August 21, 2024 • 22 mins
Welcome to RUN MODE, an industrial automation podcast hosted by Terry Busch. In this episode, Terry moderates a discussion with JD Teter, a robotics expert; Jeff Johnson, a safety expert; and Al Rausch, the president of Power/mation.
Recorded live at the grand opening of our new fulfillment center in St. Paul, Minnesota, our expert panel discusses how addressing the "3 D's"—Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous—can improve your industrial automation strategy. Learn how integrating robotics can significantly enhance safety, efficiency, and productivity in challenging environments.
Whether you're just starting with robotics or looking to optimize your existing systems, this episode provides valuable insights to help you take the next step in industrial automation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:06):
Welcome to RUN MODE, an industrial automation podcast by Power/mation.
I'm your host, Terry Busch.
Earlier this summer, we hosted a tech fair at our new fulfillment center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Today's episode features a live panel discussion we recorded at that event.
We talked about bringing robotics into a plant to solve workplace challenges
many manufacturers face today.
(00:28):
I moderated the discussion and was joined by our robotics expert,
JD Teter, a safety expert, Jeff Johnson, and our president, Al Rausch.
No matter where you are in your robotics journey, I hope this episode provides
you with a practical next step.
And now here's my conversation with JD, Jeff, and Al.
(00:49):
Thanks for stopping over. Thanks for coming to our event. Hopefully everything's
working out for you, food-wise and others. We got a great team here.
My name is Terry Busch, the moderator, business development manager for a lot
of the things that we have out on the floor, motion, IOT, controllers.
I kind of cover a lot of different topics and I'll let each one of you guys
(01:10):
introduce yourself as part of the panel and your area of expertise.
JD, we'll start. I get to start.
JD Teter, I have been in power formation for 20 some odd years.
I also work for ABB kind of in between.
My specific area of responsibility are motion control, VFDs, and robotics.
(01:30):
There's an answer that I like. Good American friend, Jeff. My name is Jeff Johnson.
I've been with Power/mation now for nine years.
Spent 30 years in the industry as an electrical engineer designing,
developing, and implementing a variety of different control systems for some
really great companies.
My emphasis is on safety as a business development manager and safety products.
(01:54):
So thanks for coming in today.
And I'm Al Roush, I'm the president of PowerNation. I'm new in the tenure side,
so I've probably been here going on seven and a half, eight months.
So expertise, questionable.
I would say from my background, all the manufacturing side of it.
(02:14):
So I've run companies primarily in high industrial manufacturers.
And so I come from the perspective of the end user, if you will, in the equation.
So I say my expertise is more on that side. So if we start throwing too many
acronyms out, I'm going to get lost because I'm just starting to know how to program a logic system.
But bear with me on that. But my expertise would be far more on the manufacturing front.
(02:37):
What we wanted to talk about today is sort of in that robotics journey, we call it.
Imagine yourself walking through a manufacturing facility and you're seeing
these different jobs that are out there.
And we look at them and say, well, is this a job that's highly repetitive or
something that's dull or something that's dangerous?
Those are the type of automated systems that we can put in place to be able
(02:59):
to prevent people from getting hurt and those types of applications.
And we really break that down into two areas.
Purposely built motion control, or is it something that we can put in a robotic system?
So that's one of the reasons why we asked Alistair in, because he has that background
in manufacturing and sees some of those jobs and some of those things that can
(03:21):
be dangerous for people to be around or even both dull or boring.
So, didn't know if you wanted to add any? No, that covers it.
We throw out there dull, dirty, and dangerous, right?
When someone says, you know, we're thinking about a robotic system or where
you want to apply robotics, right?
Those are the three big ones, dull, dirty, dangerous.
(03:42):
And Terry kind of covered them very well with some examples of some applications we've done.
Our highly repetitive you know sheet feeding systems we had an operator that
was had a had a process of a printing and then they had a mid process and then
they had a final cutting process,
and so we were able to take that and they had a hard fix it's not dovetail to
(04:05):
the next one they had a hard fix system that was feeding some but the sheets
but the problem they ran into was.
