Universal Robots has solved a long-standing challenge at Linatex
The engineering company Linatex has been on the lookout for a flexible, low-cost robot for over a decade. Universal Robots’ robot arm meets the company’s criteria perfectly. It costs significantly less than the other robots Linatex has looked at and can quickly be re-programmed for new production batches.
Linatex processes plastics for many different branches of industry. Their products are found in everything from artificial hips to aeroplanes and wind turbines. This requires production equipment that can be reprogrammed, both quickly and easily, to perform a range of different tasks.
Compared to our competitors, we are very specialised. We can make extremely small batches. This means that we need to be flexible in our production. For this reason, we have hesitated to use robots so far as they are often very expensive and troublesome when re-programming them for different tasks, says Jørn Trustrup who is product manager at Linatex and so far has the technical responsibility for production.
Problems finding a serviceable robot for implementation in production
He has been trying to find a serviceable robot for implementation in the production for a long time but it has proved difficult to find the right solution.
- A robot quickly comes to half a million kroner when you need consultants to install it as well and when you also need specialists to operate and program the robot, the idea quickly goes out of the window", says Jørn Trustrup.
Therefore, the company has used manual labour for a range of tasks involving the insertion of plastic components into a CNC turning centre. One of the drawbacks of this is that it is a boring job to move elements from A to B and back again all day long. Operators have to wait while the CNC machine is running and this time could be used much better elsewhere.
The robot from Universal Robots solved that challenge
" The robot arm from Universal Robots takes over the tasks that none of the staff will miss doing. At the same time, it is so easy to set it to do other tasks that our employees themselves can re-program it. This means that the employees also regard the robot more as a help and a friend than as an enemy," says Jørn Trustrup.
He stresses that the simple construction of the robot, with its few moveable parts, and the easy user interface was very significant in their choice of Universal Robots.
- You don’t need to type or calculate anything to get the robot to work. You just need to show it the movements," explains Jørn Trustrup.
Increased productivity with robots
Universal Robots is also helping Linatex increase production capacity, without having to employ more staff.
"Now, our employees are able to operate several machines at once. I think that, after a short running-in period, we will be able to reap a financial gain on our investment. Perhaps as early as after three or four months of operation with the robotic arm," Jørn Trustrup elaborates.
From 50 to 10,000 pieces of plastic
The robot arm is used in the largest productions, in particular where it takes 10,000 pieces of plastic one after the other and moves them over to the CNC turning centre. It also removes the blank again once it has finished turning. Linatex is also expecting to use it for batches down to as few as 50 items.
" The robot arm emphasises that we are a forward-looking company that is moving on. We hope that robot technology will increase our chances for attracting and retaining the skilled staff who are in great demand. In our company, robots will be a natural part of flexible, efficient production," explains Jørn Trustrup.
