2012 State of the Industry: Robotics

Turning specifically to metal fabrication and welding, in the past smaller companies never seriously considered robotic welding because they assumed that it was necessary to weld a large number of similar parts to justify getting even a single robot. As we get the message to market of the significant advances in programming simplicity, this perception is beginning to erode.

PC-based controller software is making it easier to program robots. Designed for both programmers and non-programmers, the point and click interface option makes it far easier to accurately and quickly weld small volumes of highly diverse parts. This is right in the sweet spot for small job shops and fabricators, and is helping them gain a significant competitive advantage over their competitors.

In order to best serve smaller volume welders, we have developed a series of robotic welding packages designed for easy installation and operation. One example is a fully configured, quick start robotic welding package with an array of options offered at a base package price under $35,000. We have also developed complete robotic welding cells available in several flexible and versatile standard modular packages.

Our offerings in heavy, large frame welding tend to be more customized, but still offer many of the same simplicity and easy programming attributes of our smaller systems. A good example on a larger scale is a giant 10-axis welding system we introduced to the North American market at FABTECH 2011, comprised of a smaller 6-axis robot with welding gear, attached to the arm of a larger 4-axis robot. The configuration provides an economical alternative to a robot traveling on a traditional gantry column; with a smaller footprint, longer reach, and, with the ability to sequentially work in four separate welding quadrants from a fixed position, significantly better cycle times.

CRITICAL ISSUES
One of the biggest issues facing the overall manufacturing universe – and the metal fabrication industry in particular – is attracting, training and retaining qualified labor. The American Welding Society (AWS; Miami, FL) reports that the average age of a certified welder is now up to 54, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 450,000 welding jobs will be open and unfilled by 2014. Being a certified welder remains a rewarding career, but there clearly is a growing shortfall. Investing further in automation is a big part of the solution.

In order to fill the gap, the industry needs to work more closely with technical schools to develop a skilled, productive and technically trained workforce. Educating a new a generation of workers in all facets of advanced manufacturing, to be proficient in robotic programming and other areas of technical expertise, is critical. It will be increasingly more important to teach someone to program, operate or maintain a robot than it is to train them on the job a robot may perform. This develops workers that are more attractive to employers, and employees that are more fulfilled in the careers.

In the last several years we have entered into comprehensive partnerships with several prominent workforce development organizations and degree universities to upgrade their robotic training programs. We have 29 robots and related work cells, software and controllers installed in Vincennes University’s new industrial training facility, the Indiana Center for Applied Technology (ICAT). We are working closely with them on training programs and technical support. We have similar relationships with others, including Fox Valley Technical College and the Alabama Robotics Technology Park. We are working on establishing similar relationships with schools in other areas and education programs that will continue to be a core initiative for us.

In addition to degree candidates, the ideal education model reaches many groups, including incumbent workers sent by their employers to upgrade their skills, displaced workers referred by regional employment agencies to learn a new skill, and vocational high school instructors who can spark the interest in an advanced manufacturing career at the grass roots level.

ABB Robotics & Applications Group, 250 Brown Road, Auburn Hills, MI 48326, 248-391-9000, Fax: 248-391-7290, www.abb.com.

Mike Sharpe
Director of the Materials Joining Segment, FANUC Robotics America
Manufacturer of industrial robots and automated systems for a wide range of applications, including welding, assembly, machine tending/part transfer, material removal, painting and dispensing, packing and palletizing.

CURRENT STATE OF BUSINESS
While I cannot provide any forward looking statements, I can offer my opinions on our current demand for various industries within the arc welding market. Generally the demand for arc welding robots and peripheral products remains strong, and based on manufacturers’ desire to improve productivity amid a shrinking workforce, I expect this to increase in the future. Our current business activities in agriculture and heavy off-highway remain steady, while automotive components have realized an invigorating increase. Recent indicators project a strong domestic market for the auto industry as a whole.

A variety of new products have recently been introduced to help customers meet their manufacturing requirements. For example, we recently introduced a low cost arc welding robot package that is based on our current design, but re-engineered to be more cost effective while providing good value for manufacturers. We also introduced a higher speed robot that is ideally suited for compact installations that require higher speeds, such as automotive seating. This robot has up to seven percent improvement in axis speeds, which translates into faster air-cut motion between welds. When coupled with the improved arc starting response technology, customers will enjoy significant throughput savings.

Product applications in arc welding robots, including peripheral products, remains strong as manufacturers seek to balance their distribution of manufacturing from offshore to North America, or on-shore. Recent environmental and financial issues across the globe have encouraged manufacturers to rethink local manufacturing to ensure availability, cost and quality.

While the trend to offshore may have benefitted lower cost production, it is a near-sighted approach, as witnessed over the last few years. The rising costs of labor, energy, and land in low-cost labor markets cannot compete with the current trend by North American manufacturers to increase productivity with automation and robotics.

