Enhancing productivity to sustain manufacturing

BW Industrie

Archytas Robotics integrates a high value-added part engraving solution at VCN Industries.

In short

Two UR10 cobots have been implemented at the Sochaux plant in screw driving applications on body-in-white assembly lines to increase performance and reduce production costs at the factory. Results include cost savings as well as improved geometric tolerance and better ergonomic work conditions for operators.

The business transformation

The evolution of the technology and customers’ expectations, coupled with market pressures, led Group PSA’s Sochaux plant in France, Europe’s second largest car manufacturer, to look for constant optimization of the industrial process. Group PSA sought, as part of their “Plant of the Future” project, to modernize its sites, compact its production line and lower the cost price of its vehicles. The group looked to Universal Robots to help it automate tasks on their assembly line in order to protect operators from TMS and overall competitiveness of their company.

Group PSA Sochaux

Industry Automotive and Subcontractors

Country Europe

Number of Employees 1000+

Cobots used UR10

Distributor Sysaxes

Automation challenges solved:

Decrease in cost price (cost drop),

increase in geometric dimensioning and tolerance (GD&T)

Improvement of work conditions

Key value drivers:

Easy programming and maintenance

Work safety for the employees

cost reduction, excellent operational yield

Tasks solved by collaborative robots:

Screw Driving

Assembly

How they did it

In 2011, BWIndustrie contacts Sysaxes, a distributor of Universal Robots, to assist with the integration of its first UR5 cobot. The goal was to replace an obsolete traditional robot installed in 2008, that was in charge of handling light parts. Following the success of this first operation, the company decided to invest in three other UR cobots, carrying out CNC machine tending, deburring and quality inspection.

Cobots at work

The cobot is attached to a post, which goes under the vehicle in production. Two operators pull down the vehicle and block it on both sides. Then, UR10 follows a well-defined cycle: it inserts three screws on the right side and three on the left. It refolds itself at the end of the operation and two light bulbs light up to indicate if the work is correctly done. After that, it swivels itself back into operating position for another cycle before the arrival of the following car.

I got used to working with the robot. To the point where, now, the crew calls it ‘Junior’

Maryline Bianchi , Operator

The benefits

The Sochaux plant of Group PSA is very satisfied with the results delivered by the UR10s. The operators have improved ergonomics and safety at their workstations. “Thanks to the robot’s arrival, we have been able to lower the cost price of our cars while also improving the geometric dimensioning and tolerance (GD&T) up to 10%, “said Grandjean.

The cobot also has an excellent operational yield: no vehicle degradation has been observed with over 200,000 cars produced, and no failure has been reported in the first year. Group PSA is now planning to deploy the UR cobots at other production sites as well.