The ceiling-mounted UR10 collaborative robot from Universal Robots is equipped with a vision camera and moves quickly between inspection points, snapping a picture of each connection before it retracts to a “home” position and waits for the next assembly to inspect.
O’Keefe stresses the up-time achieved since the UR10 took over the engine cradle inspection. “The UR10 has been running for two years now in two- or three-shift operations round the clock.” The application is also future-proofed for new engine builds. If new requirements or different inspection criteria are given by the customer, it’s easy to add quality inspection points to the process. “Our integrator simply dials in remotely, updates what’s needed and walks us through the process,” says O’Keefe.
Universal Robots handles mission-critical inspection
In short
A Universal Robots UR10 collaborative robot equipped with a vision camera enables the Ohio-based contract manufacturer to reach 100% quality in the sub-assembly of automotive engines.
At the horseshoe-shaped assembly line in Youngstown, Ohio, engine parts move like clockwork on a conveyor with 60-second timespan for each station, leaving no room for error. As the engine cradle sub-assemblies reach the end of the line, the company needs to inspect each sub-assembly, which includes a critical steering-gear wire harness connector, is fully seated and locked. “If there is an intermittent loose connection or it’s connected and not locked into place, it can cause an intermittent or complete loss of the power steering, which is a level 8 on the severity scale,” says Mike O’Keefe, value-added assembly superintendent at Comprehensive Logistics. “It’s a life-threatening failure mode, so we need to make sure that those clips are locked into place with 100 percent confidence.” O’Keefe also explains the challenge. “Industry-wide, manual inspection is only about 80 percent efficient, so we were looking for repeatable quality inspection through an automated system,” he says.
However, this process was causing the Ohio manufacturer headaches as the stationary multi-camera system the company implemented couldn’t position cameras into tight spots and wasn’t as repeatable as the manufacturer needed. “The data gathered by the camera system wasn’t as pure,” adds O’Keefe, who also experimented with a probe-style robot that did not meet repeatability requirements.
The company started researching alternatives. The solution would have to support Comprehensive Logistics’ up-time requirements, be simple to use and had to integrate easily with the processes and people on the line. “We had to find something that wouldn’t contribute to a potential safety issue,” explains O’Keefe. “We looked at Universal Robots and quickly realized that this was a cost-effective, light-duty robot that could move a vision camera to the right positions safely and repeatably. The dexterity of the Universal Robot enables it to get underneath where the mission-critical points are and be 100 percent repeatable.”
Comprehensive Logistics
Mike O’ Keefe, Value-added Assembly superintendent, Comprehensive LogisticsUniversal Robots provided us the opportunity to strongly position ourselves and deliver 100 percent quality
The solution
The turnkey application was developed by Automation Zone, an Ohio-based Certified Systems Integrator of UR robots.
Despite using external resources, the price tag on the overall application was still cost-effective. Comprehensive Logistics’ assembly superintendent details how the robot running a three-shift operation would pay for itself in about seven months. “Looking at just the robot hardware, the ROI is probably less than four months,” he says, adding that this calculation does not take into account the elimination of fees from the customer due to quality issues. “Because we get 100 percent quality from the UR robot, I believe that the pay-back period would be even shorter, knowing that we’re protected against penalties.”
Stable production
Built-in safety
Universal Robots is classified as a collaborative robot—or cobot—due to the built-in safety system that makes the robot arm automatically stop operating if it encounters objects or people within its route. This means that Comprehensive Logistics could have the UR10 operate right next to employees on the line. “We didn’t need to have the cumbersome light curtains or other types of guarding that are required with some of the standard robotic systems in the industry,” says O’Keefe, stressing the robot’s ability to easily start and stop mid-cycle. “If the inspection fails, we can go in and re-inspect just the failed portion of the cycle. Typically, if you have a stand-alone robot, it will re-run the entire process, which takes me over my cycle time.” With the 60 second takt time at each station, cycle time on the assembly line is set for about 48 seconds, with the UR cobot taking approximately 32 seconds to run through the inspection, allowing enough time for re-run fails without the whole line coming to a standstill.
Sustainable solution
The vision inspection performed by the UR10 is the last step on the fast-paced assembly line where up-time is crucial. “Previous solutions caused frequent interruptions but that is not the case with Universal Robots, we have had no breakdowns in two years of operation,” says Mike O’ Keefe, value-added assembly superintendent at Comprehensive Logistics.
Mission critical
Checking the correct assembly of the plug-ins for the steering gear wire harness is mission critical. If there is an intermittent connection caused by a connector not fully seated and locked into place, it can cause a loss of the power steering, which is a level 8 on the severity scale - meaning a life-threatening failure mode.
The products
Comprehensive Logistics is a leading third-party logistics provider of high-volume, high-velocity warehouse operations, including ISO and IATF certified value-added subassembly capability. Comprehensive Logistics deploys turn-key solutions encompassing; proprietary IT system integration; warehouse and yard management intelligence systems; parts sequencing; sub-assembly manufacturing; kitting; parts repacking; returnable container management; cross-docking; international inbound/outbound materials management; and dedicated shuttle transportation.
The Comprehensive Logistics employees might see more cobot colleagues in the future. “If Comprehensive Logistics is awarded more assembly builds, we could potentially replicate this process on other lines if the customer has mission-critical inspection points that need to be 100 percent quality,” says O’Keefe.
Automation challenges solved
Achieved 100% quality in the assembly of automotive engines Ability to automate without safety caging, enabling side-by-side operation with line workers Zero maintenance with no down-time or interruptions of the line Future proofed application, allowing for changes in the inspection of engine builds
Key value drivers
4 months ROI on the UR10, 7 months on entire application developed by integrator Easy programming Collaborative and safe Continuous operation with no need for recalibration after re-testing
Tasks solved by collaborative robots
Vision quality inspection of sub-assembly of automotive engines
Get in touch with Universal Robots
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