North American manufacturers are looking for quick starts, ease of use, the lowest costs to operate, and above all, high quality production with the smallest footprint. Today in the U.S., manufacturing re-startups are either bringing more manufacturing back to North American soil or they are trying to expand current operations with the lowest capital expense and operating costs.

MAJOR TRENDS
Customers demand instant production information, accessible from anywhere, so they can make speedy and informative decisions. Data services from the robot and welding equipment through cloud services provide the mechanism to view the metrics, but this is only part of the story.

Data presentation is critical so that the user does not require an understanding of details or process, but only the relevant information visible from a dashboard, anywhere, anytime. With the latest technological advancements, users can easily understand diagnostics data in a 3D graphic or chart, including trending. This provides a measure of predictive failure, which means planning and/or proactive maintenance is attainable.

Other improvements are in the area of offline programming using virtual technology. For example, virtual welding programs are becoming easier to use because they are similar in sequence to actual teach pendant programming. Virtual path teaching is done through a mouse click on the desired weld joint. The programmer can accurately set the work and travel angles, as well as the welding length, as intended by the part design prints. Once the part is programmed, the user can then transfer the program to the actual robot to run real production.

Recent advancements in technology have brought the virtual world to the robot’s graphical teach pendant. By integrating the 3D graphics along with the welding process data, a user with limited skill can now make the best decisions for setup, programming and maintenance. For example, when testing a weld condition the teach pendant provides a 3D view of the robot’s path with the weld current feedback. Also, the 3D view provides the position in space along the weld seam where a weld monitor anomaly occurred. Now the user has a virtual mark on the part and can check weld current feedback at that specific position along the path.

Torch work and travel angles have always been difficult to measure and document with a protractor, pen and paper. But now the 3D graphical teach pendant provides the actual angles relative to the welding path, eliminating the guess work. This data can then be displayed or played back for future auditing purposes. Think of this system like an automotive navigation system with GPS: once you have a 3D road map, interactive dialogue and an augmented sense of direction, you wonder how you could have ever traveled (welded) without it.

CRITICAL ISSUES
One critical issue facing the industry is that there are fewer skilled application engineers. High turnover is resulting from this skilled labor shortage, which, in turn, forces training time for new hires to be reduced. Technology can be used to address some of this, with easy to use and readily available diagnostic and production data that allows a skilled person to spread their capabilities across more automation. Also, easy to use programming with 3D graphical teach pendants and easy to use offline programming can help address some of the burden.

There also continues to be some lingering market uncertainty and misunderstanding about using robots and near-shoring. However, manufacturers are globally accepting robotics as a production tool and the simple fact is that, to stay globally competitive, North American manufacturers must use the latest technology to enhance production throughput and quality.

These two critical issues revolve around a third issue: the increasing demand for ever-shorter product life cycles and compressed robot integration schedules. However, this is where robotic automation has a huge return, because integrated welding procedures allow for the prototype/production cycle to be significantly reduced, while offline programming provides the means for pre-programming that saves further integration time.

PERSONAL INSIGHTS
With the latest advancement in 3D visualization, a seasoned welder may now easily become a skilled robotics welding programmer. The 3D graphical teach pendant strengthens a seasoned welders’ skills by simplifying his path weld programming procedures. Welding joint models and torch angle relationships are now readily viewed on a 3D graphical teach pendant with graphical details, which eliminates guess work and builds confidence in the seasoned welder so he can become more skilled as a robotic welding programmer.

This sort of 3D system technology is designed to simplify the tasks at hand because all legacy operations are available for those familiar with current graphical teach pendants. The new 3D functions are built in and are user-obvious through a new menu where the 3D graphics are homogenized into the menu system to help current users further enhance their ability with the 3D plus process capabilities. Having the process data displayed in a 3D graphical view enhances the information and data, opening up a new method of robotic programming.

Enhanced safety systems through Dual Check Safety (DCS) technology provide means for human and robots to work cooperatively, enhancing operator safety while increasing production quality and throughput. As floor space becomes increasingly valuable and manufacturers are required to increase production by harmonizing robots and human operators, the industry is poised to take advantage of DCS safety systems.

It becomes more apparent that in order to improve operator efficiencies, industrial robots must have a higher degree of human interaction. This has been true for years in the arc welding robot market, where operators loaded standard work cells. Now the arc welding robot can be easily coupled with a handling robot that is operator-loaded. This enables the best of both worlds: a safe operator-to-robot relationship and a productive robot-to-operator manufacturing system that is easy to use, lower cost to maintain, and provides intelligent process control.

FANUC Robotics America, 3900 W. Hamlin Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48309-3253, 248-377-7000, www.fanucrobotics.com.