Manufacturing technology
securing new skills, while the fact that 99% of all British companies are SMEs presumably means that their bosses haven’t been able to chip in either. And beyond all that, Jeff Burnstein argues, is the difficulty of appreciating how new automated machines will actually impact workflows. “What’s the best tool for the job?” asks the CEO of the Association for Advancing Automation, a major American trade association. “I mean, you don’t want to use a robot just to do it.”
Digitalised dreams
How can these stumbling blocks be overcome? It may sound trite, but one answer arguably revolves around fully appreciating exactly what robots can do. For if they are indeed more versatile than the production lines of yore, that’s because of the complex algorithms that underpin them. And if that means they can easily be given new commands and converted, say, from making catheters to pumping out heart monitors, digitalisation can equally make the manufacturing process more straightforward. Trained on vast data sets, after all, robots can hone their skills over time, ensuring that finished products always reach industry standards – not least given the best machines now boast accuracy rates up to 0.001mm.
In a more general sense, Burnstein suggests that the competency of systems like YuMi drastically reduces the risk of human error from the factory floor, another potential barrier to quality products. Especially for dull, repetitive tasks – “grinding and polishing” are the two Burnstein pinpoints – he says that expecting total discipline from a human production line is asking for trouble. Once again, there’s clear evidence this is happening in practice. Since it leant on robotic support, to give one example, Tegra Medical has seen the number of rejected devices drop to just a couple each day. It helps, too, that the algorithms robots rely on can keep workers abreast of their own status, making maintenance planning easier while also providing vital information on those all-important workflows. Given all these advantages, it’s unsurprising that the overall cost-benefit analysis for investing in robots is improving all the time, while higher demand means that initial purchase costs are diving too. As work by Statista has found, the average cost of industrial robots could drop to as little as $10,856, compared to almost $70,000 in 2005. And for medical device manufacturers eager for a more flexible business model, ‘robotics as a service’ is an increasingly popular option too. Allowing factories to hire equipment for limited periods, for example when tasked with manufacturing a specific device for a couple of months, this approach promises to bolster ROIs further still.
Medical Device Developments /
www.nsmedicaldevices.com
Teaming up With all these advances, it’s no wonder that the market for robots in the manufacturing space is growing at speed: Mordor Intelligence predicts that the field will be worth some $40bn as soon as next year. Nor does the sector show any sign of slowing down. “Industry 4.0 is the next generation concept for the benefits of using industrial robots,” is how Heer puts it, and it’s hard to disagree when you consider what the most sophisticated robots can do. Quite aside from training themselves, or warning managers when they need to be maintained, that’s obvious when it comes to ‘collaborative’ robots. Working dynamically with human colleagues, they can sharpen the manufacturing process even compared to regular robots. At one American medical device manufacturer, for instance, these ‘cobots’ are being tasked with transporting delicate parts for human inspection, even as they place sterile wipes into containers for people to use.
“What’s the best tool for the job? I mean, you don’t want to use a robot just to do it.”
Jeff Burnstein
As this last example implies, robots shouldn’t necessarily always be left entirely to their own devices. To that end, Bunstein advises any company eager to embrace robotics to first hire a systems integrator. “[They] can help the end user spec out exactly what’s needed for the project,” he explains, “whether it be a lot of robots, fewer robots, and different technologies with it. It’s understanding what’s the most efficient way to produce the product you’re trying to do.” To put it differently, and like with BD’s revolutionary work almost 100 years ago, the point of any new technology is to get results, and to what extent robots are necessary to obtain them should always be open to debate. ●
The ‘YuMi’ robot has supported Johnson & Johnson’s manufacturing since 2015.
51
MikeDotta/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146
