Drives & Controls July / August 2022

29 www.drivesncontrols.com July/August 2022 AUTOMATION n Cobots could become an increasingly common sight in tomorrow’s factories NewAMR demo facility hosts flexible automation roadshow The Welsh cobot (collaborative robot) specialist Reeco Automation has opened a dedicated centre for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in Bradford where it will develop applications for these devices and demonstrate the flexibility and other benefits that they can bring to automation installations. The 200m 2 centre recently hosted a flexible automation roadshow that Omron has been taking on a tour of Europe. The show gave manufacturers from different sectors the opportunity to experience a wide range of technologies for the factory of the future, including flexible palletising, autonomous material transportation and flexible human- machine collaboration, all underpinned by traceability. Reeco is a strategic partner for Omron in the UK. The Bradford demonstration attracted more than 75 representatives of manufacturers from the food & beverage, automotive and pharmaceutical sectors.They were shown how they could use AMRs to reconfigure their manufacturing lines. The demonstration included Omron’s most powerful AMR, the HD-1500, which can transport loads of up to 1,500kg, a variety of flexible palletising and autonomous material transportation systems, and a cobot palletiser working with each other to move packages around a simulated factory floor. The capabilities on display included box-to-pallet transportation, box-to- mobile-robot-top conveyors, and conveyor-to-pallet transfers using cobots. Visitors could follow the movements of the AMRs and other components on large screens. “We are delighted to bring some of our most dynamic, collaborative human-machine automation solutions out of the factory and on tour for the first time ever in the UK, so that our key customers can look at and touch the flexible manufacturing systems of the future,”says Omron UK’s marketing manager, Stuart Coulton.“We hope that the roadshow will inspire today’s manufacturers to reimagine what is possible on their production lines, enabling their facilities to remain agile for years to come.” Following the Bradford demo, the flexible manufacturing roadshow has moved on to mainland Europe, visiting Germany, Poland and the Benelux region. Reeco’s new AMR demo centre recently played host to Omron’s flexible automation roadshow which visited the UK as part a tour of Europe upskill and have more interesting and better paid jobs. An autonomous and collaborative factory will have fewer workers than a conventional factory, but those people who are involved will no longer have to perform repetitive mechanical tasks. The robots can execute those. Day-to-day running of the factory is just one aspect of the “people” consideration. Another is the need for people to implement next-generation technologies and automation projects. At present, there is a massive gap within manufacturing when it comes to IT, comms and technical skills. In research conducted by Omron, almost 90% of heads of IT said they would rely on external consultants to help them navigate through DX and Industry 4.0. In this context, partnerships have never been more important and any project needs to be a three-way collaboration between a manufacturer, technology provider and system integrator. The discipline: think beyond, start small, scale fast The journey to collaborative and autonomous manufacturing is exactly that: a journey. Moving from proof-of-concept to a position where you are deriving value from a system takes time. And it can’t be rushed. Businesses need to think carefully about what technology they want, how they are going to scale it up from a cost and risk perspective, and how they are going to secure buy-in from their people. That is why we advise our customers to think big but start small, and then scale fast. There is no point in rushing out and spending £400,000 on mobile robots. All that will achieve will be to alienate people. Start small, prove the concept, get people on board and then scale up, is my advice. n