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Increasing quality and employee wellbeing with cobot automation

Prysm Industries

In short

Prysm Industries approached Universal Robots for a solution that would allow its family-run contract plastic injection moulding business to further enhance its high-quality production, while increasing productivity and staff satisfaction – with the installation of a collaborative industrial robotic arm - a UR5.

The business transformation

For Prysm Industries, accuracy is key. Its plastic injection moulding business based in Dandenong, Victoria has been producing high quality containers for over 40 years, stocking a number of Australia’s largest retailers. With this in mind, consistency has been essential to their company, which is why for so many years the task of applying adhesive labels had been entrusted to its skilled operators. However, this was also a task that the company felt was incredibly repetitive – and might be better performed robotically.

The challenge for Universal Robots would be to install an automation solution that could deliver this high standard of accuracy and volume effectively, that would also allow staff the freedom to perform more fulfilling activities elsewhere. This meant being able to at least match the human element, which had previously applied a product label every 6-7 seconds.

Prysm Industries

Industry Plastic and Polymers

Country Oceania

Number of Employees 50-100

Cobot used UR5

Video — UR5 robot, Prysm Industries, Australia

How they did it

Having been introduced to Universal Robots technology through Sensorplex, one of our Australian distributors, Prysm selected the collaborative UR5 robot as a perfect solution that would be able to cope with their specific requirements and payload.

Through Sensorplex, Prysm employees were provided with basic training and full support for the implementation and running of the collaborative robot, which has now given the company a flexible solution and rapid return on investment. Every day the collaborative robot is in operation, Prysm has reported a saving of $550 in labelling expenses alone, which meant that the collaborative robot was able to pay for itself in less than twelve months.

We’ve seen better product consistency, specifically in the label, and it’s also freed up our operators to operate more machinery, and by doing that we are saving about $500 a day, which has led to the robot paying for itself within 12 months.

Matt Murphy, Operations Manager, Prysm Industries

Easily moved and reprogrammed

The collaborative robot now operates various tasks in a confined space, but with the ability to be repositioned easily. This means that, unlike the other automated solutions in the Prysm workplace, the collaborative robot can be easily moved around and reprogrammed in minutes by staff as required. A graphical user interface with a teach function enables an operator to simply grab the robot arm and show it how a movement should be performed. The user-friendly interface then allows staff to drag and drop the routines to do their programming.

A happier workplace

Prysm Industries now uses the collaborative robot for all its labelling projects, so employees are able to focus on running several more machines and can engage in more interesting tasks across the factory floor. This has meant that in addition to increasing productivity, flexibility and reducing costs, it has helped contribute to a much happier workplace.