Flexibility on the feeding mechanism so we
talked about it and then we were able to help them deploy
a robot system that would move that gantry system
that freed up at the end of the table allowed the maintenance
team access to some things they have to get into but at
(04:27):
the same time a lot of flexibility and feeding of the sheet
now and then it freed up the operator too so she could go
back and focus on quality of the product and the cutting so that
was one of the examples of a highly repetitive process that she
was doing fed into the dangerous little bit because she's
grabbing material constantly right so we were
able to help them get a table come right off one process roll
(04:49):
up to another process and then have the robot feed right directly from it so
don't dirty dangerous i think and so one of the parts of the story that's interesting
is the dynamic nature of what what they were doing you build a gantry system
something very fixed very purposely built like in standard automation when you
need to move something from a to b B,
is it flexible enough where you can then bring in other parts of the system?
(05:13):
Can you make it dynamic so you can interact with people?
Is it something that could be changed on the fly? Once you build this box to
do a specific job, maybe that's the only thing that job can do.
And then you decommission it and you do something else.
Back in the wayback machine, yes, I've been here for a while, 30 some odd years.
We did contract packing. So we would build up a line.
(05:34):
We would run it. As soon as it was something that was viable and maybe they
would want to do it fully automated at their facility, they would pull the lines
out and they would bring it back to their facility.
We do the next one. We would turn a lot of lines that way.
Robotics would be a great way to be able to get in there and be dynamic around
what we're trying to accomplish from a picket place or a feeding of a machine.
So that kind of brings us to the next, I'll call it broader topic, but the type of robots.
(05:59):
And really, the definition is any automatically reprogrammable multi-process
manipulator with three or more axes is sort of that catch-all for what actually a robot is.
So, JD, why don't you mention some of the things that we have up on the deck here?
So you could say, if you wanted to go super broad category, industrial side
(06:19):
for robotics and cat robotics, actually, right, or commercial life.
So, you know, the cat is zipping around on a Roomba, that's a type of an autonomous
vehicle, right, performing certain function.
So some of the robots we have up on the screen there, kind of break them down
into really five broad categories. It's a Cartesian system, like you see up
there in the upper left, or a high-speed Delta, the spider-type robot.
(06:43):
Very popular for pick-and-play systems, especially in the food and dev industry.
The more popular one, the more well-known one, is the articulated one of the
six axis. That's the one that is about to drop that bucket down one's head.
Typically not a collaborative application. Let's just go with that.
Collaborative robots are like a subset of the articulated robot.
(07:04):
And then the STERA, which is
in that lower right, right? So some very specific type operations there.
And then again, we've got the autonomous type vehicles.
So now that we've figured out, okay, we've got robots, we have access to this
type of technology, how do you apply it?
The very first thing you've got to do is completely ignore the fact that you
have robots and think about what you're trying to accomplish.
(07:27):
You're trying to pick up a box, you're trying to move a manipulator,
something as simplistic as a welder, but you're going to bring the product into
a welder and move it to weld it?
Or are you going to weld and move the welding one, right?
So those are some of the things you have to think about when you're building
on a system. Before you even pick a robot, you got to talk about that.
(07:47):
Yeah. So when we look at an application, you know, a lot of people look at it
and say, well, I'm going to maybe deploy the six axis robot.
That's maybe not the best way to go. Like Terry said, we really got to look
at the tooling. What are we doing? Right. The process really becomes key.
So we really start to focus on what the end process is, what that end piece
(08:08):
is, what kind of tooling that we need up there.
And then you'll see on that one example, you know, the end effector,
you'll hear that term, right?
The part that goes on the end of the robot, that becomes part of the robot payload, right?
So that's something to keep in mind when we're selecting robots.
And then the other thing that comes up is, well, how do we present the parts?
And this is what we're showing here.
There's a couple of different ways. We have a very flexible feeding system that
(08:31):
you see there that can integrate a camera and a rotating disc that can bring parts into the system.
We have your traditional conveyance type system. We have a portable type system.
The cabinet maybe has parts on it. The robot can open up the cabinet,
pick out a part, put it into a process.
And then the next thing that comes up is like, okay, well, if I have all that,
what if I have a randomized product?
(08:54):
How do I locate that? Machine vision systems like we have out on the floor there,
a MechMind system, where if you go by the robot, you'll see a MechMind camera
looking down at a pallet.
So those are a lot of the different things that come in. When we look at end-of-arm
tooling, sometimes it can be, again, if you look at our fulfillment center out
there, right, you'll see some areas where they have a simple vacuum cup.
(09:15):
But then you might see something where you've got a full-fledged machine,
almost an autonomous machine being held by a robot.
