Phase 1: The Challenge
The Challenge was presented by the fact that the Dolle Suzhou operation was growing in complexity as well as capacity. Unfortunately, the supply of experienced and skilled welders in the vicinity of Shanghai, China is scarce and erratic.
To produce a high volume of an increasing variety of products needing a weld process meant we needed to source and enable a robot to work with the same speed and flexibility as the most skilled manual welders.
Phase 2: The Approach
Our approach was to methodically analyse the suppliers and technology available globally. This revealed that Kawasaki and Migatronic held the State of the Art robotic welding technology.
By working closely with our suppliers and the team at Dolle Suzhou we were able to implement the installation of this significant investment to our production process, thereby greatly enhancing our capability as well as our capacity.
Phase 3: The Results
Our training and team approach resulted in the technology being embraced and integrated very effectively into our operation. The maintenance of these robots is done by our team and has proven very smooth.
The automation of the environment at Dolle Suzhou yielded many additional benefits such as greatly improved cleanliness and the same adherence to quality standards.
In commercial terms, the results were very successful; our
production capacity has greatly increased as has our levels of
efficiency. In addition the significant capital investment paid for
itself in just one year, which is an outstanding return for any
capital expenditure.
