Robots
Over the past few years, the growth in the number and type of robots produced in Japan has been remarkable. In this section, we trace the growth, and include some significant case studies. Of the case studies, the installation of over 100 robots by Yamaha
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J. Hartley, Flexible Automation in Japan © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1984
2.1 Hobot applications
Three-year payback makes installing robots all worthwhile One small Japanese company decided to make its own components instead oi putting them out to subcontract using a new investment which includes 11 robots. The investment saves E1 million a year giving a payback within three years.
ONE JAPANESE COMPANY which has built a machine shop around the concept of robot handling is Miyanaga, manufacturer of rotary and percussion drills for rocks and concrete, holesaws and corebits. The drills are generally long, solid cylindrical components, while the corebits and holesaws are assemblies consisting of a shank centering device and the cup-shape cutter. Thus, the first operations are generally turning, followed by milling and boring, heat treatment and grinding. In some cases, of course, there is an application of a hard coating or hard tips. Miyanaga has its head office at Kobe, on the south coast of Japan, but its factories are some 30 miles away in small towns. It employs 220 people and its business has expanded substantially in the past few years. It now produces 1,200,000 straight shank drills, 120,000 core bits and 100,000 holesaws annually. Until three years aga Miyanaga relied on sub-contractors for all turning operations; this is a common practice among Japanese companies. However, it then decided to build its No. 2 factory to concentrate on turning, with some other operations being done as weil.
Productivity Masaki Miyanga, the president of the company, said when they were planning the new factory, they found that if they relied on conventional machine tools with manual handling, a total of 100 employees would be needed on two shifts. So they opted for NC machines and robot handling at the lathes. In the No. 2 factory there are 11 Fanuc Model I robots handling workpieces at a total of 14 NC lathes. Also in the shop are a number of NC bar autos and a small bar auto that can turn and drill as weIl. Total investment in the plant,
A robOl deposilinga workpiece in a box alongside lhe lable/or partly-machined parts. including the land and all equipment came to f2,500,000, while the total workforce numbered only 25. The plant operates on two shifts with two part-timers looking after the robots during the night shift. This fact is significant, since part-timers, who often work for a few months only in a plant, are paid less than regular workers. They do not receive the normal bonuses which boost total annual earnings by 33% to about f6 ,500 a year in the case ofthe average Miyanaga employees. The installation of the robots is straightforward enough. Three robots each serve two machines while the remaining eight robots each serve one machine only. Most of the lathes are small Ikegai FX20N machines with Fanuc controllers, but there are also some Warner-Swasey lathes. Each robot is equipped with two double-ended hands, one for small diameter parts and the other for larger parts. The two ends are needed so the
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