Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 4.00
…half, requiring only 16 days from production start to delivery, compared to 30 days in 2012. Elos has also succeeded in “growing out of the risk” of terminating employees as a result of automation investments, as its total manageable staff has risen from 116 to 145 employees over two years. Along with automation to improve productivity, new jobs have been created within the highly specialized manual assembly, in R&D and in administration. “We want to grow without adding more people than what is actually dictated by growth,” says Henrik Andersen, head of R&D at Elos. “Automation is a strategic focus…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.52
…customers to reduce our lead times and improve our delivery times because they are running leaner inventories.” Those customer challenges are happening against the backdrop of increasing competition for labor and a mandate to drive continuous improvements in safety and ergonomics. “In just about every major city where we have distribution centers, there is real competition for labor,” says Rodriguez. Put them together—the need for speed, quality, service and labor shortages—and “automation becomes a way to operate successfully within the context of these competing demands,” says Rodriguez. In fact, new demands may be changing the rules for justifying automation, at…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 16.54
…estimates a $400 billion-plus market opportunity for Amazon in delivery, freight forwarding, and contract logistics. All of this serves as a backdrop for what may or may not happen next. And it was spelled out to a degree in a Wall Street Journal report published last week, which explained how Amazon is “laying the groundwork for its own shipping business in a brazen challenge to America’s freight titans” (i.e. UPS and FedEx. Citing unnamed current and former Amazon managers and business partners, the report explained that while Amazon has publicly said having a delivery presence is a logical way to…
Found in Robotics Companies & Businesses, with a score of 10.19
For more than 30 years, FlexLink has been a leading, global provider of production logistics solutions to manufacturing industries. FlexLink supplies a wide range of conveyor systems, handling functions and software enhancing efficiency in assembly, filling, machining and packaging lines. Over the years, FlexLink’s solutions have earned recognition for being efficient, compact, flexible and durable. Common effects of FlexLink’s solutions are increased throughput, reduced throughput time and a predictable delivery of the products in process. Engineering and field services are part of our long term commitment to customers.
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.56
…increasingly adopting automated material handling equipment to shorten the delivery time of products to the customers and for storing goods in warehouses to ensure the quick delivery of the products. Moreover, automated material handling is gaining popularity in the aviation industry as it offers ease for manufacturing and assembling the aircraft. The systems are used for storing parts of aircraft, picking and handling of components during assembly of aircraft, and organizing aircraft parts efficiently. The Asia-Pacific region (APAC) is expected to be the leading and fastest-growing market for automated material handling equipment during the forecast period. The increase in production…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.00
…aim is to develop a prototype of a self-driving delivery cart that can autonomously accompany staff during last mile delivery. The submitted prototypes need to be able to traverse typical urban and rural landscapes at walking-speed while at the same time carrying parcels. “Our colleagues have to deal with an ever-increasing number of parcels that need to be delivered,” Meahl continued. “As our couriers are currently required to manually push this volume through the streets, we encourage concepts that support our employees.” After submission, entries will be reviewed in a pre-selection process based on their functionality, potential to solve the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 14.91
…the facility on air shipment pallets or as parcel deliveries from FedEx or UPS. Deliveries are received by purchase order and reconciled for quantity and quality (not shown). Once a delivery has been inspected it is entered into the warehouse management system (WMS), and labeled with a license plate bar code label that represents the quantity and SKU. Product ready for storage is then put onto a rack and staged for putaway. Putaway: Putaway is directed by the WMS. In the area enabled by mobile robotics (1), a tote with items ready for storage is scanned onto one of the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.29
…of optimization in manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and last mile delivery that could become a reality in less than half a decade despite high set-up costs deterring early adoption in logistics. Changing consumer behavior and the desire for personalization are behind two other top trends Batch Size One and On-demand Delivery: Set to have a big impact on logistics, on-demand delivery will enable consumers to have their purchases delivered where and when they need them by using flexible courier services. Batch Size One explores what could happen as consumer demand for highly personalized products goes head to head with mass production…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.03
…continuous pressure from customers to keep costs low and delivery turnaround fast. So what are we to make of all this attention on robots at Modex? Are we at the crest of the usual hype cycle, focusing on robots because they are fun to talk and write about, but not likely to see much use anytime soon? I believe serious uptake for robots will happen rapidly in DCs, mainly because of the increasing labor pinch. As one keynote panelist, Todd Farwell, global resource deployment champion with Caterpillar, put it, simply adding more human labor to mounting operational pressures won’t cut…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.69
…began to ask how it could speed up the delivery of a new pair of glasses to its customers, says Joe Maris, the senior vice president of lab operations for VSP Optics Group. The answer was a $37 million investment in an 80,000-square-foot, state-of-the art production lab in Folsom, Calif., that doubles the footprint of the original location and is designed to improve the speed to market. The lab has 401 employees and processes nearly 6,000 pairs of eyewear each day with plans to expand to 8,000 pairs of eyewear daily in the coming years. According to Maris, it features…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 4.24
…will know the machine inside and out prior to delivery.” Training courses include: Robotic training cell 1. Introduction to Schneider robotics 2. General FANUC robotics 3. Unit load creation using Pallet Pro and/or Schneider pallet generation software 4. Robot troubleshooting Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) training 1. Introduction to PLCs 2. Introduction to Schneider PLC logic 3. Troubleshooting PLCs 4. Product select addition to PLC 5. HMI fundamentals Servo motor training 1. Introduction to servos 2. Servo troubleshooting Schneider employees will also use the training facility. With the lab and its miniature robotic palletizing cell, service and maintenance training will occur…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.59
…technology like drones or autonomous automobiles that enhance the delivery of products. Although certain robots are continuously being developed only for the food industry, such as in-store robotics that replenish shelves and robotic dispensers that prepare food, the primary focus for all food and beverage facilities, regardless of the products they distribute, is to automate the storage and retrieval of goods. “Today, the ways in which products are delivered depends on how they will be consumed,” says Cory Hypes, executive vice president of Power Automation Systems. “As consumers continue to desire a more diverse product line, distributors will have to…