OEM Manufacturing Benefiting From Automation
The advancements of robotics is changing how manufacturers approach projects.
Research from OEM Magazine shows that OEM companies are benefiting as robotics manufacturing grows more advanced. One surprising benefit is the need for automation to fill skilled trade employment gaps. For now, robotic welding is supplementing low employment rates and completing highly repetitive welding tasks. As robotic manufacturing takes on a larger role, safety and quality are improving as well.
Safety
Recent advances in technology have led to the development of collaborative robots, or “cobots.” These new robots are better able to sense foreign objects in their path and stop working, which is instrumental for employee safety and quality. R-V Industries’ robotic welding cell has a fail safe trigger that shuts down the machine if the guards are out of position.
Cost saving
In addition to the safety of workers, another benefit of safer cobots is the cost saving aspect. Companies are performing trial runs using cobots without welding cells, reducing equipment and other supplementary costs. Improvement in programming further lowers costs. With past robotic manufacturing equipment, companies struggled to find programmers able to set up their robots. Currently, technology is available to make programming both easier to set up and easier to adapt down the road.
Diversification and Quality
As automation becomes more popular, robotic manufacturing is diversifying to meet unique customer needs. This benefits OEM companies who may not need a robot with infinite capabilities, but instead can leverage R-V’s robotic welding services to repeatedly perform several tasks with speed and quality. OEMs, however, are not the only companies to benefit from robotic manufacturing.
R-V Industries has already begun to incorporate robotic manufacturing into our skill set. While many of our custom fabrication projects require a human touch, we are able to utilize robots for repetitive manufacturing work. Using robotic welding allows for fast and consistent quality while our employees work on higher level welding jobs.