【Automotive and Machinery Processing Industry】Flexible Production Line Planning Increases Capacity by 29%

Automotive and Machinery Processing Industry - Integration and Application of Automated Robotic Arms

自動化機械手臂整合應用

As manufacturing technology advances and businesses grow, Kymco Industrial is riding the wave of digital transformation and harnessing the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) to create an integrated crankshaft production line. This transformation aims to meet the demands of smart manufacturing. Prior to implementing smart production lines, Kymco Industrial utilized 8 pieces of equipment across three shifts daily, with two operators assigned per shift. Despite an 8-hour production cycle and a theoretical total output of 150 units per day, practical constraints, including breaks and non-productive activities, limited the actual output to 100-110 units.

Integration of Heterogeneous Equipment Boosts Capacity by 29%

「By replacing traditional manual operations with computer-controlled robotic arms, the gripping process becomes automated, saving on labor costs and eliminating the risk of human errors and dynamic balance issues," says Chen Zhi-feng, Quality Technology Manager at Kymco Industrial. "Under this mechanism, overall capacity has increased by 29%, and we have achieved a zero-defect dynamic balance. Additionally, we have established a comprehensive quality history tracking mechanism to trace and identify the root causes of any product quality issues

The approach to achieving these improvements focuses on three main aspects:

  1. Increasing the proportion of automation systems and introducing intelligent processing quality.
  2. Connecting existing equipment through plug-in modules to extract and transmit relevant data.
  3. Establishing a smart management system to facilitate real-time uploading of process information and handle abnormalities.

By incorporating four robotic arms among the eight pieces of equipment, Kymco Industrial can automatically handle different components without changing grippers, naturally improving overall production efficiency. This unique production line can flexibly manufacture five different crankshafts, integrating information from the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and supplier data to monitor quality and delivery schedules in real-time, ultimately achieving a 95.9% on-time delivery rate. With the support of smart manufacturing technology, Kymco Industrial has increased daily production capacity from 154 to 199 units, representing a 29% boost. The annual capacity has reached 49,000 units, ensuring stable production on the intelligent manufacturing line with comprehensive control over both upstream and downstream processes, including material quality, inventory levels, processing parameter adjustments, and personnel scheduling. Chen Zhi-feng acknowledges the challenges of creating a unified smart information integration system due to varying demands on each production line. While smart manufacturing is an ongoing journey, Kymco Industrial continues to work towards improvement. Nevertheless, significant progress has been made in smart production technology, contributing to the upgraded efficiency of the production line and actively pursuing high-value orders.

Data From：CIO Taiwan

 

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