As the concepts of “Industry 4.0†and “Made in China 2025†continue to heat up, traditional manufacturing companies are also facing a new challenge of upgrading and transformation. “The concept of smart factories and unmanned factories is getting more and more intense. However, this does not mean that people are completely replaced by machines. The future factory world should be created by the harmonious coexistence of people and machines.†James Taylor, General Manager of Uniro Robotics China If yes.
In James Taylor's view, the increasingly mature automation and intelligent manufacturing is a major trend, but in some fields and production lines, human operations are still inseparable. “Creating value to manufacturing companies, allowing companies to adjust faster and more flexibly, and producing more efficiently is inseparable from human participation. Therefore, in the context of Industry 4.0, collaborative robots will play an increasingly important role. ""
Why can human-machine collaboration stand on the cusp?
Automation and intelligent production are undoubtedly the key to achieving the “Industry 4.0†smart factory.
It is foreseeable that intelligent robots will play an important role in this big game of intelligent manufacturing. Looking at the application of robots in the automotive industry, it can be found that in fact, since the 1970s, the automobile manufacturing industry has begun to use conventional industrial robots to achieve automation. However, as the automotive industry matures, many new challenges come one after another: mass customization, flexible production, cost, and more.
In this context, collaborative robots came into being. According to James Taylor, conventional robots can rarely be applied to assembly or assembly parts, and assembly requires human and machine cooperation. Therefore, the emergence of collaborative robots can be said to fill the gap between the fully automatic production line and the full manual assembly line. This is where the application space of human-computer collaboration robots lies. In addition to assembly, collaborative robots can also be widely used in automotive production lines to perform a variety of operations such as polishing, gluing, painting, and seasoning.
In addition, there is a special need in today's manufacturing market - mass customization. “In the past, manufacturers produced a product that could target a large and wide market. Now, manufacturers need to produce a variety of products to meet a market. This puts tremendous pressure on the manufacturer's production line. The production line does not. It is also fixed in the same place for a long time, and the same product is made in large quantities. Now manufacturers need to change the production line very flexibly and quickly, and in a limited space, the existing staff can be used to quickly adjust the production line. It also requires a relatively fast return on investment. This is the time when human-computer collaboration robots play their part."
As the labor cost of the manufacturing market continues to rise, reducing costs has become a major issue that enterprises need to solve. In this regard, the cost-saving advantage of collaborative robots is even more prominent. According to James Taylor, cost-reduction accounting includes software, installation and integration work, security aspects (such as security fences), and more. The cost of all this can be the cost.
"Using human-machine collaboration robots, first, it is safe, most of them do not need a safety fence, this cost can be saved. Second, its software is relatively simple, no need to purchase additional software packages. Third, but also the most important One reason is that it is easy to operate. People can do programming on site, do very fast installation, programming, debugging, and significant time savings. In general, the automation of installing a human-machine collaborative robot can save a lot of cost. To make the return on investment faster."
Innovative applications in the automotive sector
Human-machine collaboration robots seem to be an emerging product in the robot market. However, according to James Taylor, human-computer collaboration robots have a wide range of applications. Due to their unparalleled flexibility, they can be widely used in the automotive industry and electronics industry. , consumer goods industry, medical equipment and many other industries.
In the automotive industry, Volkswagen, the automobile manufacturing group, has integrated UR robots into its large-scale production line at the Salzgitter engine production plant as early as 2013. It is understood that UR5 has a weight of 18 kg, a load of up to 5 kg, and a working radius of 85 cm. It can be deployed on the cylinder head assembly line and is responsible for handling the fine glow plug process. The employee only needs to be responsible for fixing the glow plug and insulating the cylinder head. Prepare for the next process.
In 2013, Germany proposed the Industrial 4.0 high-tech strategic plan for manufacturing; in March this year, China proposed the Chinese version of the “Industry 4.0†plan: “Made in China 2025â€, which was officially promulgated in August. How to make Chinese manufacturing?
The day before yesterday, an expert from the manufacturing industry led by Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering of Zhejiang University and Tan Jianrong, the chief scientist of the National 973 Program, launched an “Industry 4.0 West Lake Theory Sword†at the Yuquan Campus of Zhejiang University. The event was hosted by Zhejiang University Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Research Center, Zhejiang Advanced Manufacturing Technology Key Laboratory, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of 3D Printing Technology and Equipment, and undertaken by Hangzhou Chenghao Network Technology Co., Ltd.
At the forum, Tan Jianrong used GE (General Electric Company) and Kodak Company as examples to reveal the development trend of the world's manufacturing industry. “GE is the most innovative manufacturing company in the world and has led the industrial technology revolution for nearly 200 years. Today GE's main business includes aircraft engines, high-end equipment, and new energy equipment. In the past, GE has been regarded as an industry. Manufacturing companies, in fact, GE has long been an industrial Internet company. It is a thing of the past to separate industrial manufacturing companies from Internet companies." Tan Jianrong said.
Kodak is also a global company known worldwide. In the 1970s, Kodak developed the world's first digital camera, completely overturning the past film world. However, Kodak was still self-sufficient and did not take the initiative to adapt to the subsequent economic environment, social and cultural environment and political and legal environment until 2012 to file for bankruptcy protection.
"China has already produced a number of great Internet companies, and BAT is one of them. But industrial enterprises have not yet participated in the Internet, or there is not much participation. Next, Chinese industrial enterprises should actively embrace the industrial Internet era. Tan Jianrong said.
Tan Jianrong called big data fields, intelligent production and mobile networks the three new technologies of the 21st century. Such as Boston big dog (machine dog), holographic mobile phone, Google glasses, smart watches, smart cars, intelligent robots, intelligent machine tools, smart deformation clothing, smart home, etc., should become the future development direction of the manufacturing industry.
In the era of Industry 4.0, how should traditional manufacturing companies transform and upgrade? Du Yuhe, secretary general of Industry 4.0 Club, digital factory and transformation and upgrading expert of China Industry 4.0 Research Institute, believes that in the 4.0 era, the new model of manufacturing is based on the intelligent factory architecture of the Internet of Things and the Internet. "Through the Internet of Everything, on the surface, the production, transportation, and sales of enterprises are still the same, but they have actually changed." Like Drip, the fusion of virtual world and the real world is one of the services of the Internet. typical.
Joseph J. Salvo, Ph.D. at Yale University, US White House Industry Consultant and President of the American Industrial Internet Alliance, said, “China’s logistics costs account for 21% of GDP, while logistics costs in developed countries account for only 10% of GDP.†Networking technology can create hundreds of billions of RMB in China even if it reduces the logistics cost by 10%.
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