The report describes the process of identifying the interference that exists in a newly installed automated robotic cell and suggest improvements to increase productivity. The cell is used for lifting up extruded aluminum sections onto a conveyor which deliver the material to a anodising line at a company that manufactures aluminum extrusions.

To find the areas with the best possibility for improvements in the cell we used a variety of job measurements e.g. measure of standard times for each operation in the cell. The core of the report is a study of the robots.

One reason for this study is that the robots do not reach the productivity they were purchased to. The main cause not reaching the productivity is the visionsystem. The results that emerged from the robotics study also showed that there were a number of problems in the cell that could be addressed. The study also revealed a number of other reasons why the cell could not achieve the desired production rate for example set-up times and drop spacers. The measurement of default times for each operation in the cell showed that a major reason why the robots did not work was that they had to wait for the trolley to run and leave empty baskets.

The time studies work resulted in a number of different proposals for how the problems which appeared could be solved. To reduce the time it takes for the wagon to drive out empty basket we engineered a solution that uses chain conveyors to move the empty basket out off the workstation. By implementing this solution the wagon does not need to drive back and forth and thus we expect that the robot driving time could be reduced to half. Through the robot study and time studies we conclude that it is possible to switch between manual/auto in less than one minute. This is not possible unless routines are constructed for the operators. If these changes are implemented they would reduce the large amount of set-up time identified.