By Mission Design & Automation
Ryan Lillibridge, Vice President at Mission Design & Automation, recently appeared on the webinar, “Integrating Automation into Plastics Manufacturing by Adding Collaborative Robots,” hosted by Universal Robots and Plastics Machinery and Manufacturing.
Joining Brian Conner, Solutions Program Manager at Universal Robots, Lillibridge added to the discussion of the growing role of collaborative robots in plastics manufacturing. The two touched on the different drivers for automation in manufacturing facilities, and specifically, how collaborative robot applications can be deployed to fill the gaps in plastics manufacturing.
Current Challenges Manufacturers are Facing
There are a handful of common challenges that manufacturing businesses have had to grapple with the past few years:
- Labor Shortages
- Changing Customer Demand
- Increased Competition
- Limited Floor Space
These problems that manufacturers are increasingly facing can be solved with automation. Finding yourself in a similar boat and wondering where to start?
Universal Robots’ Brian Conner broke down the main differences between traditional industrial robots and collaborative industrial robots to consider when choosing which type is the right fit for your shop floor. Among these, he touched on how collaborative robots often have faster set-ups, are straightforward to program, and allow for more versatile deployment since they are not fixed in one spot. Cobots also require less floor space than traditional industrial robots, they don’t need a safety fence and can work collaboratively alongside humans and are more cost effective compared to larger systems.
While neither of these solutions are necessarily better than the other, one of them will be more suitable to help you achieve your business goals. Automation integrators like Mission Design & Automation can help you identify the right solution to your business’s current manufacturing challenges, ensuring you don’t spend time and resources implementing equipment ineffective to your needs.
Mission Design & Automation | Extensive Experience in Plastics Manufacturing
Lillibridge shared that while Mission Design & Automation works with manufacturers across a variety of industries, the team has vast experience in plastics, supporting automation projects for molding, trimming, assembly, inspection, and packaging across both regulated and consumer-grade environments. Our team takes bold manufacturing ideas and design and builds them into reality.
“The right solution takes innovation and ideation, so we’ve staffed ourselves with an engineering team of innovative team members to come up with those ideas for the creative solution,” Lillibridge said.
Backing Lillibridge’s statement, nearly half of the Mission Design & Automation team is made up of controls, mechanical, and applications engineers. We’re confident in our knowledge, experience, and ability to execute grand ideas in projects both big and small.
Since 2012, Mission has integrated over 450 robots, with more than 250 different robot applications, and that number continues to grow weekly. Some examples of our past plastics projects include automotive interiors and exteriors, construction components, waste management, warehouse dunnage, medical devices, packaging, and pre-and-prost processing of injection molded components.
Collaborative Applications | An Automation Starting Point for Plastics Industry
“Cobots are very good at adding value to existing processes, and quickly plugging into those locations” Lillibridge said.
Due to collaborative robots’ quick deployment, they are an effective solution to the four common challenges faced by manufacturers: labor shortages, changing demand, increased competition (needing be faster, and higher quality than the competitor), and limited floorspace.
Cobots work to support operators by completing complex tasks, helping businesses quickly scale production and enhance quality by performing repeatable processes, and can step in to do the job when your business is short-staffed.
Did you know: 15% of all cobots sold are deployed into the injection molding industry? The technology is tried and true in plastics manufacturing. In fact, there are many primary and secondary processes in plastics automation that Lillibridge highlighted:
Primary Processes:
- Over molding
- Insert molding
- Mold tending
Secondary Processes:
- Gate flash removal
- Inspection
- Assembly
- Post-process and value-add
- Packaging
- Masking
- Dispensing
- Heat stakes
- Ultrasonic welding
Universal Robots offers a range of automated collaborative applications, such as the UR series and e-Series of robotic arms. According to the Universal Robots’ website, the main differences between the two are that: “the UR Series includes the highest performing cobots in the market for customers who demand the absolute highest productivity and through-put. The e-Series brings URs quality and exceptional user experience to a wider audience.”
Mission also works with companies like FANUC, ABB, and Yaskawa Motoman to integrate the right collaborative solution for each of our customers’ unique use case.
If you have yet to integrate automated equipment into your business or are looking to enhance production with a more flexible, cost-effective solution, consider collaborative automation.
The Mission Design & Automation team is here to help you meet your production goals with automation, whether it be collaborative robotic applications or more traditional industrial equipment. We do it all. Click here to start the conversation.