COVER STORY KUKA
Changing perceptions of automation within Irish manufacturing
The continued growth of the Irish economy depends on an ability to provide fl exible, effi cient and cost-effective production methods.
manufacturers who have not adopted new technologies and are either no longer in business, or chasing lower cost labour. As simple as it sounds, automation is making its way into people’s homes, so the barriers in the factory are not what they once were. And the Government is playing a role with new education programs and advanced manufacturing centres helping to share experiences of how and where businesses can apply new technologies.
K
UKA Ireland Silver System partner, ControlSoft, has noticed an increase in customer enquiries requiring
evermore complex automated solutions, in response to several infl uencing factors. Here, Joe McGill, Technical Director at ControlSoft, gives his views of the trends across the Irish manufacturing arena that are shaping the future of traditional production processes.
Q: What are some of the challenges facing Irish manufacturing at the moment? A: Skills shortages and an aging engineering profi le are real issues. Manufacturers and services suppliers alike are fi nding it diffi cult to access, train and maintain skilled engineers across all disciplines. Add to this supply chain shortages and COVID restrictions and the lead time for automation projects is changing. A lot more earlier planning is required.
Q: How can these challenges be addressed, and to what extent? A: Automation is the key to bridging the gap of reliance on the older skilled engineers and technicians. For multiple reasons, younger skilled engineers/technicians move around more. Result – gone are the days where you train skilled people and keep them their whole career. Automated processes and adapting new technologies will be key to overcoming these issues. We will see increased adoption of new
8 October 2021 Irish Manufacturing
technologies, such as: collaborative robotics and AR/VR particularly, as these technologies mature and become mainstream.
Q: How are ‘unconventional’ processes now being undertaken by automation, and what are the key drivers behind these trends? A: We are seeing a rise in virtual and remote engineering; COVID travel restrictions have accelerated this and forced end users to embrace these new technologies earlier. Due to the nature of the transient workforce, maintaining quality has become an ever- increasing issue for manufacturers. Training new personnel on processes only to see them move on after short durations are going to drive costs up and force manufacturers to adopt automation for processes previously thought to be either too diffi cult, and/or cost prohibitive. Supply and demand is affecting
manufacturers more than ever. Planning, logistics, batch size of one etc. are all playing a role in forcing manufacturers to become more agile in their production processes. In turn, this drives automation, data analytics and scheduling to work in a closed loop.
Q: Is there a reluctance to embrace robotics and automation, and how can these barriers be broken down? A: I think there have been barriers in the past, but we can already see examples of
Q: What are some of the features and benefi ts of automation potential customers should be aware of? A: Standards are driving turnkey solutions, making it easier for systems to work together and share information and control in a prescribed way. We are seeing the adoption of standards playing a more important role, eventually being forced by end users as a requirement. This in turn should drive costs and complexity down. Cheapest is not always best. When selecting systems/partners you need to allow both time and budget to take advantage of the diagnostics and analytics available. If you are buying smart things, make sure you are using the smart, and not just driving the cost down and losing out on the diagnostics. Simulation and digital twins are areas with great potential to answer the ‘big picture’ questions and engineer out potential issues at much lower costs. These areas will benefi t from standardisation, allowing multiple systems from different sources to be connected at the design phase.
Q: What advice would you give to a business that needs to optimise its production processes? A: Identify an automation partner(s) and embark on a front-end study to identify automation opportunities within your business. Set aside budget and be prepared to pay for the consultancy – this will be money well spent and should result in a multi-project roadmap where you can go to the market and get real costs. ‘Don’t automate for the sake of automating’;
ensure equipment automation can work in harmony with the systems around it. Speak with a reputable systems integrator with experience and competencies across industry.
KUKA
sales.ie@
kuka.com
www.irish-manufacturing.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
