Market trends and business perspectives
Japanese industrial robot giant Nachi-Fujikoshi has launched what it describes as a series of “high-speed, high-precision robots”.
The company says it developed the new robots “in response to customer demands for higher precision, further improving productivity, and miniaturizing electrical and electronic components”.
The three new robots are the MZ07F and MZ07LF with higher speed and precision MZ07. [Read more…] about Nachi-Fujikoshi launches new ‘high-speed, high-precision’ robot series
Industrial robot maker Kuka has teamed up with automation technology developer DesignPro to create new, advanced robotic welding processes.
Automating the welding process and employing robots enables manufacturers to achieve significant returns across several areas: application precision, speed and agility of task execution, waste reductions and increased safety.
The skills gap is also driving the take-up of automated robotics, as a means to sustain legacy manufacturing processes and support operational resilience. [Read more…] about Kuka teams up with DesignPro to develop robotic welding processes
Mitsubishi Electric says it will invest approximately 3.1 billion yen ($22.3 million) in its subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric India to establish a new factory in India.
Expected to start operations in December 2023, the new factory will manufacture inverters and other factory automation control system products, expanding the company’s capabilities to meet the growing demand in India.
The rapidly growing Indian market is expanding at an annual rate of about 8% mainly in industries such as automobiles, food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, data centers, and textiles, with further market expansion expected in the future. [Read more…] about Mitsubishi Electric to build new factory in India
Yaskawa Electric, parent company of Yaskawa Mechatronics, one of the world’s largest industrial robot makers, has completed a new plant in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, in China.
The facility has already begun the mass production of mounting boards for servo amplifiers and AC drives as well as electronic units for robot control panels used in its production bases in China.
Yaskawa says that, in China, economic activities are currently “stagnant” because of Covid-19 but demand for factory automation at production sites is increasing due to labor shortages caused by the low birth rate and ageing population, rising labor costs, and the risk of coronavirus spreading. [Read more…] about Yaskawa completes new plant for manufacturing mounting boards and electronic units in China
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, car manufacturing companies such as Ford quickly shifted their production focus from automobiles to masks and ventilators.
To make this switch possible, these companies relied on people working on an assembly line. It would have been too challenging for a robot to make this transition because robots are tied to their usual tasks.
Theoretically, a robot could pick up almost anything if its grippers could be swapped out for each task. To keep costs down, these grippers could be passive, meaning grippers pick up objects without changing shape, similar to how the tongs on a forklift work. [Read more…] about Washington university develops 3D-printed robotic gripper that can pick up anything, no matter what its geometry
Fanuc, the world’s largest industrial robot maker, has unveiled the new DR-3iB/6 Stainless delta robot for primary food handling.
The new DR-3iB/6 Stainless is Fanuc’s first stainless steel food-grade delta robot for picking and packing primary food products.
Rated IP69K, the robot meets USDA and FDA food safety standards, and sets a new benchmark for robotic food handling in terms of payload, speed, reach and sanitation. [Read more…] about Fanuc launches its first stainless steel delta robot
Industrial automation giant ABB and SKF, one of the world’s largest suppliers of bearings, have agreed a partnership to explore the possibilities for a collaboration in the automation of manufacturing processes.
The agreement was signed at ABB’s Robotics Experience Center in Västerås, Sweden, by ABB CEO Björn Rosengren and SKF CEO Rickard Gustafson.
Following the successful delivery of a number of projects in SKF’s global manufacturing network, including in Gothenburg, where a fleet of industrial robots from ABB are installed in the bearing manufacturer’s state-of-the-art factory, the two companies are now taking the next step in their collaboration. [Read more…] about ABB and SKF increase collaboration on industrial automation
