Stumbled upon a promotional release from a large automobile brand (Seat) that describes its robotic manufacturing chains: one is far from human anthills around metal carcasses from a few years ago:
Very early on, car construction was a symbol of the replacement of human manpower by robots. Everyone or almost screamed at scandal and put forth the unemployment that these changes provoked. We see that the opinion changes gradually, since the car manufacturers now dare to communicate on this robotization, praising its merits.
The images come from the factory in Martorell, Spain (or in Catalonia, it is according to…). A car every 68 seconds comes out of this metallurgical workshop, which works 24 hours a day with 2000 robots and 1700 employees.
The description of the operation according to Seat:
-2 000 robots: Thousands of articulated mechanical arms intermingle and synchronise to handle daily up to 2 300 pieces. They work in harmony and are constantly on the move for 24 hours in a row. They are able to weld different parts of the bodywork, to assemble the doors of the cars and to check the geometry of the chassis with precision measuring instruments.
-Mechanical dancers of different sizes: This dance troupe consists of several different types of mechanical dancers. The smaller robots are just over one metre tall and the larger ones reach six meters. Some are orange, some are yellow. Some are equipped with pliers, others are sensors. Their main common feature is that they are lightweight and versatile, and that they can handle weights up to 700 kg by holding them firmly.
-pirouettes at 720 degrees to achieve up to 16 000 welding points: Most robots have six axes, a feature that allows them to perform combinations of countless movements, including vertically, horizontally on rails and With a rotation of up to 720 degrees. When they start dancing, each robot can make up to 16 000 points of welding every day on the bodies of future cars.
-The conductors coordinate their movements: a team of 390 people keeps an eye on the needs of the installations and ensures the proper functioning of the robots. From the control room they monitor in real time the conditions of the installations and their coordination with the rest of the workers.
-Accurate to the nearest two tenths of a millimeter: guided by this choreographed routine of the fourth industrial Revolution, robots relieve not only their colleagues made of flesh and blood of all repetitive work and heavy loads to be lifted, But they also perform more and more sophisticated tasks. They transfer parts from one location to another during production and are also able to weld, bolt and apply adhesives or measure possible spreads of up to two tenths of a millimetre due to their Measurement, before the models reach the finish line.
-In perfect symbiosis with factory workers: to finalize the choreography of the 4.0 industry, the dancing robots participate in the efforts of the employees, and the final checks are always carried out by the factory workers. Together, people and machines are able to assemble a car body every 68 seconds.
One will notice the prose certain of the communication service of Seat… But in the end, these are impressive figures.
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