Design & Automation News - November/December 2024

PHOTO COURTESY FLEXXBOTICS

Autonomous process control for smart factory production robots

Flexxbotics’ white paper, “Autonomous Process Control (APC) using Robots and Automated Inspection in Manufacturing” identifies the methodology and related technologies required for APC in the context of smart factory production robotics, a pivotal technology for achieving autonomous manufacturing. The paper also explains how improved nonconformance capture can reduce defects by more than 30%, increase production yields between 25% and 45% depending on the nature of the process, and reduce the cost of quality by 20% or more leading to significant earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) improvements.

During the past decades, manufacturing has evolved significantly with advancements in production automation. Today, factory automation is being transformed by robotics and standardized digital solutions designed for increasing levels of autonomy to address the cost pressures associated with reshoring, supply chain restructuring, and labor shortages.

Achieving consistent quality and yields is a key challenge in automation-intensive industries. Numerous factors introduce variability into factory processes which leads to inconsistencies in product quality and reduced production efficiency. The need for scalable, repeatable processes is more pressing than ever as manufacturing environments include increasing levels of automation complexity. Using production robotics with autonomy mitigates variability and enables higher levels of precision and consistency for greater profitability.

White Paper topics include:

• What is autonomous process control?
• Key technology components for APC
• Why is APC important?
• APC implementation steps
• APC deployment guidelines
  o Requirements for success
  o Best practices
  o Common pitfalls
• Benefits & advantages of APC
  
• Future directions

Flexxbotics
https://flexxbotics.com