OMRON Collaborative Robot Use-Cases

Fischer Gears (Randers Tandhjulsfabrik A/S) is a family-owned company based in Randers, Denmark. It has been producing gears and gearboxes for the industrial and maritime markets since 1920, and has become a leading supplier. The company’s state-of-the-art machinery uses the latest technologies and processes. Most recently, Fischer Gears invested in two Omron TM cobots, which are used to automate the feeding of metal parts into four CNC (computer numerical control) machines. This was previously a manual process.

Although the company already uses traditional industrial robots, its investment in cobots still represents a paradigm shift. Factory manager, Lars Bo Nielsen, explains: “It's not just another investment in robotics. Collaborative robots bring a whole new way of thinking because unlike traditional robots, the Omron TM robots don’t have to be hidden away behind a fence. And if this project is a success, these probably won't be the last cobots we will use in the production line.”

Fischer Gears produces their products with series sizes that can vary from one item to several hundred pieces. The investment in Omron’s cobots will enable the company to become much more competitive in the future with these larger orders.

The cobots will be part of a production cell consisting of four CNC machines, and will be moved between the machines as needed. “The robots can feed items in and out of the machines even after usual working hours, which allows us to make the most of the production line and increase efficiency, giving us a competitive edge on the larger series at the same time,” explains Lars Bo Nielsen.

In addition to reducing the production costs of the large series, the Omron cobots also help to free the company’s employees to carry out more value-adding production tasks. “The robots are an investment in a better working environment. Virtually all of our employees are skilled workers with a good education, and we can now use them for far more exciting tasks than the manual feeding of items,” the factory manager explains.

CLECA was formed in Italy in 1939 and has since developed creative cuisine solutions, leading to the company becoming a point of reference in the food sector, due to the high quality of its products. The key to its success is its blend of innovative products and great classics, as shown by its S. Martino pudding.

The company recently decided to improve its maintenance and shipping operations by boosting the productivity of the entire packaging department at its main plant in San Martino dall'Argine. An essential element of this has been the introduction of a pair of collaborative robots.

Following CLECA’s review of its packaging processes, it decided to deploy OMRON TM12 cobots at the end of the packaging line, in a palletizing application. This decision was received very well by the operators, who soon noticed a clear improvement in their work conditions. They experienced a reduction in repetitive operations (as these were delegated to the machine), as well as improved change-over times.

The introduction of cobots at CLECA coincided with the implementation of key automation solutions relating to Industry 4.0, including the connection and interface with the factory’s manufacturing execution system (MES). The integration of the collaborative cell and the machines present in the plant was made possible by the Ethernet communication integrated between various OMRON programmable logic controllers in CLECA's San Martino dall'Argine plant. The increase in productivity and process efficiency achieved by using the cobots, combined with the reduction of indirect costs, will enable CLECA to achieve a return on investment (ROI) in less than a year from the start-up of the collaborative cell.

Leica Geosystems is a global company that specialises in supplying premium sensors, software and services to professionals in surveying, construction, infrastructure, mining, aerospace, manufacturing and other industries. At its machine control facility in Odense, Denmark, the company needed a flexible, accurate and safe way of moving trays from a rack. These then needed to be placed precisely so that the items on the tray could be filled with epoxy material. The new solution also needed to be scalable.

One of the key issues was that epoxy fumes can be harmful to people, as they can cause inflammation and irritation of the nose, throat and lungs.

The OMRON TM cobot provided a perfect solution, as it can be easily deployed in areas that can be hazardous for people to work in. Other components of the solution include OMRON’s NX and NXIO systems of machine control and its Sysmac machine automation platform. The solution was easy to install in Leica’s production process and Gibotech carried out the system integration.

So, how does the OMRON TM cobot automate the tray handling process? Firstly, it picks up a tray of units from a rack, using the TM landmark. This is a logo or marker that can be attached to the rack and can be easily detected by the cobot’s vision camera. The marker provides a reference point for the cobot’s movements, as other points can be defined in relation to the landmark’s position.

This means that the cobot can be trained to identify the location of an item. It can then use the landmark to pick and place each item with great accuracy. Even if the rack is moved, the cobot still knows where to move based on the landmark’s position.

For the Leica process, the cobot collects the tray and moves it so that it’s underneath an epoxy extruder. It adjusts the position of the tray so that the various types of items on the tray can be filled with epoxy material. The cobot then places the tray with the epoxy units in racks for curing and hardening for several hours. Following this, it replaces the tray in the rack, again using the TM landmark as a locator.

The new system means that different items on the trays can now be filled with epoxy material without any people being present. This improves ergonomics and safety in the working environment and protects Leica’s employees, who have been moved to other business-critical tasks. At the same time, the new solution has also reduced labour and production costs for the company.

OMRON’s Project Manager, Kenneth Jochumsen, comments: “This was a very special and innovative cobot application never seen before in the Nordics. We were able to develop it due to our integrated technology solutions and our extensive knowledge of industrial automation. The whole project was in line with OMRON’s underlying philosophy of interactive and safe collaboration between people and machines.”

Bent Andersen, Product Supply and Process Service Manager for Leica Geosystems, adds: “Our company expects to expand significantly in the future, so it was important to find a solution that can grow as the company grows. We therefore particularly liked the flexibility and scalability of OMRON’s automation solution, and the implications it has for greater worker safety.”