Jaguar to get more Kawasaki robots

Citation

(2003), "Jaguar to get more Kawasaki robots", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930dab.006

Jaguar to get more Kawasaki robots

Jaguar to get more Kawasaki robots

Keywords: Jaguar, Kawasaki, Robots

Jaguar Cars looks set to use about 60 more Kawasaki robots for the next generation XK sports car, the X150 coupe, due to appear in 2005.

Supply companies in the UK are already being asked to quote for work on X150 that will carry an aluminium body. The manufacturing technology used for the X150 body-in-white will be similar to that adopted in the recently launched XJ saloon, code-named X350.

Much of the body assembly technology specifically developed for the XJ passenger car will migrate across to the X150. This includes the use of Henrob self-piercing rivets (of which there will be fewer for the X150) and the Kawasaki robots used for handling and to apply the self-piercing rivets. These Kawasaki robots also will use similar robot changing devices that allow the machines to switch quickly and easily between riveting guns and handling devices.

In addition to the 60 robots to be based at Jaguar's works, some additional robots will be purchased for use at the sub-contractor that will be nominated to manufacture the closure items – doors, bonnets and boot lids.

A dozen or so new Kawasaki robots have already been added to the existing XJ body assembly facility at Jaguar's Castle Bromwich works in the West Midlands. These will be used to manufacture low-volume parts for the longer wheelbase version of the X350 (the engineering code for the XJ saloon) that is due to appear soon. This too will be an all-aluminium car, but with larger rear doors.

Added to these robots are a dozen more Kawasaki robots being installed in other parts of Jaguar's plants.

More robots too have been added to Jaguar's Halewood plant for the manufacture of the estate car version of the X400, the X-Type. Interestingly, however, on this occasion the decision was taken to use Comau robots made in Italy. Apparently, Comau was successful in winning the contract to supply the body- in-white equipment to make the X-Type estate. All the other robots in the Halewood plant are sourced from Kawasaki in Japan.

This will be the first time that Comau robots have been used at the Halewood plant although, of course, they have been used previously at the Castle Bromwich plant for earlier Jaguar models. Again, in that instance, Comau was responsible for the entire body-in-white shop.

Up to the arrival of the most recent Comau machines, Jaguar's management had taken the decision to "standardize" on Kawasaki robots throughout the plant.

The Castle Bromwich plant is the third largest installation of Kawasaki robots in the UK, after Jaguar's Halewood plant and Toyota's Burneston plant in Derby.

Ford's manufacturing managers are now in a position to carry out intensive inter-plant performance benchmarking of Kawasaki robots, comparing the performance of machines installed at Mazda in Japan, where they are used to produce bodies for the RX8, and at the two Jaguar plants, Castle Bromwich and Halewood.

Interestingly, although Land Rover is part of the Premier Automotive Group, alongside Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin, there are no signs yet that the Solihull-based company will join Jaguar in selecting Kawasaki machines to produce bodies for the next generation Land Rover vehicles. Indeed, there are rumours that Kawasaki machines have not even been considered for these applications. Industry observers had expected that Ford would standardize its use of robots on one make of machine throughout UK plants.