Category Archives: Reduce Cost

Application Examples, CT-Effects, Kaizen, Reduce Cost

Reduced Costs for Chocolate Quality Inspection

Industry: Food
Process: Inspection

How We Reduced Costs for the Quality Inspection Process

[Problems]
· An air cylinder was used to move the camera for quality inspection.
· Pressure adjustment to set the specified speed was difficult, and the speed was unstable even after adjustment.
· As a result of moving the camera at high speed in order to achieve the necessary number of production per day, the camera was damaged every year from the shock (at the start / stop) received at the stroke end.

[Improvements by Electric Actuation]
· With smooth acceleration / deceleration, it is now possible to move at a stable and high speed without the shock impact at the stroke end. This reduced the cycle time.
· The camera no longer needed to be replaced.

[Results of Improvement]
· Improved cycle time and increased production efficiency.
→ 25% higher production efficiency.

· The shortening of inspection work time reduced labor costs.
The number of production required per day is 54,000.
Inspection time was reduced from 15 hours to 12 hours per day after electric motorization, which means the inspection time was reduced 3 hours per day.
Annual number of working days 240 days, labor cost $18 / hour
3 hours × 240 days × $18
→ Reduced annual labor cost by $12,960.

· Eliminated camera replacement cost.
→ Reduced cost $8,000 per year.

 

Related product information
Single axis robot: ISDB-L-400

 

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Application Examples, CT-Effects, Kaizen, Reduce Cost

Automating Touch Panel Inspection Process

Industry: Electronic equipment / Home Appliances
Process: Positioning

Inspection Process Costs were Reduced!

[Product Handled]
· Touchscreen tablet

[Process]
· Touch the display on the touchscreen with a pen (touch inspection). This is the process of inspecting the deviation between the touch position and reaction position.

[Before Improvement]
· Personnel operated the touch pen and inspected each tablet. Working time: 2 minutes / unit
· Two people were needed for the required production volume (500 units / day). 500 units × 2 minutes ÷ 480 minutes (8 hours) = 2.1 ≒ 2 people / day.

[Improvement by adopting Tabletop robots]
· We were able to automate the touch inspection process.
· It is now possible to conduct two inspections in parallel using 1 minute for the automated touch inspection. (Two tabletop robots were installed.)

[Results of Improvement]
· By automating the touch inspection, one person can now inspect twice as many units as before.
· Personnel costs were reduced to half.

[Total Effect]
→ *Process cost reduction for the 1st year: $22,815
(*Based on case study in Japan.)

 

Related product information
Actuators: Tabletop Robot TT-C3

 

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Application Examples, CT-Effects, Reduce Cost

Cutting Cords to Variable Specified Lengths – CT-Effects Application Example

Motorizing the feed process increased production, and significantly lowered electricity and labor costs.

Papers/Films/Wires/Building Materials
Cutting Cords to Variable Specified Lengths – CT-Effects Application Example
AE-01-01-senzai-cut
[ Robot/Electric Actuators ]
RCP5-RA6C

 

  • [Issues until now]

    – Air cylinders were used to feed a cord to a specified length.

    – It took time to manually adjust the stopper position each time the product type was changed. (About 5 minutes per changeover = 1 hour/day)

    – It was difficult to cut the correct length, causing workers to repeatedly inspect and adjust the cutting.

  • [Improved with Motorization]

    – Manually adjusting the stopper position was totally eliminated. Adjustments are now done by entering the feed amount on a touch panel. Manual changeovers are a thing of the past.

    – Using a value command function in the ROBO Cylinder made it easy to cut lengths of specified varieties. The manual labor for adjustments was significantly reduced.

    [Improvement Results]

    – Production was increased from 7 hours per day to 8 hours.

    – Reducing the number of steps also reduced labor costs.
     

Reduced man-hours needed for:
– changeover time: 60 minutes/day
– cut inspection and adjustment time: 120 minutes/day		 → Total of 3 hours/day
(Annual Example)
– Labor Time of 3 hours/day (times 250 days/year)
– 3 hours X $10 X 250 days		 If labor costs $10/hour
→ Annual Savings of $7,500

*Exchange Rate: 1(USD)=100(Japanese Yen)

Electricity costs reduced with motorization

（Example) Work load: 3kg, Moving distance: 200m
Cycle time: 3 sec. One-day running time: 8 hours

Annual operation days: 250 days
Unit Price: (Air) $0.24/ｍ3 (Electric) $0.15/KWH

〈 Annual Electricity Costs 〉Approximately 95% reduced
Air Cylinder$117.67/year
(Cylinder inner diameter φ25mm) 		Electric Cylinder$5.67/year
（□56motor）

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Application Examples, CT-Effects, Kaizen, Reduce Cost

Continuity Inspection Tool – CT-Effects Application Example

Labor Cost Reduction ⇒ $9,000/year

One operator
*Labor $18.00/hour 8 hours/day
*Overtime work 2 hours
*250 operational days/year

*Exchange Rate: 1(USD)=100(Japanese Yen)

 

Electronic Components 
Continuity Inspection Tool – CT-Effects Application Example
[ Robot/Electric Actuators ]
 [ Controllers ]
RCP4-SA7C,   RCP2-SS8C PCON-CA

 

  • [Equipment Detail]

    It is a continuity inspection tool used for a PC extension board manufacturer.

    An air cylinder is used in this application to insert an edge connector on a PC board.

    An operator loads and unloads a PC board to the air cylinder manually.

 

  • [Problems in Using an Air Cylinder]


    Since you can’t change speed with air cylinders, you will need to move the entire stroke at the same speed to insert the PC board to the inspection tool. The cycle time is 15 seconds, and the number of work pieces that can be inspected in an 8 hour work day was 1,920 pieces *1.

    Management decided to increase the production volume of the PC boards to 2,400 pieces per 8 hour shift and to accomplish this, 2 hours *2 of over time per day was required.


    *1 (8 * 60 * 60) seconds/ 15 seconds/ piece
    *2 (2,400 – 1,920) pieces * 15 seconds/ piece

     

    [Benefits of Replacing with ROBO Cylinder]

    By switching to ROBO Cylinder, this enables them to move at high speed before insertion and then slow down just before the insertion, which lead to a shorter cycle time of 12 seconds. 

    It is now able to finish inspection within the operational hours. Also the reduction of labor cost for overtime work was accomplished.

    The cost spent to replace the cylinder was retrieved in the 1st year, which resulted in a cost reduction of $9,000 from the 2nd year.

     

[CT Effects – Reduction in Cycle Time/Choco Tei]

 

Subject Equipment with Air Cylinder Equipment with the ROBO Cylinder
Cycle Time 15 seconds 12 seconds

 

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