Automation | technology As the injection moulding industry
strives for greater levels of productivity, increased use of automation and the further use of robots on the shop floor is inevitable, writes Mark Holmes
Making the most of helping hands
Deployment of robots for automation and assembly in manufacturing industry continues at a significant pace. According to the World Robotics 2016 report from the International Federation of Robotics, global robot sales in 2015 reached the highest volumes ever recorded with the chemical, plastics and rubber industries recording a 16% increase over the previous year. Even so, suppliers of robots continue to see the plastics industry – and the injection moulding in particular – as an area with considerable future growth potential as robots transtion from replacing to cooperating with human staff. “At present, simple assembly work in the plastics
sector is performed by low-skilled labour,” says Mark Gray, UK and Ireland Area Sales Manager with Den- mark-based Universal Robots. “Our collaborative robotic [cobot] arms have the potential to fill many such posts, including those that involve repetitive assembly, machine tending or pick and place tasks. Importantly, around 80% of cobots installed worldwide operate with no external safety guarding, relying on force monitoring – after risk assessment – right beside human opera-
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tors, making it simple to implement cobots for selected tasks that require automating.” Gray says injection moulders are constantly looking
at ways to reduce overheads and increase efficiency. “Clearly, a robotic solution can meet these require- ments, offering advantages such as higher work rate and repeatability, better quality, longer working hours and no labour costs.” This focus on efficiency is paying off for Universal Robots, he says. “Most of the demand we are seeing is for larger cobots, such as our UR10, predominantly because of its 1.4m reach. Although many plastic parts are typically small, there is a need to reach inside the machine and remove components to a conveyor, for example. Many competitor robots on the market offering this extent of reach come with a large payload specification, which is not needed for handling light plastic parts. As a result, we can often supply our UR10, with its 10kg payload, typically at half the cost of conventional robot alternatives.” Gray adds that, while the most common demand is
Main image:
Automated pro- duction of LSR wristwatches on an Arburg machine using its Multilift V 15 linear robot
May/June 2017 | INJECTION WORLD 33
PHOTO: ARBURG
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