Design of a Cobot Station for Improving Productivity
Keywords:
Cobot, Robot studio, Value stream mappingAbstract
This research aims to design a cobot station to reduce processing time, increase productivity, and decrease staff and operational costs. The researchers use a plastic injection station and edge grinding station in the production line of a car window visor as a case study. Value stream mapping is used for investigating the manufacturing processes before and after the development. The cobot station is designed in RobotStudio. The simulation reports the process time used for a productivity calculation. The research uses the signal analysis function to investigate energy consumption for a calculation of electricity cost. The workstation using a cobot together with a staff can decrease the processing time by 26.16%, increase productivity by 35.06%, reduce three staff, and decrease the operational cost by 74.95%. The results support the concept of using a cobot to collaborate with a human in the existing manufacturing process to improve productivity and reduce operational costs. Moreover, the research demonstrates the use of RobotStudio to design, develop, and analyze the real manufacturing process.
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