You have to know! Five minefields of factory non-standard automation transformation

Into the beginning of the "robot revolution", many enterprises have set foot on the factory non-standard automation equipment "road of no return", unmanned factory also seems to gradually become the future factory development trend. However, fully automated assembly lines have sporadically appeared in large enterprises. Despite the government's efforts to promote the robot replacement policy, many enterprises have received subsidies from the state and simply put their equipment in the production workshop.

Unmanned factories, fully automated assembly lines, robots

Mistake # 1: Introducing robots is an automated upgrade

The application of robot is the most representative aspect of automatic upgrade. But it's not the answer to everything. Pneumatic hydraulic control and non-standard equipment automation is also one of the very important means to achieve automation. Especially for some special applications, robots can not solve, non-standard automation equipment is the answer. Automatic upgrade, must not only look at the robot, a variety of channels is good.

Mistake # 2: You buy a robot and it works

As an intelligent device, robots are not easy to be installed and debugged. If the development (or secondary development) and application of robots are ignored, many robots will be bought back to be useless or used improperly. To draw an analogy between robots and sports players, a good group of athletes (robots) and a good coach (systems integrator) is what makes the team (enterprise) win.

Mistake 3: Automated upgrades can be done in one step

The real automatic upgrade is not a simple station or machine replacement can be completed, but an extremely complex system engineering. Automatic transformation needs to be done according to one's ability, starting from the more mature automation technology, starting from the parts of the factory in urgent need of upgrading, gradually, must not pursue one step in place.

Mistake 4: Any process can be replaced by automatic equipment

The production of products using automated production lines should be large enough output; Product design and process should be advanced, stable, reliable, and in a long time to keep basically unchanged. Not all processes are suitable for automatic modification. The use of automatic line in mass production has significant economic benefits.

Mistake 5: Realizing automation transformation is realizing industry 4.0

Recently, the concept of Industry 4.0 and Made in China 2025 is very hot, so that many enterprises blindly follow the trend. Manufacturing enterprises should pay more attention to practical technologies and solutions to problems. When the development to the information as the core technology of generalized management automation, industry 4.0 era will emerge at the historic moment.

So, if enterprises need to use industrial robot system, the first thing to do is to analyze their own production process, understand their own needs.

Analyze and understand your needs

A Listen and understand your needs carefully

The use of automated systems to assemble the production shop for manufacturing is designed to maximize the efficiency ratio between product production and quality control. We need to go to the production department and familiarize ourselves with the process. Need to study which process is the short board of the production process, which process can be automated instead of manual.

Analyze return on investment based on the combination of short-term needs and long-term goals of the enterprise. Don't just look at today or a few years from now and decide what equipment you need to buy.

B Develop and recruit talent

In order to innovate technology, it is necessary to have appropriate technical personnel. Automatic assembly workshop will inevitably have a lot of equipment, the company's talent needs to have the ability to learn quickly, can be familiar with the integrator system as soon as possible.

C Identify the responsible party

Both the integrator and the end user are responsible for ensuring that the production process is correct. The integrator needs to provide equipment and expert-level guidance that meet customer requirements. It is the customer's responsibility to provide the relevant information required by the production equipment.

Two, choose a reliable system integrator

Industrial robot automation integration this industry, in the domestic up is not a few years, there is no reliable level of integrator in China, so we can not according to these associations or official certification to protect their choice. So what kind of integrator is relatively reliable?

A The right size

As a supplier of robotic systems, scale matters. This is a large and comprehensive robot supplier, such as Siasong in China and ABB in foreign countries, which both do system integration and robot ontology. And a small, sophisticated robot supplier with a handful of employees, like UR, like KMT.

Big doesn't necessarily mean better, and small doesn't mean less.

B Field of expertise

A qualified integrator is aimed at industry application integration. They are not only familiar with industrial robots, but also need to understand the production standards, production requirements and production processes of the industry. Good robotics companies don't make good robotics systems. Integrators must sell their customers robots that can produce their products, not the robots themselves.

C Professional engineer team and project management team

When contacting professional robot system integrators, their professional and technical personnel or sales staff will generally provide detailed engineering management and implementation details, listen to your needs, and suggest you to carry out a feasibility analysis or preliminary trial production. You can get to know the composition of the technical staff of the integrator during the pilot production, whether it is expert engineers with years of work experience, or a large number of young students who have just graduated.

D Professional documents

Professional robot system integrators generally have their standard products, as well as the technical documentation of their standard products. They usually produce separate technical documents for different clients. If it is a foreign integrator, they will also provide translation documents, of course, there may be a fee for this part.

E Promised spare parts

While the stability of industrial robots has come a long way in recent years, they are still machines. No one has ever invented a perpetual motion machine or a machine that never wears out, so your robot will still malfunction. Therefore, it is important to know whether your supplier can provide you with the spare parts you need.

F Professional services

If your company is a small to medium sized business, it can be a huge expense to train a technical attendant for this system, which means you may have to rely on your supplier for most of your problems.

A professional system integrator will have a special service department to deal with the problem of equipment service. They usually provide phone support, email support, or their devices are equipped with remote support.

G Clear warranty

The last thing you need to know is some warranty issues. What must be made clear is the duration of the warranty they provide, whether the warranty is based on three shifts, the limited duration of the warranty, etc.