UR collaborative automation and its role during the COVID era

Social distancing has become common in plants.

Advanced Motion & Controls Ltd. is the supplier to trust for automation solutions by Universal Robots (UR). Over the past 15 months, the global pandemic has had an overwhelming effect on the manufacturing field. A recent online article by UR discusses the lessons that manufacturers have learned over the COVID era, based on its talks with thousands of other producers.

Automation as the top strategy

First, automation has turned out to be the most powerful strategy for succeeding in the kind of volatile, uncertain conditions that COVID-19 has created. UR notes that collaborative automation helps manufacturers boost continuity, flexibility, competition, productivity, and safety. When changes occur quickly, limiting time for planning, budgeting, hiring, training, or extensive reconfiguration, automation is the perfect fit.

Manufacturers should establish a Plan B for supply chains, in case remote production or supply is compromised and market demands change, such as in the COVID era. The key is to manage employees in terms of their availability and safety, while boosting their value and skills to meet new production requirements. UR cobotic solutions from Advanced Motion & Controls help businesses of all sizes respond to sudden changes. In addition, the labour shortage can lead to opportunity; as labour rates have seen huge increases, advances in collaborative automation have increased productivity and lowered expenses among many manufacturing processes.

The uncertainty of the COVID era has forced company demands to change on a dime; some have had to manufacture different items than their plants are designed to make, or to customize their products in certain ways. Collaborative automation offers the easy flexibility required. As well, the priority on social distancing has altered safety requirements in many facilities for human workers but inserting UR cobots in production lines reduces these risks significantly.

Collaborative automation has helped manufacturers discover innovative new opportunities to address an uncertain world and come out smarter. As the end of the tunnel is in sight, together we can make businesses better prepared for such emergencies.

For more information, contact Advanced Motion & Controls.

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