So vacuum, gripping, other things going on, right, that end-of-arm tooling becomes critical.
So we look at, well, what's happening? So we have, you know,
we're going to be bringing parts in. We're going to be acting on those parts.
We've got to get rid of those parts. What are some other considerations?
(09:35):
Well, do people have to go in and out of the cell? And that's what we're showing
here. Well, what else do we have to accommodate?
Is that a routine thing? Is that part of the process? Is that just a maintenance person?
All these things that we do. So we like to have a very detailed conversation
with a prospect on what they need to do.
We really want to understand the process so we are better versed in how to provide
(09:59):
you a complete solution.
And when it comes to that safety right
is always forefront for everything we're doing right so
and we're looking at how do we bring safety in on the front end
versus trying to do it on the back end
i think we're going to kind of jump into that yeah and so that kind of brings
us into the next conversation and we're talking about safety and the big thing
(10:20):
about safety is where do you start and you start with protecting the person
and that's where it gets into kind of jeff's topic of expertise around the safety side, right?
So once the overall concept of the robot seller application has been developed,
it's really important to ensure safe design and implementation.
It's critically important.
(10:42):
As Terry was saying, in my opinion, the most important aspect is,
besides the processes, how do we keep people safe?
And it really starts with a solid functional safety design that really needs
to be upfront in the machine design process.
And so, not only can we reduce our overall installation costs,
(11:05):
but we can also have the opportunity to design out those hazards during the design process,
something you're not going to be able to do once that machine hits that floor.
So how do we create a functionally safe system?
Well, in my opinion, that really starts with a good understanding and knowledge
of the applicable safety standards, right?
(11:29):
And a good example of that is if you design a system where there's a person
that needs to interact with that process, now you've got to design safety around
that person, protect them, right? Right. So it could be hard guarding.
It could be something where they prevent them from walking in.
Could be light curtains and different things like that. You've got to have e-stuffs.
It's much better to design it so that it can all by itself without anybody in
(11:51):
it. You know, you weld a box around it.
We have the ability to do that. We can weld a box around things or we can have
people interact with the process to make sure that it's done safely.
The other thing that's really important in developing a safe machine is really
the risk assessment process.
Risk assessment is there to help identify.
(12:12):
Evaluate, and mitigate potential hazards. Risk assessment should be a team approach
where the overall goal is to create a roadmap so that we can create a safe machine
design and meet the requirements of the application safely.
Yeah and there's a standard 2017-ish OSHA said that all personal is that in
(12:37):
all workplaces and they need to have a safe place.
The employer is responsible to ensure that any risk assessment process has been validated.
And so that's the documentation that needs to be in place. If somebody gets
hurt or even if they get audited, it's like, hey, I protect whether it be chemical
splashes, whether it be robots hitting you and different things like that.
So that's part of the equation.
Anytime you're building an automated solution inside of a manufacturing facility.
(13:02):
And there's areas where the technology is growing quickly, but it's also growing,
I guess you could say, safely.
Around the we have things like radar systems the
fencing so some of the things power mission provide first of
all you know as a power mission customer for well over 25 years
one of the things that impressed me the most about power mission was the ability
to really strategically align with some of the best companies in the industry
(13:26):
providing world-class products and services so things power mission can provide
you know we can provide training for risk assessments we can provide training to,
you know, if you want to become a certified machine safety expert or licensed
machine safety specialist,
we could provide perimeter guarding fencing systems. We could provide.
(13:47):
Custom interlock solutions, custom scalable safety relays, safety controllers,
present sensing devices from light curtains, laser scanners.
So really just an incredibly deep product offering that Power/mation has,
you know, and being able to meet the requirements,
you know, Power/mation has a very deep customer base that with the vast array
(14:09):
of manufacturing capabilities and having Having a line cart as this really helps
us meet the requirements of customers with very specific needs,
especially around robot and robot systems, for sure.
So when you think about those kind of things, think about the robots.
It's not about the robot itself. It's not about the robots that are out on the floor.
It's not about the Roomba vacuuming your floor or even the autonomous vehicles
(14:33):
that are driving around.
It's more about how you're going to apply it, what you're trying to accomplish,
what areas are you trying to automate. And then you move into how do you manipulate the work piece?
How do you manipulate the robot potentially in feeds, out feeds and that?
Once you've determined that, then the next step is that safety piece to make
sure that if there is somebody interacting, that you do it safely,
that you can guarantee that they're not going to get hurt.
