Flexibility without complexity: standardised robot cells

Large manufacturers have run robots for decades, and the fixed robot cell has served them well. What is changing is the product. More variants, shorter runs, new lines for electrification and layouts that change more often. More than 90 OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers have contacted us with the same question: how do we get flexibility without making every cell a special case?

Five needs we hear again and again

The needs match what the OECD described in its 2021 report on the future of robotics, where OpiFlex is featured on pages 25–27.

• Fast integration and installation: days instead of weeks.
• Fast ramp-up and ramp-down of production.
• Flexible configurations and fast programming.
• Layouts that can change without fences.
• Future-proof, standardised solutions that can be reused.

Standard hardware, flexible software

A custom robot cell is built to do one job well. It often carries 50,000–100,000 lines of its own code and its own electrical design. Even with a good rulebook, each cell ends up a little unique, and maintenance teams in 3–5 shifts have to know them all.

OpiFlex builds the other way round. The platform is factory-built from standard components from established global suppliers, with ABB robots. The flexibility sits in the patented software and the grippers. In practice that means:

• Installation in 2–4 days, compared with normally 4–6 weeks. Order to delivery is normally 4–16 weeks.
• Quick Swap: a robot is replaced in about 15 minutes, compared with 2–3 hours for changing a calibrated spare robot.
• Robot Pools: robots are shared and moved between lines, shifts and machines.
• Deterministic robot code with full traceability, adjusted in real time from ERP and quality control.
• Fenceless safety for large robots at full speed, accepted by Scania.

What sharing does to utilisation

In our comparison, ten products ramp up and down over four years. A cell built for one product peaks briefly and then has spare capacity. When the robots can move on to the next product, utilisation averages 81 %, against 59 % for traditional solutions.

In 2022 I presented ultra-flexible automation together with Scania at the Advanced Engineering conference. The talk is below.

Where it fits best

New lines that will change during ramp-up. Products with many variants. Stations that are only needed part of the time. Plants where maintenance wants fewer unique cells to look after. A station that runs one product at high volume for years is still a good place for a fixed cell.

Next step

We usually start with one application or line type and look at what can be standardised. I would like to hear which lines you are planning and where the changes come from. Contact us here.