An automated robotic assembly line will need much less space than one with human workers.Īccording to a comparative study of a manufacturing facility using only human workers with that of a plant using industrial robotic automation, robots help increase productivity by 50% with a corresponding increase in productivity by 50% and an increase in utilization of the facility by more than 85%. Robots do not need any extra room beyond their degree of movement and hence have a small footprint, which leads to better utilization of the shop floor space. Living creatures need space for freedom of movement and human beings are no exception – human workers need space to be at ease or else they will suffer claustrophobia. They are also operating in enclosed areas for further safety. Once programmed, robots do not deviate from the set pattern of movement. Robots can work without any glitch in such environments without suffering any loss in their regular efficiency. Besides, many workplaces like welding shops and paint shops, foundries and heat treatment facilities, have high temperatures and toxic fumes, hazardous to human health. No matter how careful a worker is and how well maintained a facility, the probability of an accident or incident due to some lapse or human error is always present. This not only results in high quality of jobs, but also the same quality maintained consistently. The same is the case with machine tending robots which work continuously loading and unloading the jobs in machines nonstop. Once programmed for a specific task, the robot works continuously without break, with the same weld quality from Job 1 to Job 1000, without any flaw. Unlike human workers, robots do not get tired even if the job is repetitive, nor do they suffer from attention deficiency, which results in poor quality of work. It is important here to remember that if automation increases efficiency, robotic automation raises it even further. This is one of the biggest advantages of robots as, according to a survey, close to 25% of unplanned downtime in the manufacturing sector happens because of human error, compared to about 10% in other fields. The same amount of work gets done much faster, at higher efficiency, without any break or disruption. Whatever human workers do, robots can do faster, with more accuracy and consistency, which leads to better productivity and enhanced operational efficiency. The following paragraphs examine some of these benefits at length.Įnhanced Productivity and Operational Efficiencies Robots also offer other advantages as better utilization of floor space, increased safety and flexibility of operations. This leads to vastly increased productivity and higher quality of production, while reducing the cost as the return of investment is quick. Robots perform with high accuracy, can work continuously and the results are always consistent. Robots in manufacturing bring many advantages to the enterprise as these take out the drudgery from many tasks and perform them better than human workers. Today, apart from manufacturing industries, robots are widely used in service industries like healthcare, hospitality sector and logistics and warehousing, etc. Soon robots were also adopted by electronics and white goods industries. More operations like pick and place, engine assembly, inspection, painting, etc., were gradually taken over by robots. The integration of robots in manufacturing automation had begun. Gradually it was used to transfer these parts to the assembly line and weld them. When introduced in 1961, Unimate was initially used to handle hot pieces of die cast metal, a difficult task for human workers. The modern robot is about 60 years old and was first used in the automobile industry by General Motors. Robotics Integration in Manufacturing Industry This has been facilitated by the gradual integration of robotics in the manufacturing process, taking automation to the next level. These are also much more sophisticated than the Ford Model T and involve a much larger number of parts. Today, most modern cars roll off the assembly line at rates ranging from 45 to 90 seconds. Manufacturing found a solution for mass production without expanding operations and deploying additional labour. The assembly line reduced the time it took to build a car from 12 hours to one and a half hours. That was over a hundred years ago, in 1913. When Henry Ford realized he could not manufacture enough of the Ford Model T with conventional manufacturing, he invented the assembly line.
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