From reducing downtime, improving robotic cell performance to supporting business continuity.
Interwoven with the concepts of digital manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and IIoT, these systems give control to users and integrators by combining the digital and physical worlds in ways that save time and money, avoid accidents, and increase productivity.
Interest in these technologies was high before the pandemic subsequently has greatly increased. Driven by restrictions on spacing, government directives, and widespread labor shortages, many facilities have been forced to reconsider their maintenance and operations strategies.
In traditional automation configurations, having fewer people on site means less effective monitoring of system performance and a reduced ability to quickly reprogram robots either during any application changes or due to failures. Remote monitoring, remote programming, and predictive maintenance solutions are designed to overcome challenges like these.
Unplanned downtime is estimated to cost industrial manufacturers $50 billion annually, with equipment failures accounting for 42 percent of this unplanned downtime. These outages cannot lead to unmanageable maintenance and repair costs.
Although our focus is on applications involving industrial robots, many of these systems can be used to monitor other machinery such as our industrial manipulators and other devices.
Here, we will examine some of the key benefits provided by systems designed to alleviate these issues:
Remote monitoring
Remote monitoring systems allow you to remotely monitor robot performance. Typically, remote monitoring tools allow you to collect information on robot performance by keeping track of key performance indicators (KPIs) such as uptime/inactivity times, cycle time, and even details on products produced. KPIs provide historical and real-time information related to robot performance. These powerful information resources can be used to target changes within the cell and robot settings, with the goal of improving overall performance. This provides important business benefits such as increased productivity, improved quality, reduced downtime, and improved business continuity. In addition, if a robot fails for any reason, remote monitoring systems can be used to send an immediate alert to personnel. Given the high cost of downtime for manufacturers, the ability to quickly identify sources of failure is a major benefit of remote monitoring solutions.
Remote Programming
Remote programming allows robots to be programmed without having to be on-site. These tools provide significant savings, eliminate the need for the physical presence of an experienced programmer every time it is useful to program a robot, and ensure a quick response whenever there is a need even to modify an existing robot program. Remote programming allows a single technician to monitor and program numerous robots from a single location, simplifying operations and creating new business opportunities.
Predictive maintenance
Predictive maintenance solutions are designed to identify when a robot, machinery, or component thereof fails. This is in sharp contrast to reactive maintenance, which occurs only when a failure has already occurred. The cost savings from predictive maintenance technologies are enormous and include reduced downtime, better equipment planning and reduced total cost. Recent research by the Deloitte Analytics Institute reveals that the ability to predict failures through advanced analytics will, on average, increase productivity by 25 percent and equipment uptime by up to 20 percent, reduce outages by 70 percent, and reduce maintenance costs by 25 percent.
