ELVEZ

By using a collaborative screwdriver, Elvez can combine using the collaborative robot for repetitive, simple tasks whilst enabling its employees to carry out tasks with more autonomy and added value. This has positive impacts on the production quality and cost, because of the robot’s precise screw sequencing and parallel movements to the moments of an employee. In the future, the SD35 collaborative screwdriver can aid the company to achieve its main objective of reducing the changeover time between products from several hours to less than 10 minutes, as well as deliver precise live and historical screw insertion data from the individual collaborative robots. For Elvez, the difficulty with manual screwdriving stems from high changeover times and employees’ fatigue, which can result in a sub-optimal screw order and tightening. Placing screws incorrectly leads to wasted products and materials that cannot be shipped to an end-customer. Furthermore, the currently used screwdriving alternatives at Elvez’ production facility bring forth quality issues from inconsistencies, additionally to inefficiency of manual labor. When deciding to automate, the importance for Elvez lies in obtaining an agile production setup for screwdriving applications, having fast changeover times between processes, and having a robotic system with Industry 4.0 technology to collect, log and analyze data. Furthermore, employee safety is a must. The SD35 screwdriver tool benefits Elvez and the company’s rapid growth by being lightweight and therefore easy to move around in the production, so that it can be used in many applications. Moreover, the SD35 tool is Industry 4.0 enabled and provides precise and reliable screw insertion data, which is of great value for Elvez to ensure production quality. The tool is ergonomically designed to reduce employees’ strain and it is equipped with several unique safety features: a safety shield that protects employees from piercing injuries, as well as a level-d performance safety sensor.