(14:56):
And then lastly is the outcome. And the outcome side is what's interesting in
the dollar, you know, putting the dollars to it, right? So that's one of the
reasons why I sat down to sit in because of his manufacturing background.
Talk a little bit about improving quality, efficiency, and speed and driving down your thoughts.
Yeah, I think from that perspective, I'd go back to two things.
(15:20):
As a business leader walking into a manufacturing environment where you live
today, my mind goes in two ways.
One, is the environment safe for employees? Is it an environment where we might
be putting them at risk, either it's repetitive motion or they might be in a
(15:41):
hazardous environment.
So you look at from employee welfare component, that would be a self justification
for some form of automation or value systems to protect that environment.
And then secondarily, my mind then goes to the RO, the return on that investment.
So are we either going to get efficiencies out of it?
(16:03):
Are we going to increase speed to throughput or reduce costs and expense?
And the other component to that is with the huge challenge with labor and technical
skill resources coming into manufacturing today, one way to combat that is through
automation and robotics, right?
Because if you put those systems in place, and Amazon is a good example,
(16:24):
the amount of robotic systems that they're investing, putting into their facilities
is exponentially higher than most manufacturers because they can't get the resources
to the labor. They can't get access to them.
So, you know, those are kind of from a leader standpoint, that's kind of where I'm going.
First and foremost is the environment that our workers are in is a safe environment.
(16:49):
It's a repetitive market bar, kind of the three categories that you would follow before.
I think that's kind of an innate. I think my background might be a little probably
out of the ordinary for many.
I was at one point in my career a risk manager for a major manufacturer,
a multi-billion dollar manufacturer. So, my responsibility was that, right?
(17:11):
So, I had no OSHA requirements. I had no, you know what, insurance.
Unemployment or workers' comp insurance, things of that nature.
So, now when I go through a manufacturing facility, I have different things
running through my head as far as where the costs are.
But it's interesting being part of Power Management. I think you're right,
Jeff. I think the power in our services and our understanding about what robotics
(17:38):
do for you and how we can bring different services and features to the table
to help you get to the answer that you're looking for with the best of industry.
Not only knowledge, but product sets is important.
And when we kind of round that out, when we talk to customers,
manufacturing facilities, there's many different people that we need to talk to about it.
(17:59):
Maybe it's the controls engineer that needs to move a box from A to D.
And so he's designing something. Let's use a robot, not use a robot.
But what about the quality guy?
What about, he says, you know, we're getting, you know, 10 bad parts out of 100.
Maybe we can automate it at a quality. Maybe it's somebody else that comes along
and says, he's a manufacturing engineer and it's ergonomics.
Where I came from, it was taking pouches off a conveyor and putting it in a carton.
(18:23):
And these people would do this with two arms because
you couldn't do it with one fast enough and they would do that all day long
24 well they wouldn't do it 24 7 they just eight hour shifts
but the machine was running like that we could automate that um if it's something
where somebody is picking up a box off the conveyor now they're going to hurt
their back so ergonomics is a big thing so you've got the quality person you've
(18:43):
got the hr person you've got the other people in the facility making sure people
aren't getting hurt and then at the end of the day you've got a I mean,
a manufacturing engineer or maybe the plant manager that's trying to get yield
out and they're trying to do things very purposefully so they can get things done.
As well as, you know, is somebody going to call in sick today on this dull job?
Maybe we should get something in there that automates the process.
(19:06):
Otherwise, we'll let the panel do closing comments.
We really appreciate your time. I look forward to working with you guys,
Daryl, myself, Jeff, all of us.
Down questions yeah absolutely sales
team they would love to do walkthroughs in the facility that's how
we find these dull dirty dangerous operations and one
(19:27):
thing that you know comes up for for for us daryl
i've had this conversation you know people say
well if i put a robot in am i displacing somebody no you're
enhancing their marketability right and something that application person
learns to do skill set so we like to counter that
you know uh free someone up to do something else where
they learn something so try to keep that in mind you
(19:49):
know we're not looking to replace robots we're looking to improve the
process and allow the people to grow their skill set
any other closing comments you
know is it covered good i maybe maybe my comment would be i think there's a
lot to be said about when you're inside your own manufacturing environment bringing
in someone to give you a different perspective you know these gentlemen are
(20:14):
in manufacturing environments every day.
