manufacturer that serves the majority of worldwide automak- ers. This company is rolling out Argonaut track and trace with pack out, allowing integrating previously dissimilar traceability systems into Argonaut’s modular framework. Argonaut is driv- ing its new corporate standard for tracking and traceability. A lithium-ion battery manufacturer is using Argonaut’s au- tomated work instructions, track and trace, and HMI bridge applications. Automated work instructions send recipe data to plant floor PLCs and gather measurement and test data from operators through an HMI. Track and trace is used as the primary recordkeeper for product genealogy data, while HMI Bridge is used to present legacy Web-based applica- tions to operators on the plant floor. In aerospace, a fixed-wing aircraft manufacturer is using
Argonaut’s automated work instructions together with the kit- ting and sequencing application to deliver tooling to a set of CNCs. First, the kitting and sequencing application integrates with the company’s ERP software to interpret production schedules and release jobs to the plant floor. Automated work instructions show operators how to group tools for job orders according to production schedules.
Collaborative Robots Work Slow or Fast On the equipment side, one of the newer things in automation are collab- orative robots that can work safely side by side with humans, without the need for guarding. FANUC America Corp. (Rochester Hills, MI) introduced three table-top-size collaborative robots in September. The company had previously introduced one heavy-payload collaborative robot. “Everybody’s buying a few to test them out and see how they fit into the manufacturing process,” said Chris Blanchette, account manager for assembly and aerospace at FANUC. “They’re putting feelers out.” So far, Blanchette said the people-
friendly robots are in use at a commer- cial medical laboratory, where they’re sorting, labeling and moving samples to be tested; at automotive companies for ergonomically challenging tasks like
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lifting and putting a spare tire into a vehicle’s trunk before a human operator bolts it down, or applying sealant on the un- derbelly of a car; and for hazardous, repetitive tasks or jobs where precision is required, such as putting chips on boards or assembling small components. The robots are also suitable for machine tool loading and unloading as well as packing operations in food manufactur- ing, Blanchette said.
What makes them suited for safely working alongside humans is the integrated safety-rated collaborative sensor. These robots also have intelligent features like machine vision and force sensing built in. One factor that’s different about these collaborative
robots compared with typical robots is their speed, which is 500 mm/sec (19.7 ips) maximum when they detect a person is nearby.
“Which is a downfall,” said Blanchette. “But what it does give you is the ability to quickly change what’s going on in an assembly line without having to add the guarding.”
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