The Game-Chang­er in Indus­tri­al Automa­tion: Six-Axis Robots

Embrac­ing Flex­i­bil­i­ty in Indus­tri­al Robotics

Flex­i­bil­i­ty is one of the most impor­tant con­sid­er­a­tions when look­ing at indus­tri­al robots. Six-axis robots add a great amount of flex­i­bil­i­ty to appli­ca­tions, as opposed to four-axis robots. KUKA Robot­ics ran into a man­u­fac­tur­er that request­ed a six-axis robot that added high lev­els of flex­i­bil­i­ty – enough flex­i­bil­i­ty to con­vert to any auto­mo­bile type with­out difficulty.

The Rise of Six-Axis Robots

Six-axis robots offer a remark­able degree of flex­i­bil­i­ty, mak­ing them invalu­able assets in var­i­ous indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions. Their abil­i­ty to eas­i­ly adapt to dif­fer­ent tasks and envi­ron­ments sets them apart, enabling more com­plex and ver­sa­tile operations.

Case Study: Auto­mo­tive Man­u­fac­tur­ing Rev­o­lu­tion­ized by Six-Axis Robots

KUKA Robot­ics’ col­lab­o­ra­tion with an auto­mo­tive man­u­fac­tur­er high­lights the trans­for­ma­tive impact of six-axis robots. The man­u­fac­tur­er sought a robot­ic solu­tion that could offer excep­tion­al flex­i­bil­i­ty, par­tic­u­lar­ly for the appli­ca­tion of glu­ing auto­mo­tive add-ons.

The Chal­lenge of Versatility

The auto­mo­tive indus­try’s demand for ver­sa­til­i­ty was a key dri­ver in this col­lab­o­ra­tion. The man­u­fac­tur­er required a robot that could adapt seam­less­ly to dif­fer­ent auto­mo­bile types with­out com­pro­mis­ing effi­cien­cy or accuracy.

The auto­mo­tive man­u­fac­tur­er was look­ing to add flex­i­bil­i­ty with six-axis robots inte­grat­ed into the appli­ca­tion of glu­ing on their auto­mo­tive add-on com­po­nents. The lev­el of flex­i­bil­i­ty could only be achieved with a high­ly adapt­able six-axis robot, accord­ing to KUKA.

Inte­gra­tion of Six-Axis Robots in Auto­mo­tive Glu­ing Applications

Meet­ing In-Line Man­u­fac­tur­ing Demands

In-line man­u­fac­tur­ing process­es neces­si­tate strict adher­ence to spe­cif­ic cycle times. KUKA Robot­ics empha­sized the impor­tance of their robots meet­ing these cycle times to avoid dis­rup­tions in the pro­duc­tion line. The inte­gra­tion of six-axis robots ensured that the glu­ing appli­ca­tion was syn­chro­nized with the injec­tion mold­ing process cycle, main­tain­ing a high lev­el of pro­duc­tion efficiency.

Enhanced Per­for­mance and Quality

By incor­po­rat­ing six-axis robots, the man­u­fac­tur­er not only achieved greater flex­i­bil­i­ty but also improved the speed and accu­ra­cy of their oper­a­tions. This enhance­ment led to an over­all improve­ment in the qual­i­ty of the fin­ished products.

Since the man­u­fac­tur­ing was ​“in-line,” it was com­plete­ly nec­es­sary for the robots per­form­ing the oper­a­tions to meet spe­cif­ic cycle times, KUKA stat­ed. With­out that, the pro­duc­tion line would be com­pro­mised. The glu­ing appli­ca­tion had to be with­in two sec­onds of the injec­tion mold­ing process cycle.

By adding this flex­i­bil­i­ty with a six-axis robot, the man­u­fac­tur­er not only received a ver­sa­tile robot, but they also received a robot that was able to per­form duties faster and with more accu­ra­cy than their human coun­ter­parts, which only improved the qual­i­ty of the fin­ished products.

The auto­mo­tive com­pa­ny worked with KUKA and devised a sys­tem lay­out that opti­mized their glu­ing appli­ca­tion while adding flex­i­bil­i­ty with robot­ic six-axis arms. Not only did they improve their har­mo­niza­tion, but they also were able to refine the appli­ca­tion and reduce the cycle time down to 38 sec­onds, KUKA stated.

Sys­tem Opti­miza­tion and Cycle Time Reduction

Work­ing close­ly with KUKA, the auto­mo­tive com­pa­ny devel­oped a sys­tem lay­out that opti­mized their glu­ing appli­ca­tion. This col­lab­o­ra­tive effort result­ed in the refine­ment of the appli­ca­tion process and a sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in cycle time to just 38 seconds.

Over­all, the man­u­fac­tur­er was able to get a flex­i­ble six-axis robot that will add to their man­u­fac­tur­ing pro­duc­tion now and in the future as their prod­ucts change.

Future-Proof­ing Man­u­fac­tur­ing with Six-Axis Robots

The flex­i­bil­i­ty offered by six-axis robots ensures that man­u­fac­tur­ers can adapt to changes in prod­uct design and process require­ments over time. This adapt­abil­i­ty is cru­cial for stay­ing com­pet­i­tive in dynam­ic indus­tri­al landscapes.

Robots​.com: Your Part­ner in Robot­ic Automation

As a sup­pli­er of KUKA Robot­ics mod­els, Robots​.com offers a range of KUKA robots tai­lored to meet diverse man­u­fac­tur­ing needs. Our expert team focus­es on key fac­tors such as accu­ra­cy, repeata­bil­i­ty, speed, and flex­i­bil­i­ty to design sys­tems that ful­fill all facil­i­ty and appli­ca­tion requirements.

Explore Automa­tion Solu­tions with Robots​.com

Robots​.com, a sup­pli­er of KUKA Robot­ics mod­els, has sev­er­al KUKA robots avail­able for pur­chase and cus­tomiza­tion. Our high­ly-qual­i­fied staff takes into account the need for accu­ra­cy, repeata­bil­i­ty, speed and flex­i­bil­i­ty when design­ing a sys­tem with a client, so the sys­tem will meet all of the facil­i­ty and appli­ca­tion needs.

For more infor­ma­tion about automat­ing your process­es with Robots​.com, con­tact rep­re­sen­ta­tives online or at 877−762−6881.