And so they're seeing different applications and coming forward with a different solution.
And just having that opportunity to sit down and say, here's our process, do you see anything?
Could be of great value, because they see a lot of different manufacturing environments
and different applications.
(20:35):
Music.
I would like to thank our robotics panel guests and you for listening.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
and podcast to stay up to date on future episodes. See you next time.
Music.
Music.
(00:06):
Welcome to RUN MODE, an industrial automation podcast by Power/mation.
I'm your host, Terry Busch.
Earlier this summer, we hosted a tech fair at our new fulfillment center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Today's episode features a live panel discussion we recorded at that event.
We talked about bringing robotics into a plant to solve workplace challenges
many manufacturers face today.
(00:28):
I moderated the discussion and was joined by our robotics expert,
JD Teter, a safety expert, Jeff Johnson, and our president, Al Rausch.
No matter where you are in your robotics journey, I hope this episode provides
you with a practical next step.
And now here's my conversation with JD, Jeff, and Al.
(00:49):
Thanks for stopping over. Thanks for coming to our event. Hopefully everything's
working out for you, food-wise and others. We got a great team here.
My name is Terry Busch, the moderator, business development manager for a lot
of the things that we have out on the floor, motion, IOT, controllers.
I kind of cover a lot of different topics and I'll let each one of you guys
(01:10):
introduce yourself as part of the panel and your area of expertise.
JD, we'll start. I get to start.
JD Teter, I have been in power formation for 20 some odd years.
I also work for ABB kind of in between.
My specific area of responsibility are motion control, VFDs, and robotics.
(01:30):
There's an answer that I like. Good American friend, Jeff. My name is Jeff Johnson.
I've been with Power/mation now for nine years.
Spent 30 years in the industry as an electrical engineer designing,
developing, and implementing a variety of different control systems for some
really great companies.
My emphasis is on safety as a business development manager and safety products.
(01:54):
So thanks for coming in today.
And I'm Al Roush, I'm the president of PowerNation. I'm new in the tenure side,
so I've probably been here going on seven and a half, eight months.
So expertise, questionable.
I would say from my background, all the manufacturing side of it.
(02:14):
So I've run companies primarily in high industrial manufacturers.
And so I come from the perspective of the end user, if you will, in the equation.
So I say my expertise is more on that side. So if we start throwing too many
acronyms out, I'm going to get lost because I'm just starting to know how to program a logic system.
But bear with me on that. But my expertise would be far more on the manufacturing front.
(02:37):
What we wanted to talk about today is sort of in that robotics journey, we call it.
Imagine yourself walking through a manufacturing facility and you're seeing
these different jobs that are out there.
And we look at them and say, well, is this a job that's highly repetitive or
something that's dull or something that's dangerous?
Those are the type of automated systems that we can put in place to be able
(02:59):
to prevent people from getting hurt and those types of applications.
And we really break that down into two areas.
Purposely built motion control, or is it something that we can put in a robotic system?
So that's one of the reasons why we asked Alistair in, because he has that background
in manufacturing and sees some of those jobs and some of those things that can
(03:21):
be dangerous for people to be around or even both dull or boring.
So, didn't know if you wanted to add any? No, that covers it.
We throw out there dull, dirty, and dangerous, right?
When someone says, you know, we're thinking about a robotic system or where
you want to apply robotics, right?
Those are the three big ones, dull, dirty, dangerous.
(03:42):
And Terry kind of covered them very well with some examples of some applications we've done.
Our highly repetitive you know sheet feeding systems we had an operator that
was had a had a process of a printing and then they had a mid process and then
they had a final cutting process,
and so we were able to take that and they had a hard fix it's not dovetail to
(04:05):
the next one they had a hard fix system that was feeding some but the sheets
but the problem they ran into was.
Flexibility on the feeding mechanism so we
talked about it and then we were able to help them deploy
a robot system that would move that gantry system
that freed up at the end of the table allowed the maintenance
team access to some things they have to get into but at
(04:27):
the same time a lot of flexibility and feeding of the sheet
now and then it freed up the operator too so she could go
back and focus on quality of the product and the cutting so that
was one of the examples of a highly repetitive process that she
was doing fed into the dangerous little bit because she's
grabbing material constantly right so we were
able to help them get a table come right off one process roll
(04:49):
up to another process and then have the robot feed right directly from it so
don't dirty dangerous i think and so one of the parts of the story that's interesting
is the dynamic nature of what what they were doing you build a gantry system
something very fixed very purposely built like in standard automation when you
need to move something from a to b B,
is it flexible enough where you can then bring in other parts of the system?
