Automotive Supplier Increases Productivity and Optimise Resources

The Challenge

MANN+HUMMEL, a multinational group, is a leading manufacturer of high-quality products in the field of filters and technical plastic components for the automotive and industrial sectors. Located in Zaragoza and with some 750 employees, it counts on vehicle manufacturers and the most important spare parts distributors as customers.

The company works continuously to improve manufacturing processes and is firmly committed to the automation of production lines to help it “achieve a clear reduction in costs, increase productivity and therefore maintain the competitiveness we need to retain our position as market leaders,” says Iñaki Calavia, Head of Process Engineering at the plant in Zaragoza.

Furthermore, in the case of some assembly cells, the company had to increase the performance of the production process to meet changes in customer demand without adding more workers to the cells. Hervé Serrano, Process R&D Engineer and Technician: “It wasn’t about reaching the highest productivity in the shortest possible time. We are using automation to make individual productivity gains in environments where the solution functions side-by-side with the operator.”

The Solution

The MANN+HUMMEL team, with initial support from a Universal Robots distributor in the region, has created three collaborative applications using UR10 cobots.

The three applications are integrated into assembly cells, where the transfer of parts is carried out automatically. The UR10 works together with the operator who is feeding a machine in an environment where it is difficult for the operator to enter easily or where they have to enter at a precise moment in the process.

Application 1: The cell synchronises the loading and unloading of the welding machine to avoid a bottleneck. With the UR10, machine loading and unloading is done in just 10 seconds, compared to the usual time of 16 seconds when the task is carried out by a single human operator.

Application 2: The assembly cell was first configured according to a customer’s requirements in which a single operator was sufficient. A later change in the customer’s demand required increased productivity but not enough to justify adding a second operator. The solution was to add a robot that transfers parts between the welding machine and a verification machine. The robot waits until the part is finished, takes it out of the machine and delivers it directly into the operator’s hand exactly when needed.

Application 3: The team introduced a robot in the design phase as they knew from the start that one operator could not reach the required production output but that two operators was not an option due to the risk of overproduction. They designed a schedule where a UR10 cobot working alongside a single operator transfers parts between two machines, providing the precise output necessary to reach the target.

The distributors involved at the start of the project add, “When the MANN+HUMMEL team explained to us the automation challenges they were facing, and they were in a hurry to find a solution, we had no hesitation in suggesting a Universal Robots cobot. The integration time was minimal, and after brief training, they quickly learned to develop their own applications thanks to the flexibility and simplicity offered by the UR cobots. It is a pleasure to have been able to support them on this project.”

MANN+HUMMEL’s experience with UR cobots has been so positive that they are already considering extending their use to other parts of the factory and are considering the possibility of incorporating cobots for inspection tasks, parts packaging, and activities that do not add value to the product. They are currently testing a UR10 equipped with a Robotiq gripper 2F-140 as part of developing a new packaging application.

To find out more about Universal Robots cobots, visit our UR Cobots page.