An extra pair of hands in uncertain times

Mark Gray, Country Manager – UK & Ireland, Universal Robots, explains why the UK and Ireland manufacturing sector needs cobots more than ever.

The British plastics industry is heavily reliant on migrant labour. Brexit and COVID-19 travel restrictions have therefore seriously tested the industry’s resilience.

Traditional industrial robots are ideal for high volume, mass production settings. However, for those injection moulders who require greater flexibility and who specialise in short production runs, the associated programming costs and required expertise can quickly become prohibitive. This is where a new generation of collaborative robots (cobots) come into their own.

Cobots work alongside existing employees and boost capacity by allowing operators to delegate the less skilled and repetitive tasks such as loading and unloading. The operator is then free to focus on the more complex part of the operation. ROI is dependent on how much of a human worker’s processes can be taken on by the cobot. However, reports suggest that a cobot can be worth anything from half a worker up to as many as two extra pairs of hands.

In the last 15 months in particular, this ability to respond to demand with a flexible solution that delivers extra capacity has been critical for many injection-moulders. The uncertainty caused by a global pandemic means that many manufacturers have felt unable to make long term investment decisions. Cobots have proved attractive as they can be deployed quickly and register a fast return on their investment.

Cobots work very well where there are simple programmable tasks. And in unprecedented times they provide a valuable extra pair of hands in the injection moulding shop. However, where the requirement is for high volume production of parts with little or no variation, traditional industrial robots will likely deliver the greater output speeds. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a choice between the two options, however. Many production sites employ both and achieve their productivity gains by matching the right robot to the appropriate use case.