The Automotive Fluid Power Team at the Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) facility in Findlay, Ohio, is on the leading edge of a future where robotic precision and human insight have been merged to transform operations on the plant floor. After first piloting collaborative robotics (cobots) in 2020, the Findlay team has recently unveiled a new robotic model that combines a robotic arm and a mobile platform. The innovation optimizes productivity and reinforces the plant’s long tradition of lean manufacturing.
The plant’s industrial mobile robots (IMRs), under development for 15 months, combine the machine vision and pick-and-place parts capabilities of a stationary cobot with the navigation and machine vision capabilities of an autonomous mobile robot (AMR). AMRs can move safely and autonomously around obstacles in their paths. The combination of cobot and AMR functionality in one IMR unit has helped make it possible for Findlay to automate complete product production cycles in specific work cells.
Cobots Helping with Staff Shortages
“The new process technologies we’ve adopted here, including our most recent addition of IMRs, have been essential to our sustained market competitiveness,” said Roy Schroeder, Vice President of Lead Center Fluid Power Automotive at the Findlay site. “This technology benefits our operations by eliminating undesirable, non-value-added work such as moving product, frees up our employees to handle more value-added activities, and maintains consistent product quality.”
During the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, worker recruitment challenges became a prevalent issue for many manufacturing facilities, including Freudenberg’s Findlay facility, where difficulties hiring manufacturing floor operators became the impetus for a new strategy: the Findlay team began pilot testing cobots to carry out repeated, stationary tasks within a work cell on the plant floor.
Due to the pilot’s success, the site not only invested in 14 additional cobots over the course of 2021 and 2022 but also added AMRs to the mix. The cobots and AMRs performed very well and clearly addressed personnel shortages on the shop floor. But it wasn’t until Findlay’s robotics team took another step in 2023 – combining cobots and AMRs into single units – that the real potential of such automated technology became clear.
Findlay’s IMRs, called the 10R 2.0, work with power conveyors and cobots to do all the tasks in a cell that operators used to do on every shift. The IMRs at Findlay have iRVision systems and are assigned to a specific cell. Two cobots move PTFE sleeves from two Wickert presses to oven trays on the power conveyors. The conveyors take the oven trays three meters to the ovens and bring them back to the main part of the cell after post-curing. The IMR moves the sintered PTFE sleeves from the oven trays to each of the four CNCs and does the normal work loop that an operator did per shift. Findlay’s 10R 2.0 units facilitate a full cycle of part movement typically done by human operators.
In designing the IMR, plant engineers created a “topper” to anchor the cobot to the AMR. The topper also provides the unit with an accessible area where unifying electronics are located. Both robots are controlled by one universal PLC (programmable logic controller) integrated into the AMR frame. The plant has also integrated wireless charging stations within each cell to facilitate continuous operating cycles without the need to stop and charge the IMR. This allows Findlay to operate with a single IMR continuously, as opposed to needing a fleet of units to support charging downtime.
Investment is Paying Off
Findlay’s seven-digit investment in robotic technologies since 2020 has paid for itself in two years, said Ray Hartzell, Director of Engineering & Strategic Business Development at Findlay. Not only have the IMR units closed the gap on labor availability, but also has boosted plant productivity since 2020.
“As automation and connected technologies continue to rapidly evolve, we are committed to developing and deploying them to optimize operational performance, complementing the robust lean foundation we’ve built over the years,” he said. “In parallel, developing a cross-disciplined engineering team to leverage these new developments is a challenging and exciting process.”
Findlay plans to dedicate more resources to the development of new robotic technologies going forward. The site also plans to share lessons learned with other Freudenberg Sealing Technologies facilities to ensure that investments are fully leveraged across the organization.
“There are certainly applications where an IMR is the best technological choice. Other times, stationary cobots and other automation technologies may make more sense,” Hartzell concluded. “As we continue to advance, we will look to sharing best practices and lessons learned with the entire organization. IMRs are another tool in our automation toolbox to continue to successfully reduce waste and improve overall efficiencies in our daily operations.”
