Productivity: manufacturing variability

Automation and flexibility are difficult to combine. But it can be done. Thanks to clever software that reprograms robots with each new task. This enables solutions that make robotisation an interesting option in production environments where many different parts need to be manufactured – in small volumes or even as a single part. There are also opportunities to quickly set up a production line where robots and humans complement each other well.

Operator central

Adjusting the configuration of a production line or reprogramming robots – these are the kind of tasks still mostly performed by humans at manufacturing companies. But thanks to advanced robotic solutions, it is no longer necessary to make all those adjustments manually. Hence, autonomous production is now also an option for small series. This does, however, involve a major automation push that requires a slightly longer lead time. After all, it’s not as if ready-made robots can be driven into a factory and put to work straight away.

Step by step towards an integral solution

At TNO, we help manufacturing companies to achieve autonomous, flexible production. We do this step by step. By applying partial solutions, we strive to achieve an integral solution in which all the necessary elements are in place to achieve manufacturing variability. We often use intelligent camera systems to help us with this. We not only use them to visualise all operations, analyse them in real time, and identify bottlenecks, but also, for example, for VR and AR applications that give human production workers visual instructions on the work to be performed in the workplace.

Smooth collaboration between humans and machines

Also worth mentioning: collaborative design. This is often a game changer as it encourages and optimises human-machine collaboration. And increasingly sophisticated robotics and digital tools are making that collaboration smoother by the day.

Experimenting during field labs ‘test before invest’

Developments in flexible manufacturing are moving fast, making manufacturing variability an interesting option for more and more manufacturing companies. To discover what is possible, TNO regularly invites companies to participate in fieldlabs. During the projects launched there, participants are often impressed by the technological and digital solutions already available today. Such fieldlabs also give them the opportunity to test new solutions and ask questions in a safe environment.