---
title: One robot, several machines
description: How one mobile robot serves a CNC machine, a panel bender and a press brake, with free extra shifts and new parts in 1–3 minutes. An SME case with numbers.
image: https://blog.opiflex.se/hubfs/Images/Blog%20Images/p02-share-robot-manual-access.png
---

[Skip to content](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/one-robot-several-cnc-machines#main-content)

Zoeken

[![](https://blog.opiflex.se/hubfs/OpiFlex%20logo%20PNG%202017-03%20(Small).png)](https://www.opiflex.se/) 

[Back to the website](https://www.opiflex.se/)

# One robot, several machines

[high product mix, low volumes](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/tag/high-product-mix-low-volumes) [mobile robots](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/tag/mobile-robots) [Machine Tending](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/tag/machine-tending) [Case Study](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/tag/case-study) [Production Economics](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/tag/production-economics)

Updated at: 14 October 2026

There are 168 hours in a week. Two shifts use 48 % of them. In most machine shops the machines could run far more, but there is nobody there to load them.

A fixed robot is a good answer when one machine runs the same parts for a long time. In a shop with several machines and many short orders, the work keeps moving from one machine to another. The question is whether the robot can move with it.

## The robot follows the work

An OpiFlex cell is a standard ABB robot on a mobile platform. It is moved with a pallet truck, manually or by AGV, and docks at a station in front of the machine with high precision and high stability, even at full speed. When the order on one machine is done, the robot moves to the next.

![High volume flexibility: share the robot cell easily, fenceless at high speed and payload, full manual access to the machine](https://blog.opiflex.se/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Blog%20Images/p02-share-robot-manual-access.png?width=1920&height=1080&name=p02-share-robot-manual-access.png)

The operator adds a new part in 1–3 minutes with the Dynamic Program Generator, without robot skills. Traditional programming of a new part takes 10–60 hours. That difference is what makes short series worth running in the robot.

We normally pick directly from the pallet instead of from a conveyor, so nobody has to stand and load and unload. Since the cell has no fence, the operator keeps full manual access to the machine for one-offs and prototypes.

## Free extra shifts

Start the next machine when you leave for the day. One of our customers starts the cell when the staff go home and follows it on a webcam during the night.

Because the robot does not stand still when one machine runs out of work, a mobile robot in machining and sheet metal typically corresponds to 1.2–1.5 people per shift. With a fixed robot it is normally one.

## A case with three machines

One SME makes 530 different products a year on three machines, all served by one robot. They went from two manual shifts to robot production 24/7. Across the three machines, productivity rose by 46 % and contribution margin by €343,000 a year, and 4.2 operators moved to other work.

|  | CNC | Panel bender | Press brake | Total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Products per year | 230 | 100 | 200 | 530 |
| Productivity increase | 59 % | 56 % | 22 % | 46 % |
| Contribution margin increase per year | €131,000 | €115,000 | €97,000 | €343,000 |
| Operators freed for other work | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 4.2 |

The interesting number is not in the table. Serving all three machines, the robot is busy 97 of the 168 hours in a week. There is still room for more work.

![Case SME: one flexible mobile robot cell serving a CNC machine, a panel bender and a press brake, with productivity and gross profit per machine](https://blog.opiflex.se/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Blog%20Images/p02-sme-case-three-machines.png?width=1920&height=1080&name=p02-sme-case-three-machines.png)

It often starts smaller. A contract manufacturer in western Sweden first wanted to automate a single press brake. It ended with three cells: press brake, lathe and turn-mill.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mqYxL7knMlw" title="OpiFlex mobile robot at a turn-mill machine" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;" allowfullscreen></iframe>

## Where to start

If you run one machine with one part in long series, a fixed cell may well be the simpler choice. If you have several machines and a changing order book, it is worth calculating. We do that with our production economics model, validated by Chalmers University of Technology, on your own mix, shifts and machines. Send us a few pictures of typical parts and tell us which machines you are thinking of. [Contact us here](https://www.opiflex.se/en/contact/).

Johan Frisk

[Read more from Johan Frisk](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/author/johan-frisk)

## Related articles

- ### [![OpiFlex Dynamic Fenceless Safety for large industrial robots at high speed](https://blog.opiflex.se/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Blog%20Images/p04-fenceless-safety.png?length=500&name=p04-fenceless-safety.png) flexible robotics mobile robots fenceless safety OEM & Tier 1 Fenceless safety for large robots at full speed | OpiFlex How a large industrial robot can run at full speed without a fence: the principle, the zones, the standards, and when a fence is still the better choice. Read more](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/fenceless-safety-for-large-robots-at-full-speed)
- ### [![OpiFlex and sustainable development: people, planet and profit](https://blog.opiflex.se/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Blog%20Images/p22-people-planet-profit.png?length=500&name=p22-people-planet-profit.png) flexible robotics mobile robots Sustainability Sustainable automation: reuse robots | OpiFlex Three lines at 32, 24 and 26 % utilisation, one shared mobile robot at 82 %. An example of how standardised, mobile robots get more hours and are reused. Read more](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/robots-that-are-reused-not-replaced)
- ### [![OpiFlex robot product range: mobile, collaborative and fixed ABB robots](https://blog.opiflex.se/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Blog%20Images/Slide56.png?length=500&name=Slide56.png) flexible robotics mobile robots fenceless safety Dynamic Program Generator Mobile, fixed or collaborative: choosing the right robot When to choose a mobile, fixed or collaborative ABB robot from OpiFlex, by payload and reach, and which ones come with the Dynamic Program Generator. Read more](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/mobile-fixed-or-collaborative-the-same-software-on-every-robot)

1. [Home](https://blog.opiflex.se)  /
2. One robot, several machines

[![OpiFlex-logo-rev-G-white-3](https://blog.opiflex.se/hs-fs/hubfs/OpiFlex-logo-rev-G-white-3.png?width=250&height=75&name=OpiFlex-logo-rev-G-white-3.png "OpiFlex-logo-rev-G-white-3")](https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/one-robot-several-cnc-machines#link)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Johan Frisk",
    "url" : "https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/author/johan-frisk"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2026-10-14T16:54:47.859Z",
  "datePublished" : "2026-10-14T16:16:56.000Z",
  "headline" : "One robot, several machines",
  "image" : [ "https://blog.opiflex.se/hubfs/Images/Blog%20Images/p02-share-robot-manual-access.png" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://blog.opiflex.se/opiflex-blog/one-robot-several-cnc-machines",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://blog.opiflex.se/hubfs/OpiFlex%20logo%20PNG%202017-03%20(Small).png"
    },
    "name" : "OpiFlex"
  }
}
```