Justifying a Robot in Your Metal Forming Applications

The decision to automate is a question that most North American fabricators have already faced or will face in the near future. This primer can help a shop understand everything that goes into automating a metal forming process and, more importantly, recognize all of the benefits that the automation brings to hopefully make the decision much easier and successful.

With an estimated 225,000 robots currently installed in North America, robotic automation has become a staple of manufacturing facilities.[1] However, many manufacturers are still hesitant to purchase that first robot because they do not think that it can be justified or that a robot is not the right fit for their application.

Using robots in metal forming applications is a recent trend that has allowed manufacturers to form larger and/or more complex parts without the large amount of manual labor once needed to produce such parts. Labor savings remains the largest factor in being able to justify any type of automation. However, there are many other factors in the metal forming market that are often overlooked.

Some of the factors that can be used to justify the automation of a press brake machine are labor savings, higher payload capacity, safety, and a shortage of skilled labor:

LABOR SAVINGS
Taking the manual labor out of the press is the most obvious justification, because the robot takes the place of manual labor. However, aside from just taking the labor away from the machine, there are other labor saving benefits to using a robot that are not as apparent.

For example, a robot can utilize the left, right and center portions of a press much more efficiently than a human can. The work envelope of the robot can reach across the entire bending length of the press brake, while a human would have to walk back and forth to each area of the press. This allows the robot to finish a part much faster than a manual operator can.

The same is true with very complex parts. The more positive/negative bends required for a part, the more tiring the job is for an operator. The robot can manipulate the part faster and at a consistent speed all day long – and without lunch and breaks!

HIGHER PAYLOAD CAPACITY
Many press brake applications that use larger parts need two operators to manipulate the part to the press brake. This calls for skilled labor and double the payroll. A comparatively sized robot can handle much larger parts than a person and eliminate the need to have two people working the press brake.

There are a variety of models available in the industrial marketplace to tend press brakes, such as the very popular R-2000iB/165 from FANUC Robotics (Rochester Hills, MI), which can handle 165 kg and has a 2,650 mm reach.

SAFETY
Foot pedals, palm buttons and light curtains have come a long way to make press brakes as safe as possible for the operator. However, anyone that has been hit with a large workers compensation claim would agree that the further the operator is from the machine, the safer he or she is.

Press brake tending is one of the more dangerous machine tending operations based on how close the operator needs to be to the machine to properly tend it. Using robots to tend the machines and keeping operators away from the danger area will save a company money (and peace of mind) in the long run.

SKILLED LABOR SHORTAGE
The shortage of skilled labor is a problem that most manufacturing companies in North America face today. A skilled press brake operator is not only hard to find, but also hard to hang on to. Competition in the skilled labor market makes it difficult for manufacturers to retain good employees. By automating a number of press brakes with robots, companies can take one skilled laborer and utilize that person over three or four press brake systems.