotonous, physically demanding or even dangerous work, but will receive support with precision work and can concentrate on their core abilities.

Many core functions (such as pattern, barcode and colour recognition) enable detection, inspection, measurement and sorting applications to be implemented easily and, if necessary, adapted to other requirements. With the help of Omron’s Landmark positioning recognition facility, the cobot knows where it is and can be aligned with another machine, for example, without much effort or recalibration. It can even move autonomously and work wherever it’s needed, because cobots can be combined with Omron’s LD series of mobile robots.