Keywords
Citation
(1999), "Robot cells in just one week", Industrial Robot, Vol. 26 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1999.04926baf.008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Robot cells in just one week
Robot cells in just one week
Keywords FANUC, Robots
Anyone faced with an urgent increase in production call off can have a robot cell for arc welding delivered within one week of order, now that FANUC Robotics holds as stock all the major cell elements. The robot cell will be a ready to go unit that can be installed and running in less than one day (see Plate 6).
The key elements of a cell are the Indexing Tables that allow out of cycle load/unload, the peripheral guarding, the central panel, the welding sets and of course the ArcMate 100i or 120i robots.
Assembly of cells from these units is a matter of days. If the customer is seeking to improve productivity on existing components, it is likely that fixtures to hold the assembly already exist. The sizes of cells are available, System 50 and 100. Many elements such as control panel and robot are common. The difference is fixed or indexing table and size.
When a new job is to be processed, then another one to six weeks can be added to the delivery depending on the complexity of fixtures required to be designed and manufactured.
According to Maurice Hanley, Sales Manager at FANUC, the move to ex-stock delivery is a reflection of the wider acceptance of robot welding cells even amongst small fabricators with less than 10 employees.
Plate 6 Typical welding cells on one week's delivery from FANUC Robotics
FANUC recently produced a simple tabular chart that enables anyone without any robot experience to estimate the welding time for an assembly. All the customer has to do is to convert the capital cost of the welding cell to an hourly rate to calculate the cost per assembly. Free laminated copies of the chart are available on request from FANUC's Coventry headquarters.
Many current users are amortising the cell costs over 12 to 18 months and are still coming up with competitive unit costs. Once the amortisation period is over, the profit contribution from the welding cell dramatically increases.
Contact: Maurice Hanley, FANUC Robotics(UK) Limited, Seven Stars Industrial Estate, Wheler Road, Coventry, CV3 4LB. Te1: +44 (0)1203 639669; Fax: +44 (0)1203 304333.