EuroWire January 2020

Corporate News

Robotics presents an opportunity for cable manufacturers

THE use of robotics in manufacturing has come some way since the first industrial robot patent in 1954 and General Motors’ early adoption in 1962. Many roles in the factory environment are better suited to robots, for example where parts are too small for human eyes, or where workers need to be protected from high-risk tasks. Where work is mundane or repetitive, using robots brings the added advantage of allocating human resources to more skilled work, such as engineering or programming. Robots require no climate control and can operate continuously in lights-out situations, long after human workers have gone home. Where manufacturers have lost business due to an inability to scale up in time to service a large contract, the use of robotics can improve competitiveness. The rise in popularity of robots also presents an opportunity for cable manufacturers involved in the assembly of robotic cables. However, robots are not cheap, and there is the added cost of assessing the factory to identify where the use of robotics might make the most impact. It can take several years before a return on investment can be achieved. What might dictate the adoption of robotics in the cable industry is how adaptable the technology is to a linear industry. Robotics are already well embedded in discrete industries such as car or mobile phone manufacture. In the mobile phone

▲ ▲ The use of robotics can improve competitiveness

industry, for example, there may be only four different SKUs (stock keeping units) for an iPhone. For the cable industry, however, there could be thousands of different product iterations. Cable and wire manufacture is rarely off-the-shelf, and there will need to be significant advancements in robotics technology before it can be rolled out at pace to this industry. Even then, it is unlikely that it will fully replace the human workforce. Implementing robotics still requires in-depth assessment and continual review, and relies on the capability of the human mind in anticipating issues that may lie ahead and adapting the approach accordingly. Cimteq Ltd https://cimteq.com

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January 2020