Okuma Announces Robotic Solutions

with Belgium Based Specialist - RoboJob

Okuma Australia & New Zealand are pleased to announce an exclusive distribution agreement with Belgium robotics technology and solution company, RoboJob.

The agreement followed a networking seminar with representatives from RoboJob where this innovative company provided an insight into their world of manufacturing and the pressures that led them to develop their own robotics solutions now being sold throughout Europe.

“After researching the markets we found great similarities between our market in Western Europe and those in Australia and New Zealand,” said RoboJob CEO, Helmut de Roovere. “In Western Europe we have similarly high labour rates and a large number of small to medium sized job shops. Our own manufacturing experiences led us to pursue all the available days in a year for production and even to extend our operations to a second and third shift. When we analysed our employee structures we found that like most businesses, there are repetitive and creative tasks. We wanted to take people doing repetitive tasks and give them new creative roles in our operation. This boosted our planning, innovation, output and work satisfaction enormously. The changes we initiated using newly developed RoboJob technology delivered us massive gains in efficiency, productivity and business returns,” he said.

The concept developed by RoboJob is based on six key elements such as:

• Labour savings
• Fast payback
• Ease of use and fast set up / changeover times
• Extendable operation hours without penalties
• Portability from machine to machine potential
• Accountable customer support

Whilst businesses throughout Australia and New Zealand have the capacities and skills to thrive, add growth and develop markets, continuing increases in the areas of wage rates, superannuation, long service leave, work-cover, payroll tax, annual leave entitlements and personal leave, continue to add pressures at a time when global benchmarks are rapidly re-defining manufacturing costs.

With the combined Belgium and Netherlands markets being of a similar size to that of Australia, with similarities also in the size of job shops, a critical factor in the development of innovative productivity tools by RoboJob was Belgium labour costs in manufacturing which are number three in the world. This is based on US Bureau of Statistics, International Labour Comparisons, August, 2013 which also places Australia close behind at number six.

During the discussions between the representatives of Okuma Australia and RoboJob it was also established that hourly rates for general machining were similar and the only change was the profit line which was coming under increasing pressure year on year.

RoboJob Business Development Manager Jelle de Roovere stated that having invested in time to visit Australian customers they had come to understand the capabilities of Okuma Australia and found a very high level of technical support for customers plus a very high level of trust by their customers. “We saw that Okuma had been strongly involved in applying robots to the job shops and their experience and knowledge were important factors for our market considerations,” he said.

“The great advantage of RoboJob is its complete flexibility and ease of use and setting. We developed our own interactive operator interface screen that only requires the customer to input the main features of the job, a procedure that can be done in a matter of minutes. Our Robot units are so uniquely compact that machine door access for the operator is always clear for manual intervention and it is also possible to move the unit from machine to machine,” he stated.

From Okuma Australia’s perspective Phil Hayes, Managing Director commented “When we first saw the RoboJob product at EMO in Hannover, Germany, we could see the great potential for Australian and New Zealand engineering shops downstream, which in reality is now. Thus we studied the RoboJob range in detail and decided it delivers tremendous potential for increasing efficiency, productivity and improving profitability. Naturally the use of FANUC robots fits well with our prior experience with them and our long term association as a FANUC distributor in Australia.”

As a company specialised in advanced technologies, Okuma Australia has long campaigned for greater overall acceptance of automated systems and, where applicable, the use of quality robotic technology. From Okuma Japan, the company offers integrated, on-board production gantry robots and in addition Okuma Australia offers tailor made stand-alone (floor) robotic solutions. The collaboration with RoboJob extends the Australian & New Zealand offering to provide an extended range with even more flexible cost effective solutions for its customers.

Having worked with robot cells for many years, Okuma ensures the following mandatory criteria:

• CE Mark for assured and independently audited safety designs
• Appropriate documentation
• Ergonomically smart
• Robustness
• Coolant, swarf, mist, heat and cold proof
• Adequate operator quality via comprehensive training and support
• Shop floor and management ownership for the use of Robotics as a tool of progress

Having designed equipment to meet the needs of their own precision machine shop when nothing was available off the shelf, the result of this internal development by RoboJob is compact, high quality and industrially durable automation robotics with minimum components that are simple to use, flexible and low cost.

Two product groups, ‘RoboJob Turn-Assist’ and ‘RoboJob Mill-Assist’ are available principally with the same DNA but tailored to suit parts that are either turned or milled. A key element of each is the interactive controller whereby basic dimensions are asked for and input by the operator, allowing quick set-up or changeovers to occur making important short batch work very much more viable. The portability of this equipment between machines is also a major advantage.

Once set-up, ‘after hours’ performance monitoring can be added via the internet or simply by phone for alarms or completion signals.

The implementation of a RoboJob system is designed to fundamentally reduce salary costs for machining and significantly increase the number of spindle hours with substantially less working hours. CNC operators can focus on creative tasks such as quality control or programming the next machine instead of spending up to 60% of their time manually loading and unloading CNC machines.

Okuma Australia’s experience in robotic automated cells has been extensive throughout Australia and New Zealand with technicians trained to support the industry with advanced, flexible and cost effective RoboJob technology.

For further information on RoboJob solutions call 1300 1 OKUMA or contact any Okuma office.