Flexible automation is a new frontier of industrial automation; let’s find out what it is first.
Flexible automation: definition and meaning
Flexible automation is a new production system which is based on the use of industrial robots capable of such flexibility as to rapidly change the type of production.
Transforming your production towards a flexible system means not just acting on the insertion of robots, but also varying numerous internal resources for the realization of the finished product, including:
– Quality and process stability
– Production time
– Safety
– Energy required
– Type of plant management
– Amount of raw materials
– Production space
Flexible automation employs autonomisation where the machines allow different ranges of variation without this affecting the conversion costs. The introduction of robotics in the company can thus indicate a largely positive implication, especially as regards the production costs.
In this type of production, the “basic” products are in low volumes because the customization variants increase considerably compared to a standard series production.
Main advantages
Flexible automation allows a good elasticity and adaptability to market demands thanks to its production conversion capacity. Products maintain a high quality with always very low unit costs.
Differences with rigid automation
Rigid automation employs flow automatism; this means that the production line is made up of operating machines and means of handling that perform only a certain task repeated over time and each machine is inserted on the line, according to its processing, with a fixed and preset order.
Therefore, the system will carry out only a certain production cycle, the one for which it was designed. All this allows to perform a very high number of production cycles autonomously and with substantial repetitions. Thanks to this system, unit costs become very much lower, while ensuring high quality.