(05:13):
Can you make it dynamic so you can interact with people?
Is it something that could be changed on the fly? Once you build this box to
do a specific job, maybe that's the only thing that job can do.
And then you decommission it and you do something else.
Back in the wayback machine, yes, I've been here for a while, 30 some odd years.
We did contract packing. So we would build up a line.
(05:34):
We would run it. As soon as it was something that was viable and maybe they
would want to do it fully automated at their facility, they would pull the lines
out and they would bring it back to their facility.
We do the next one. We would turn a lot of lines that way.
Robotics would be a great way to be able to get in there and be dynamic around
what we're trying to accomplish from a picket place or a feeding of a machine.
So that kind of brings us to the next, I'll call it broader topic, but the type of robots.
(05:59):
And really, the definition is any automatically reprogrammable multi-process
manipulator with three or more axes is sort of that catch-all for what actually a robot is.
So, JD, why don't you mention some of the things that we have up on the deck here?
So you could say, if you wanted to go super broad category, industrial side
(06:19):
for robotics and cat robotics, actually, right, or commercial life.
So, you know, the cat is zipping around on a Roomba, that's a type of an autonomous
vehicle, right, performing certain function.
So some of the robots we have up on the screen there, kind of break them down
into really five broad categories. It's a Cartesian system, like you see up
there in the upper left, or a high-speed Delta, the spider-type robot.
(06:43):
Very popular for pick-and-play systems, especially in the food and dev industry.
The more popular one, the more well-known one, is the articulated one of the
six axis. That's the one that is about to drop that bucket down one's head.
Typically not a collaborative application. Let's just go with that.
Collaborative robots are like a subset of the articulated robot.
(07:04):
And then the STERA, which is
in that lower right, right? So some very specific type operations there.
And then again, we've got the autonomous type vehicles.
So now that we've figured out, okay, we've got robots, we have access to this
type of technology, how do you apply it?
The very first thing you've got to do is completely ignore the fact that you
have robots and think about what you're trying to accomplish.
(07:27):
You're trying to pick up a box, you're trying to move a manipulator,
something as simplistic as a welder, but you're going to bring the product into
a welder and move it to weld it?
Or are you going to weld and move the welding one, right?
So those are some of the things you have to think about when you're building
on a system. Before you even pick a robot, you got to talk about that.
(07:47):
Yeah. So when we look at an application, you know, a lot of people look at it
and say, well, I'm going to maybe deploy the six axis robot.
That's maybe not the best way to go. Like Terry said, we really got to look
at the tooling. What are we doing? Right. The process really becomes key.
So we really start to focus on what the end process is, what that end piece
(08:08):
is, what kind of tooling that we need up there.
And then you'll see on that one example, you know, the end effector,
you'll hear that term, right?
The part that goes on the end of the robot, that becomes part of the robot payload, right?
So that's something to keep in mind when we're selecting robots.
And then the other thing that comes up is, well, how do we present the parts?
And this is what we're showing here.
There's a couple of different ways. We have a very flexible feeding system that
(08:31):
you see there that can integrate a camera and a rotating disc that can bring parts into the system.
We have your traditional conveyance type system. We have a portable type system.
The cabinet maybe has parts on it. The robot can open up the cabinet,
pick out a part, put it into a process.
And then the next thing that comes up is like, okay, well, if I have all that,
what if I have a randomized product?
(08:54):
How do I locate that? Machine vision systems like we have out on the floor there,
a MechMind system, where if you go by the robot, you'll see a MechMind camera
looking down at a pallet.
So those are a lot of the different things that come in. When we look at end-of-arm
tooling, sometimes it can be, again, if you look at our fulfillment center out
there, right, you'll see some areas where they have a simple vacuum cup.
(09:15):
But then you might see something where you've got a full-fledged machine,
almost an autonomous machine being held by a robot.
So vacuum, gripping, other things going on, right, that end-of-arm tooling becomes critical.
So we look at, well, what's happening? So we have, you know,
we're going to be bringing parts in. We're going to be acting on those parts.
We've got to get rid of those parts. What are some other considerations?
(09:35):
Well, do people have to go in and out of the cell? And that's what we're showing
here. Well, what else do we have to accommodate?
