HEALTHY
AUTOMATION
With over half of the UK’s installed robot base having been in place for at least
10 years, the time may now be due for either an upgrade or replacement
BY NIGEL PLATT, LEAD BUSINESS MANAGER, UK & IRELAND, ABB ROBOTICS
Imagine you’re part of a racing team that has
just developed the world’s best racing car.
Plugged full of the latest technology and
following the sport’s notoriously strict set of
design guidelines, it wins every race throughout
the season, propelling both its lucky driver and
your team to world championship hero status.
Confi dent of your achievement in the fi rst
year, you fi eld exactly the same car again the
following year, making minor changes. Again, it
does well, though this time you lose a few races
as the competitors, having learned from your
example in the previous year, catch up and start
to adapt and develop their own versions of your
technology in their cars.
Now imagine you continue to use the exact
same car for every season for the next 12 seasons,
with little or no refi nements being made. It
doesn’t take much imagination to realise that
you soon wouldn’t be winning many races, with
your competitors taking the lead by embracing
new technologies, performing faster with better
fuel economy.
While robotic technology moves at a slightly
Keeping your
robotics systems
maintained is
now more vital
than ever
slower pace than motorsports,
the same basic principle applies
to the UK’s installed base of
industrial robots, of which
around half are nearing the end
of their useful serviceable lives.
Like any tool developed to
make a task easier, industrial
robot have parts that will
eventually wear out or become
outmoded over time, requiring
replacement or upgrading.
In certain applications,
particularly those subject
to rapid changes in product
design, it may be benefi cial
for end users to take a good
look at whether the robot they
installed 10 years ago is still
meeting the requirements of
their process today.
A decade is a long time in
the world of the industrial
robot. During the last 10 years
MAINTENANCE SEPTEMBER 2020
alone, there have been major
advances in all aspects of
robotic technology, especially
in the fi eld of collaborative
robotics, that have delivered
signifi cant improvements in
accuracy, speed, intelligence
and reliability.
In a technology-focused
environment such as
robotics, the sourcing of
older components makes it
increasingly diffi cult, and
increasingly expensive, to
keep an older robot in working
order. It can often be diffi cult
to obtain spares for obsolete
equipment, making it virtually
impossible to continue to
keep an older robot in reliable
working order.
Often, components are
available from sources other
than the robot’s manufacturer,
24 www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk