The Importance of Robotic Screwdriving Solutions in Automotive Assembly
Since the invention of cars, automotive production lines have provided newer ways to optimize production and assembly processes. The successes in automotive manufacturing have resulted in the increasing interest from other fields to adopt some of its processes to increase productivity, and decrease costs. Through more sophisticated production lines, and the use of automation has helped car manufacturers to lower their production costs, and produce more cars in less time, which inevitably led to lower retail prices, and thus, a better competitive advantage. The automotive industry today is one of the most prominent users of robotics and assembly robotic applications among all industries.
Interestingly, the main structure of the modern automotive assembly line has not changed all that much, since the first Ford Model T rolled off the production lines. The parts of the vehicle are delivered to workers and robots at different workstations. The cars are finished through a complex sequence of individual assembly tasks complementing each other.
Robotics In Automotive Assembly
Robots have been an integral part of automotive assembly since the second half of the 20th century, and their relevance in the field only increased in the following decades. Robots and cobots (collaborative robots) today are taking over more tasks from human employees on the production lines, which in itself comes with a host of benefits for both the workers and the manufacturers.
Many processes involved in car assembly include repetitive, and often dangerous tasks, which robots can take over from employees. This allows better resource allocation for companies, and at the same time allows employees to focus on more value-adding activities in the production. At the same time, withdrawing humans from hazardous work environments and dangerous processes can minimize the risk of physical injury, negative health consequences, and dissatisfied workers.
Assembly Processes In Car Manufacturing
Assembling the car parts is the final phase of the automotive manufacturing process. This is where the wide variety of components from many suppliers meet, to be assembled. Usually, the assembly of the chassis and the body components are done on two separate assembly lines, which then unite at the end of the process.
At the first stage of the assembly, robots are helping workers to move the heavy components to their places, and weld them to the floor pan. Today, more and more assembly tasks can be done with robots and cobots, which are easy to program, can work safely around humans, and can ensure precise screwing with constant, predictable quality.
Once the main parts of the floor pan and chassis are welded together, additional components and panels are added in the following assembly stations. Intelligent, state-of-the-art screwdriver applications can support the installation of various elements, such as the doors, the hood, bumpers, trunks, and other functional parts. Following the inspection of the vehicle body, the parts are moved down the assembly line, to go through a multi-step painting process. Once the painting of the shell is finished, the parts are moving to the next stage of the assembly process, where the interior elements are added to the car.
During the interior assembly, all the internal lightings, wirings, sound systems, seats, pedals, and other internal elements are added to the vehicle. The traditionally manual tasks that interior assembly demanded, can now be well served by robotic screwdriver applications. With the ease of setup and configuration of these assets, even more steps in the complete automotive assembly process can be automated. Intelligent screwdriver tools today are decreasing the time needed for specific assembly cycles while providing better quality, and less room for error during these processes.
Finishing The Assembly Process
At the end of the assembly line, the body and the chassis of the car are fitted and bolted together, and the final components are also added to the vehicle. Following a thorough audit and analysis of the car components, any further modifications and repairs can be made before the car is ready for shipment.
As we have highlighted, new robotic applications, such as cobots with screwdriver applications are providing a host of benefits to automotive assembly lines. Even though automotive manufacturing has been using robots in their processes for a long time now, the increasing need to produce a high-quality product in a shorter time inevitably leads to the optimization of more tasks in the assembly process. What we are experiencing is an increasing need for further utilization of robotics in automotive manufacturing, to keep up with the rapidly changing demands, and high level of competition on the market.
Learn more about the benefits of robotic screwdriver applications, their uses in automotive manufacturing, and other fields through our blog.
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