October 2019

30 n FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING October 2019 www.drivesncontrols.com Flexible production: the key to a changing market A ccording to a survey carried out by YouGov for the manufacturers’ organisation, Make UK, 70% of people agree that the UK cannot tackle future problems without a strong manufacturing sector. Manufacturing is seen as important to securing our place in the global economy, as well as creating employment opportunities for future generations. What is the impact of changing consumer trends on the manufacturing sector, and how can this important sector maintain its strength? Mass production is a stable part of our industrial landscape. It lends itself to higher efficiency, higher productivity and consistency. However, where manufacturers benefit from these elements, they lose out in manufacturing agility. UK manufacturers need more flexible and agile production methods to ensure they can respond rapidly to changing consumer needs. Whereas trends, buying habits and products previously had long cycles, consumers today are far more connected and informed, resulting in rapidly changing trends. They require more personalised products to meet their unique needs, while expecting fast and easy access to these products. The media also plays a big part in changing trends. A good example is the stir generated around single-use plastics, amplified by mainstream media. This kickstarted an enhanced awareness among consumers, with many companies acting quickly for fear of consumer pressure and brand degradation, and adjusting their production and distribution processes to counter these threats. One way of satisfying changing consumer demands is to move to a more “artisanal” method of manufacturing, but this rarely lends itself to mainstream and commercially viable operation. Manufacturers need to identify more flexible methods of manufacturing to ensure that they can re-use, re- configure and re-apply production technologies to new product developments. Smart automation plays a key role in achieving these goals, incorporating the latest IoT technologies, along with automation and robotics, to make flexible manufacturing not only a reality but also commercially sustainable. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) enables more agile production processes, where manufacturers can respond more quickly to changing consumer demands. One vision for the endpoint of the IIoT is a batch size of one, where a production line can change after every product, tailoring itself to individual customer’s needs. Manufacturers can start to add flexibility to their production processes by splitting a traditional production line into individual cells, with process modules that can be rearranged easily if necessary, to meet changes in demand. Instead of using conveyors or humans to move materials between cells, and to and from warehouses, manufacturers can deploy mobile robots to connect individual modules. Furthermore, collaborative robot arms that can work safely alongside people without typical robot safety measures, while being easily for local engineering staff to reconfigure, are easy to implement, adding greater flexibility. Cobots installed on mobile platforms will become integral to future logistics, enabling further innovation and competitiveness for manufacturers. These hybrid robots can provide complete sub-assemblies and semi- finished products for assembly stations, and finished products to be placed in stock or quality control stations. Manufacturers should consider integrating collaborative and mobile robots into flexible, constantly-evolving production environments where the re-deployment of machines is needed. In the future, combining collaborative and mobile robots with artificial intelligence and vision systems will unlock even more exciting possibilities for industrial applications. Automation using smart devices, precision control, and robotics, maximises manufacturing flexibility. There is no need to build an entire new production line or plant to address changes in consumer demand and to increase product customisation. Thanks to the added flexibility and efficiency, production lines can meet the changing market needs and ensure that manufacturers stay competitive, maintaining a strong manufacturing industry in the UK. n If manufacturers are to keep up with an increasingly dynamic consumer market with shorter product lifecycles, they need to adopt more exible and agile production methods. Dan Rossek, Omron UK’s regional marketing manager, argues the case for splitting production processes into re-arrangeable cells linked by collaborative and mobile robots The future of exible manufacturing could lie in individual production cells linked by mobile and collaborative robots