Flexible production automation: how do you go about it?
In practice, the topic of automation often raises barriers. Many companies think that the sole purpose of automation is to partially or completely replace human work. However, this is not the case. Automation can also ensure that employees and robots are able to work together flexibly, making it possible to produce efficiently. ‘Flexible’ production automation is therefore the key – this is the number one way for small, medium-sized and large machining companies to automate.
With Xcelerate and Elevate from Cellro, flexible automation is possible thanks to the modular design of these universal loading robots as well as extra features such as Fixture Exchange and Collet Exchange, various customised drawers with (various) inlays and customised gripper fingers. Using these options, Xcelerate and Elevate can automatically switch between various types of products and series. In addition, the large storage capacity ensures that the robot and machine can continue running for several hours (depending on the product run).
Thanks to the flexibility of Cellro’s loading robots, you can get the maximum capacity (and return) from your machines. Your production capacity increases and your employees have more time for other tasks, thus increasing the efficiency of your production process in two ways.
Efficient production starts with your employees
Efficient production starts with efficiently deploying your employees. Many highly-trained technicians work in the metalworking industry. In practice, much of their work involves repetitive operations, which is such a waste of their skills. The technicians also have to stay close to a small number of lathes or milling machines as they need to manually load these machines, limiting them from carrying out other tasks. In addition, machines stand still if there are no employees nearby or present. This compromises the efficiency of your production process, too.
By automating the loading process, your experts’ tasks shift, enabling them to focus more on the kind of work they trained for. Work preparation and optimisation are part of the flexible production process. You and your employees do the thinking and the machines do the work. Only then can you really produce efficiently. What’s more, if the repetitive work consists of several and/or small series, this isn’t a problem with Cellro’s flexible loading robots.
Is your CNC machine suitable for (flexible) automation?
Cellro can automate lathes, milling machines and other CNC machines. Cellro can therefore automate various CNC machines, regardless of the brand. However, we do have several conditions for machine coupling. We also recommend you optimally arrange your production process for automation – look through our customer cases to see some examples of how to do this. Feel free to contact us if you need any advice.