DIGITALISATION
COLLABORATIVE ROBOTS SPARK RADICAL SHIFT TOWARDS MAKING WORK MORE HUMAN by Kim Povlsen, President, Universal Robots A leading company in this field provides an overview. Mr Kim Povlsen
When I joined Universal Robots (UR) as President earlier this year, I knew I was coming in to lead a fast-growing company in a ground-breaking sector. The more I see of collaborative automation, the more I am convinced that the technology can solve many of the problems faced by the manufacturing sector today. People are becoming more aware of this potential and that is driving strong demand for cobots. As the need for cobots grows, our technology is becoming more versatile than ever before and we are able to offer more across a wider range of industries.
productivity and make manufacturing jobs more attractive to workers. When employers introduce cobots, we see them upskill their existing employees and the nature of the work changes. Staff take on more responsibilities with creative, problem-solving and communication elements, that only humans can handle, while operating the cobots to complete repetitive tasks. These changes result in increased work satisfaction and better career advancement opportunities amongst the employees.
The world has gone through an extraordinary couple of years as it has adapted to the pandemic. I think COVID-19 has highlighted the need for resilience in the manufacturing sector - supply chain problems especially have forced companies to look more closely at their production processes. Meanwhile, we are seeing workforce challenges in manufacturing across all the regions we work in, caused by an ageing workforce and young people making different career choices. Automation has an important role in solving these challenges. Collaborative robots can work alongside staff, increase
In the post-pandemic world, people are starting to rethink the kind of work that should be done by humans. The jobs in manufacturing, assembly and operations are often dull, dirty and dangerous. Now, collaborative automation is paving the way for the workforce to take on more interesting jobs. With cobots working alongside them, employees are becoming adept cobot operators, assigning cobots to work on repetitive tasks while they spend more time devising innovative strategies. This trend of changing job scope can help to retain the workforce for companies, while relieving employees of
UR5 cobots, from Universal Robots, address labour shortages and increase packaging production by 30%, at Japan-based manufacturer, Nippon Zettoc. 30
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER December 2021
