The impact of Lean in manufacturing cannot be understated. Since the 1980s, robots and Lean principles have become a core part of modern manufacturing.
A fundamental principle in Lean Manufacturing involves reducing waste. There are 7 main types of waste that show up in manufacturing, which we’ll introduce in a moment.
Robots themselves can be an ideal tool for reducing some manufacturing wastes, such as eliminating defects. However, new types of waste can also show up during the robot programming process. If you want to apply Lean as broadly as possible, you also need to work to reduce the wastes of robot programming.
Let’s explore the impacts of robots and robot programming when you are applying Lean in manufacturing.
To Use Robots? Lean Manufacturing With and Without Robots
Are robots really compatible with Lean? Some people think not.
According to some perspectives, automation itself is “anti lean.” This is because Lean is all about reducing complexity. However, some argue that adding automation can complicate operations.
While this debate is interesting, one certainty is that Lean Manufacturing looks quite different when deployed with and without robots.
Lean Manufacturing Without Robots
Without robots, the Lean approach relies heavily on human labor and traditional machinery. There is a lot of focus on optimizing human-driven processes and trying to reduce inconsistencies between how different people work.
Human factors like fatigue, varied skill levels, and slow response times can limit the improvements you can make with Lean alone.
Lean Manufacturing With Robots
When combined with Lean, robots add a whole new level of potential improvements. Robots operate in a far more consistent manner to human workers. This means you can replicate the improvements on different robotic platforms and remove the variability associated with human workers.
Another great advantage of using robots in a Lean way is that robots can collect reliable, consistent data. This allows you to make more data-driven decisions, such as addressing bottlenecks.
How the 7 Wastes in Lean Affect Robot Programming
Identifying and eliminating waste is a critical activity in Lean Manufacturing.
Waste can creep into almost every aspect of a manufacturing process, including robot deployment. If you want to deploy robots in a way that is “Lean friendly,” it’s important to recognize these potential wastes and take steps to mitigate them.
Here is the 7 wastes of Lean can show up in the robot programming process:
1. Overproduction
Overproduction occurs when you create more than you need, leading to excess inventory.
With robots, overproduction can occur when the robots are programmed to operate continuously, regardless of demand. You could address this by incorporating adaptive speed or defined batch sizes into your programming, allowing the robot to respond to actual demand.
2. Waiting
Waiting waste refers to periods where there is no production because one process is waiting for another to finish.
An important delay during robot programming is waiting for the physical robot to be present before you can program it. You can mitigate this waste almost completely, by using an offline programming software.
3. Transport
Transport waste involves any unnecessary movement of products or materials that does not add value.
During the programming stage, one type of transport waste is the inefficiencies of sending and sharing digital programming files between members of your team. RoboDK for Web is one tool that can help to reduce this type of unnecessary back and forth.
4. Overprocessing
Processing waste occurs when work is performed that does not add value to a product.
Programming can easily suffer from overprocessing waste. Incorporating redundant or inefficient programming steps or subroutines can make a robot program inefficient. This is one benefit of using a a good SDK to help you keep your programming process organized.
5. Inventory
Inventory waste occurs when you order too much material or process more products than you need.
With robot deployments, it’s not uncommon for companies to have unused robots lying around. Maybe an automation engineer became busier than expected and couldn’t finish the robot deployment. The solution to this is to plan your robot deployment properly in the first place and use tools, like RoboDK, to speed up the deployment.
6. Motion
In Lean, motion waste is traditionally used to describe unnecessary motions by workers around the facility. However, it equally applies to robots.
Robot motions are inefficient when they follow longer paths through the workspace than necessary. This unnecessarily increases cycle time. You can improve this by using a good robot path planner.
7. Defects
Finally, defect waste occurs when production flaws lead to unusable products.
In robot programming, perhaps the major defect is a program that does not serve its intended functions. You can significantly reduce the impacts of such programming defects by using a good [robot simulator][RKSIM] to test your program before you download it to your physical robot.
All 7 of these wastes can show up in many stages of your manufacturing process. During robot programming, there are thankfully some reliable the solutions for mitigating the wastes… such as using the right robot programming software.
Using RoboDK to Support Lean Manufacturing
Even though some people think robots are not truly “Lean compatible,” there are clear benefits to combining Lean Manufacturing and robotic automation.
Thankfully, a solution to using robots in a Lean way is to use the tools of Lean itself, specifically the 7 wastes. By using the right robot programming tool, you can reduce many of the wasteful steps that could occur during the deployment process.
One way to use RoboDK’s features to streamline your process is to use our extensive collection of plugins for major manufacturing software tools.
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