"Trimming the Fat" with Material Handling Robotics

Lean man­u­fac­tur­ing is a sys­tem of using pro­duc­tion resources effi­cient­ly. While mate­r­i­al han­dling robots have not tra­di­tion­al­ly been used to ​“trim the fat” on these sys­tems – because they may help to increase waste instead of help­ing – com­pa­nies are turn­ing to robots because of their speed, accu­ra­cy, repeata­bil­i­ty, and cycle times.

More than 100,000 robots are bought and inte­grat­ed into facil­i­ties each year, and many of them are mate­r­i­al han­dling robots. These num­bers alone show how robots are becom­ing more com­mon, espe­cial­ly in lean pro­duc­tion systems.

The advan­tages of robots for lean man­u­fac­tur­ing are numer­ous. Robots do not need any­where near as much down­time as human work­ers. They do not see the same fatigue as humans either. By not need­ing the breaks, lunch­es, time off and vaca­tions like man­u­al work­ers, their work­load pro­motes a lean system.

Mate­r­i­al han­dling robot­ic sys­tems also con­tribute to a lean strat­e­gy by increas­ing pro­duc­tion through decreased cycle times and increased repeata­bil­i­ty, accu­ra­cy and speed. These sys­tems can put out sev­er­al times more of a high­er-qual­i­ty prod­uct per hour than man­u­al labor­ers. A mate­r­i­al han­dling robot­ic sys­tem will also decrease the num­ber of errors in products.

Anoth­er key to mate­r­i­al han­dling robots con­tribut­ing to lean man­u­fac­tur­ing lies with the flex­i­bil­i­ty of many robots. Due to the high ver­sa­til­i­ty of today’s indus­tri­al robot­ics, as well as end-of-arm-tool­ing that can be fit to sev­er­al dif­fer­ent robots, a man­u­fac­tur­er can pur­chase one robot to do sev­er­al dif­fer­ent applications.

By hav­ing such a high ver­sa­til­i­ty, the mate­r­i­al han­dling robot can pay for itself in no time, while increas­ing the manufacturer’s return on invest­ment (ROI) by increas­ing the lev­el of pro­duc­tion in the facility.

If you are ready to ​“trim the fat” in your shop, and auto­mate some of your process­es, con­tact Robots​.com today at 877−762−6881 or con­tact us online for a free price quote.