ABB Ltd., industrial robotics, Zurich, Switzerland

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - Building car parts in seconds

Published on Mar 11, 2015

From a sheet metal blank to a finished component in just 37 seconds – made possible by the new ABB robots in the Wolfsburg factory of German automotive supplier KWD Automobiltechnik GmbH.

Installed in eight welding cells, these robots produce wheel housings, sills and A-pillars for a well-known German car manufacturer. Realizing they needed a new solution to meet the demands of their customer, KWD had rather stringent requirements for cycle times between parts.

“The necessary parts could not be produced with our existing equipment,” explains KWD production manager Randy Koch, describing why the company invested in eight new automated welding cells. “The process from loading the blanks to the finished component, for instance, could not take longer than 37 seconds at each station.”

Thanks to intensive simulations carried out in advance, ABB engineers were able to guarantee this cycle time.

“This project earned ABB an ‘A plus’,” says Guido Wittenberg, who is responsible for the technical planning at KWD. “On average, the other suppliers’ concepts were 10% slower than our specification. In addition, space is restricted in our production halls and the space-saving design of the ABB robotic cells came in very handy for us.”

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - Aluminum foundry applications in Italy

Published on Mar 24, 2015

Artimpianti Industrial Equipment, based in Italy, supplies complete automation solutions to some of the world’s largest aluminum foundries.

In this movie, CEO Alberto Botta, introduces one of the company's most recent innovative robotic lines that uses an ABB IRB 6620 Robot to move and deposit molded parts. The entire die-casting line can be easily managed using the software on an ABB FlexPendant, simplifying control of the system greatly.

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - The robot ecosystem of the future

Published on Mar 31, 2015

It's a new way of working with robots here at ABB Robotics.

For 40 years we have provided the tools to help build the age of robots. With our FlexPendants attached to our robot controllers our customers have created robotic solutions for some of the world’s trickiest production challenges. But these days, with modern technology such as tablets and smartphones, it’s clear there’s an easier and more efficient way to program, commission, operate and supervise our robots.

Welcome to a new way of working with robots.

[Airicist]

Article "Who Is Gomtec, the Collaborative Robotics Company Acquired by ABB?"

by Ilian Bonev
April 14, 2015

gomtec GmbH

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - Motorcycles and robots master the art of machining

Published on May 6, 2015

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ABB Robotics - Timelapse of a FlexArc robotic welding cell being built

Published on May 8, 2015

Watch as some of our FlexArc standardized robotic welding cells are built and tested in one of ABB's global facilities in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - IRB 6700 technical details

Published on May 12, 2015

The IRB 6700 family of robots is a natural evolution following 40 years of large robot heritage at ABB.

This 7th generation of large ABB robots features a multitude of next generation improvements derived from intimate customer relationships and exhaustive engineering studies. The IRB 6700 is more robust than its predecessor and maintenance has been simplified, making it the highest performing robot for the lowest total cost of ownership in the 150-300 kg class.

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - Casting aluminum parts with robots

Published on May 28, 2015

Assisted by ABB Value Provider RB Techniek, Hermeta, a major supplier of aluminum products based in the Netherlands, has stayed at the top of its game in an increasingly competitive environment by choosing the right people, the right robots and the right partners.

It is likely that you have seen or used a Hermeta product at some point in your life, either in a hotel, a fitness center or on a train. They deliver aluminum hardware for the building and furniture industries as well as complete furniture systems, building facades and sports fixtures. Every day, about 15,000 aluminum products leave their factory.

Over time, Hermeta has delivered one winning product after another, with the sales to prove it. The rise of low-cost labor around the world though, combined with other pressures in the aluminum hardware industry, has meant that the company has needed to embrace new solutions for their processes in order to stay competitive.

Nearly a decade ago, Hermeta began working with RB Techniek, a robotics integrator that specializes in foundry automation. Today Hermeta has two robots, an ABB IRB 2400 and an ABB IRB 2600, that pour molten aluminum precisely into molds.

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - Innovative software for metalcasting

Published on Jun 2, 2015

The robotic cell in Pressmetall GDC Group GmbH’s factory in Gunzenhausen, Bavaria, mainly produces parts for the automotive industry.

In February 2015, Pressmetall switched to ABB RobotWare Machine Tending, an innovative option for the IRC5 robot controller designed for the commissioning and operation of ABB robots--allowing for faster and more flexible programming and resulting in higher productivity.

[Airicist]

ABB Robotics - Now building robots in the USA

Published on Jun 18, 2015

With the official opening of the Robotics Manufacturing facility in Michigan, ABB becomes the first global industrial robotics company to build robots in the USA.

ABB Robotics is well known as a major supplier of high quality robots for industrial markets. With an installed base of more than 250,000 robots sold during the past 41 years, our robots are used all over the world to manufacture and deliver products ranging from cars to cookies. And now we have one more manufacturing achievement to announce: as of today we have started building our robots and associated equipment at the ABB Robotics North American Headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

This makes us the first major global robotics manufacturer to produce robots in the United States, and rounds out ABB Robotics global production capabilities that already included existing manufacturing plants in China and Sweden. This is a clear sign of rising demand for robotics solutions the world over, and a strong commitment to the American market.

For ABB Group, the parent organization of ABB Robotics, North America is a very important market. In fact, the United States is ABB’s largest market with US$7.5 billion in sales. Since 2010, ABB has invested more than US$10 billion in local R&D, capital expenditure and acquisitions, taking ABB Group employment in the country from 11,500 to 26,300 employees in that same period of time.

This is an exciting era for the robotics industry, with an explosion of interest happening all around us. For those of us in the middle of this change, we can start to see how the world will be fundamentally altered by this uptake in robotics, especially in manufacturing. The opening of our new factory reflects this reality and will allow us to better serve our customers in the Americas with shorter delivery times and improved technical support as the explosive growth in robotics continues.

While manufacturing has commenced at the US factory as of today, the portfolio of products manufactured at the new facility will expand in phases, with the goal that most ABB robots and robot controllers delivered in the United States, Canada and Mexico will ultimately be manufactured in Auburn Hills.

Someday soon, if you live in the United States, Canada or Mexico, you will be able to buy a car or eat a cookie that was produced in an American manufacturing facility with robots that were also Made in America–something that could never be said before.