Human-Robot Collaborative Gluing for Flexible SME Production
DALI A/S produces high-end loudspeakers at their facility in Noerager, Denmark. The main reason for this is to better ensure quality, to keep R&D of new technologies under the same roof, and maintain DALI’s “Made in Denmark” trademark.
In a time where European electronics manufacturing is increasingly outsourced, DALI is successful in keeping production in Denmark and aim to keep this competitive edge through automation. At the Noerager facility, the driver production is a specialized department as a part of the whole factory. Here, woofers for the high-end speaker series are assembled.
The assembly process is very technical, hands-on, and time-consuming. Removing ‘the human touch’ completely is currently not possible and a collaborative solution where the robot assists the worker is required. Gluing is one of the primary processes performed in manual assembly throughout Europe.
At DALI, a high number of gluing sub-processes are currently performed manually. This voucher investigates whether a flexible robotic solution can handle the various gluing sub-processes in a collaborative setup. In order to create a positive ROI and reduce the cost of production, it is essential that the productivity of the worker will increase when the robotic collaborative solution is introduced. Through in-depth analysis of the current process, the goal is to ensure that the worker and robot are working together, so that the production output will improve timewise and quality-wise.
DALI A/S
DALI, Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries, grew out of Scandinavia's leading audio retail chain in 1983, based on the observation that customers often requested a combinations of size, shape, performance and price that existing brands could not offer. We committed ourselves fully to the task of creating loudspeakers with outstanding performance and natural sound at competitive prices.
Brimming with confidence and inspired by a firm belief that it would be possible to create a unique DALI sonic identity that focused on musical realism and sound integrity, we set out to redefine the reproduction of sound.
Now, with more than 30 years of experience and global recognition, we can proudly say we've taken a stance on sound that has advanced the state of the art, inspiring music and cinema lovers and challenging the competition to catch up.
Today, DALI offers an exciting range of speakers to suit every taste from the cost-conscious ZENSOR series to the ultimate performance speaker the MEGALINE. With more than one million satisfied DALI owners in more than 65 countries, we bring music and film to life at home, giving proud DALI owners a more honest, nuanced and richly detailed listening experience.
Contribution from RTOs
In a human-robot collaborative setup, it is important that the productivity of the worker(s) is increased to have a positive ROI. Methods ensuring this are applied to the process of assembling a speaker driver unit with Dali.
A flexible and easy-to-setup solution for performing the gluing operations is designed, with proof-of-concepts demonstrating the applicability.
Impact (expected)
The assembly case with Dali A/S, represents a wide range of High-mix/Low-volume production in the European manufacturing industry.
In particular, the gluing process performed widely in manual assembly. A flexible and cost-effective solution for gluing using a robot in a collaborative environments is therefore widely applicable in the European manufacturing industry, in particular SMEs.
The gluing process is significantly similar to other dispensing processes, and other trajectory driven processes.
