WHEN THE BOTS TAKE OVER
Machines don’t eat, sleep or fall ill. And just like they replaced horses, they will eventually replace humans
When U.S. President Donald Trump pledged during his 2016 campaign to bring back manufacturing jobs from China to the United States, he might have overlooked one small detail: the impact of automation.
Neil Dueweke still remembers the day these cold and emotionless invaders quietly overran factory floors and callously changed the course of automotive history.
These tireless workers never left their post, never called in sick, never took vacation, and never once gossiped or griped about long hours or no lunch break.
With more than 25 years in the robotics business, Dueweke has been on the front lines while this technological influx gradually replaced people while making the workplace safer. From a productivity standpoint, people just can’t compete with equipment that works faster, and works 24 hours a day.
“Robotics has changed dramatically since I’ve been in it,” said Dueweke, body structure general manager of FANUC America Corp., a leading international industrial robotics supplier. “And the business continues to change seemingly every day.”
From the simplistic single-arm robots of the 1980s used for menial tasks such as spot welding, to today’s modern machines that can carry entire truck bodies and handle almost any manufacturing chore, robotics are more the rule than the exception in vehicle construction.
“You’re going to have more and more cases where robots are going to work near or very close to people,” said Dueweke, explaining that lift-and-place is one vital way a robot can assist an employee. “Maybe fastening a component to the vehicle where currently you have a person not only holding it but trying to fasten it. And that is a tough, tough job.”
Robotics in automotive construction continues to evolve but the science is nothing new. Since 1962 when General Motors put the first robots online to perform spot welding and die-casting, the presence of robotics on factory floors has steadily grown to the point of almost full “lights out” automation in some factories, where cars can be built in the dark.
And while robotic-reliant plants obviously don’t help the human unemployment rate, these precise machines dramatically reduce on-thejob injuries and, Dueweke believes, improve overall morale within the workplace.
“There were an awful lot of difficult and dangerous tasks that people were charged with doing in automotive plants,” he said. “Those days are thankfully behind us for the most part. The jobs that are there now are usually a lot easier for the average person to do day in and day out, repetitively.” And as far as job loss? “The argument about the robots taking jobs away from people is rather in the past,” said Dueweke, stressing that while the assembly line workforce may be shrinking some, maintenance and other specialized job opportunities are growing. “You just have a higher educated level workforce doing all kinds of tasks.”
In addition to improved worker safety and unmatched reliability, the shrinking prices and logistical advantages of a robotic-based facility are driving auto builders more and more to automated-plant construction. Popularity and mass production of robotics have helped drive down the price of these machines by about two-thirds since the boom of the automation industry 25 years ago.
Dueweke said that anywhere from 350 to 700 robots are installed during the typical construction of a “green field” plant. A standard low-end robot used for simple assembly tasks such as spot welding or tire installation cost about US $20,000 where the most sophisticated painting or lift-and-place machines cost US $100,000 or more.
When Fiat Chrysler Automobiles updated its plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., to build the 2015 Chrysler 200, it spent about US $1 billion and incorporated about 1,000 robots.
“Price is one of the key enablers,” Dueweke said. “It’s actually a lower cost right now to put up a robotized plant versus what was done 30 or 40 years ago. Robots are becoming so inexpensive and they are so robust in terms of what they can do, it’s becoming the only option for manufacturers looking to build a new facility.”
International Federation of Robotics General Secretary Gudren Litzenberger agrees, saying that the installation of robotics in manufacturing plants increases by about five per cent every year.
Japan easily carries the highest international rate of robotic equipment in the auto industry with nearly 2,000 robots for every 10,000 human employees. The United States ranks fourth with about 1,200 robots for every 10,000 employees. And Litzenberger expects the ratio to continually close.
“The automotive industry would not have been able to meet the increasing demand of cars without robots,” she said. “Especially with more varieties of models and improved quality.”
Automotive robotics are found in three areas: the body shop where the sheet metal is attached and the frame is assembled; the paint shop where the vehicles are sealed and painted; and in general assembly when the components are attached and construction is completed.
Robots in the body and paint shops have become relatively commonplace because of the precision and consistency they provide, leaving general assembly as the area for the greatest potential autonomy growth.
“I would say in another 15 years you’re going to see some significant progress in general assembly in terms of automating and changing the way vehicles are final assembled,” Dueweke said. “General assembly is the Holy Grail; that’s part of the next frontier for robotics in automotive.”
And the perfect climate for another automated invasion.