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Cobots have been transforming industries for a number of years now, and are set for exponential growth as manufacturers face labour shortages, marketplace competition, and increased customer demand. 

Making automation more accessible for SMEs, cobots are driving productivity, efficiency and higher quality manufacturing. While automation can reduce time and costs across operations, careful planning, training and execution are essential to ensure cobots are a success from day one. 

For those new to or considering cobots, it is important to learn what to do and what not to do to make the transition to automation a successful and profitable one. 

Do Ensure Your Cobots Are Fit for Purpose

It is critical to consider the requirements of your application when choosing a collaborative robot. The application type, payload, materials, and environment all need to be taken into consideration, as well as your long-term business goals and reasons for automation. 

Whether you’re looking to integrate fixed automation for a specific process or to provide versatility across the factory floor, it is important to start with your “why”. Is your goal to increase production? Enhance safety? Support process flexibility? Improve quality and accuracy? Whatever it may be, the identification and pre-planning stages are fundamental to making smart integration decisions that align with your goals and objectives.

Do Automate Repetitive Processes

Cobots excel at performing repetitive tasks, and manufacturers will have the greatest and fastest success automating applications that are repeated over and over. Relieve your operators from low-value added tasks and relocate their input to more profitable areas of the business.

Knowing which processes to automate and when can go a long way in determining the success of your cobot. Start simple by automating the dull, dirty, or dangerous tasks, then focus on automating tasks that will yield maximum output or will positively affect your other functions and processes. 

Do Undertake Training

Now you have selected the appropriate automation solution, it is important to train any employees that will be operating or working around the cobot. 

While cobots are intuitive to program and don’t require any specialist programming or engineering qualifications, it is important to know how to operate and maintain them. Failing to provide employees with cobot training can result in poor performance and inefficiency, as well as safety hazards. 

Along with our in-house expertise, all Cobots Online customers receive training from Universal Robots to ensure successful cobot automation. The comprehensive training provides hands-on experience with programming and cobots to ensure they’re performing to their full potential. 

Do Conduct a Thorough Risk Assessment

To ensure cobots achieve maximum safety, it is essential to conduct a risk assessment to identify potential hazards and develop appropriate safety measures to mitigate risks. Because of their safe nature, many people think they can bypass a risk assessment when it comes to cobots. However, failure to conduct one could lead to avoidable accidents and injuries.

While resources may be limited, it is important that a risk assessment is not carried out by a single person, as they may not see everything that poses a risk. Include those who operate and maintain the cobots to enhance safety processes and identify areas for improvement or potential pitfalls.

Do Account for End of Arm Tooling

The end of arm tooling you choose for the application and the parts the cobot will handle can have a great impact on the overall safety of cobots. Just because your cobot won’t go outside the workspace doesn’t mean the part won’t. It is of vital importance to ensure the risk assessment captures the activities of end of arm tooling and materials being handled. 

Don’t Forget About Regular Maintenance and Optimisation

In order to reap the full benefits of automation, regular optimisation and analysis should be undertaken to ensure your cobots are performing and hitting your KPIs. 

Like any other equipment on the shop floor, cobots should also receive regular maintenance to ensure they are in good condition and operating at optimal levels. Failure to do so can result in malfunctions, increased repairs, reduced performance and unnecessary downtime. 

Do Exploit a Cobot’s Full Capabilities

Unlike fixed automation, cobots like CoboTend offer flexibility and adaptability. CoboTend can be reprogrammed and redeployed any number of times to support production across the shop floor. With technological advancements in recent years, cobots are considerably more capable than performing a singular simple task, providing greater flexibility to manufacturing processes. 

Don’t Misallocate Labour

It is important to remember that cobots are not here to place your existing workforce, rather they are here to support them by taking over repetitive tasks so they can focus on high-value added roles. 

While it may seem tempting to have a fully automated shop floor, yes material handling efficiency may increase but overall plant efficiency would certainly not. Cobots require minimal human intervention but undoubtedly work best when used in a collaborative environment where humans and companies can benefit from their inclusivity. 

Don’t Delay Automating 

With ROI typically achieved in less that a year, can you really afford not to automate? For many, the initial outlay deters them from investing in cobots, but with the support of an experienced integration specialist like Cobots Online, we can ensure your cobots are a success from day one. And with the potential for higher savings and profits in the long term, there has never been a better time to automate. 

Partner with an Experienced Automation Specialist

Successfully automating factories to increase productivity and operational efficiency comes down to two things; the cobot you choose and the level of integration you manage to achieve. As the technology continues to advance, so too do the wealth of benefits and payoffs that make cobots profitable in an even shorter timescale. 

For manufacturers focused on profitability and growth, automation is the clear path forward both now and into the future. Cobots Online have the expertise and knowledge to deliver a success plan for automation and cobot integration. Working across a wide range of industries and applications, contact our team to discuss your automation requirements.