Is that a routine thing? Is that part of the process? Is that just a maintenance person?
All these things that we do. So we like to have a very detailed conversation
with a prospect on what they need to do.
We really want to understand the process so we are better versed in how to provide
(09:59):
you a complete solution.
And when it comes to that safety right
is always forefront for everything we're doing right so
and we're looking at how do we bring safety in on the front end
versus trying to do it on the back end
i think we're going to kind of jump into that yeah and so that kind of brings
us into the next conversation and we're talking about safety and the big thing
(10:20):
about safety is where do you start and you start with protecting the person
and that's where it gets into kind of jeff's topic of expertise around the safety side, right?
So once the overall concept of the robot seller application has been developed,
it's really important to ensure safe design and implementation.
It's critically important.
(10:42):
As Terry was saying, in my opinion, the most important aspect is,
besides the processes, how do we keep people safe?
And it really starts with a solid functional safety design that really needs
to be upfront in the machine design process.
And so, not only can we reduce our overall installation costs,
(11:05):
but we can also have the opportunity to design out those hazards during the design process,
something you're not going to be able to do once that machine hits that floor.
So how do we create a functionally safe system?
Well, in my opinion, that really starts with a good understanding and knowledge
of the applicable safety standards, right?
(11:29):
And a good example of that is if you design a system where there's a person
that needs to interact with that process, now you've got to design safety around
that person, protect them, right? Right. So it could be hard guarding.
It could be something where they prevent them from walking in.
Could be light curtains and different things like that. You've got to have e-stuffs.
It's much better to design it so that it can all by itself without anybody in
(11:51):
it. You know, you weld a box around it.
We have the ability to do that. We can weld a box around things or we can have
people interact with the process to make sure that it's done safely.
The other thing that's really important in developing a safe machine is really
the risk assessment process.
Risk assessment is there to help identify.
(12:12):
Evaluate, and mitigate potential hazards. Risk assessment should be a team approach
where the overall goal is to create a roadmap so that we can create a safe machine
design and meet the requirements of the application safely.
Yeah and there's a standard 2017-ish OSHA said that all personal is that in
(12:37):
all workplaces and they need to have a safe place.
The employer is responsible to ensure that any risk assessment process has been validated.
And so that's the documentation that needs to be in place. If somebody gets
hurt or even if they get audited, it's like, hey, I protect whether it be chemical
splashes, whether it be robots hitting you and different things like that.
So that's part of the equation.
Anytime you're building an automated solution inside of a manufacturing facility.
(13:02):
And there's areas where the technology is growing quickly, but it's also growing,
I guess you could say, safely.
Around the we have things like radar systems the
fencing so some of the things power mission provide first of
all you know as a power mission customer for well over 25 years
one of the things that impressed me the most about power mission was the ability
to really strategically align with some of the best companies in the industry
(13:26):
providing world-class products and services so things power mission can provide
you know we can provide training for risk assessments we can provide training to,
you know, if you want to become a certified machine safety expert or licensed
machine safety specialist,
we could provide perimeter guarding fencing systems. We could provide.
(13:47):
Custom interlock solutions, custom scalable safety relays, safety controllers,
present sensing devices from light curtains, laser scanners.
So really just an incredibly deep product offering that Power/mation has,
you know, and being able to meet the requirements,
you know, Power/mation has a very deep customer base that with the vast array
(14:09):
of manufacturing capabilities and having Having a line cart as this really helps
us meet the requirements of customers with very specific needs,
especially around robot and robot systems, for sure.
So when you think about those kind of things, think about the robots.
It's not about the robot itself. It's not about the robots that are out on the floor.
It's not about the Roomba vacuuming your floor or even the autonomous vehicles
(14:33):
that are driving around.
It's more about how you're going to apply it, what you're trying to accomplish,
what areas are you trying to automate. And then you move into how do you manipulate the work piece?
How do you manipulate the robot potentially in feeds, out feeds and that?
Once you've determined that, then the next step is that safety piece to make
sure that if there is somebody interacting, that you do it safely,
that you can guarantee that they're not going to get hurt.
(14:56):
And then lastly is the outcome. And the outcome side is what's interesting in
the dollar, you know, putting the dollars to it, right? So that's one of the
reasons why I sat down to sit in because of his manufacturing background.
Talk a little bit about improving quality, efficiency, and speed and driving down your thoughts.
Yeah, I think from that perspective, I'd go back to two things.
(15:20):
As a business leader walking into a manufacturing environment where you live
today, my mind goes in two ways.
One, is the environment safe for employees? Is it an environment where we might
be putting them at risk, either it's repetitive motion or they might be in a
(15:41):
hazardous environment.
So you look at from employee welfare component, that would be a self justification
for some form of automation or value systems to protect that environment.
And then secondarily, my mind then goes to the RO, the return on that investment.
So are we either going to get efficiencies out of it?
(16:03):
Are we going to increase speed to throughput or reduce costs and expense?
And the other component to that is with the huge challenge with labor and technical
skill resources coming into manufacturing today, one way to combat that is through
automation and robotics, right?
Because if you put those systems in place, and Amazon is a good example,
(16:24):
the amount of robotic systems that they're investing, putting into their facilities
is exponentially higher than most manufacturers because they can't get the resources
to the labor. They can't get access to them.
So, you know, those are kind of from a leader standpoint, that's kind of where I'm going.
First and foremost is the environment that our workers are in is a safe environment.
(16:49):
It's a repetitive market bar, kind of the three categories that you would follow before.
I think that's kind of an innate. I think my background might be a little probably
out of the ordinary for many.
I was at one point in my career a risk manager for a major manufacturer,
a multi-billion dollar manufacturer. So, my responsibility was that, right?
(17:11):
So, I had no OSHA requirements. I had no, you know what, insurance.
Unemployment or workers' comp insurance, things of that nature.
So, now when I go through a manufacturing facility, I have different things
running through my head as far as where the costs are.
But it's interesting being part of Power Management. I think you're right,
Jeff. I think the power in our services and our understanding about what robotics
(17:38):
do for you and how we can bring different services and features to the table
to help you get to the answer that you're looking for with the best of industry.
Not only knowledge, but product sets is important.
And when we kind of round that out, when we talk to customers,
manufacturing facilities, there's many different people that we need to talk to about it.
(17:59):
Maybe it's the controls engineer that needs to move a box from A to D.
And so he's designing something. Let's use a robot, not use a robot.
But what about the quality guy?
What about, he says, you know, we're getting, you know, 10 bad parts out of 100.
Maybe we can automate it at a quality. Maybe it's somebody else that comes along
and says, he's a manufacturing engineer and it's ergonomics.
Where I came from, it was taking pouches off a conveyor and putting it in a carton.
(18:23):
And these people would do this with two arms because
you couldn't do it with one fast enough and they would do that all day long
24 well they wouldn't do it 24 7 they just eight hour shifts
but the machine was running like that we could automate that um if it's something
where somebody is picking up a box off the conveyor now they're going to hurt
their back so ergonomics is a big thing so you've got the quality person you've
(18:43):
got the hr person you've got the other people in the facility making sure people
aren't getting hurt and then at the end of the day you've got a I mean,
a manufacturing engineer or maybe the plant manager that's trying to get yield
out and they're trying to do things very purposefully so they can get things done.
As well as, you know, is somebody going to call in sick today on this dull job?
Maybe we should get something in there that automates the process.
(19:06):
Otherwise, we'll let the panel do closing comments.
We really appreciate your time. I look forward to working with you guys,
Daryl, myself, Jeff, all of us.
Down questions yeah absolutely sales
team they would love to do walkthroughs in the facility that's how
we find these dull dirty dangerous operations and one
(19:27):
thing that you know comes up for for for us daryl
i've had this conversation you know people say
well if i put a robot in am i displacing somebody no you're
enhancing their marketability right and something that application person
learns to do skill set so we like to counter that
you know uh free someone up to do something else where
they learn something so try to keep that in mind you
(19:49):
know we're not looking to replace robots we're looking to improve the
process and allow the people to grow their skill set
any other closing comments you
know is it covered good i maybe maybe my comment would be i think there's a
lot to be said about when you're inside your own manufacturing environment bringing
in someone to give you a different perspective you know these gentlemen are
(20:14):
in manufacturing environments every day.
And so they're seeing different applications and coming forward with a different solution.
And just having that opportunity to sit down and say, here's our process, do you see anything?
Could be of great value, because they see a lot of different manufacturing environments
and different applications.
(20:35):
Music.
I would like to thank our robotics panel guests and you for listening.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
and podcast to stay up to date on future episodes. See you next time.
Music.
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