CHICAGO (July 17, 10:50 a.m. EDT) — Sailor USA Inc. is moving into a new, larger facility next month near its current headquarters in Marietta, Ga.
The robot manufacturer´s current plant is 5,000 square feet. The new building in Atlanta will have 8,000 square feet, said J.H. Breger, sales and operations manager.
"That might be small by industry standards, but if it´s well-situated and laid out properly, it´s effective," he said at NPE 2000 in Chicago.
The additional 3,000 square feet is plenty to bring Sailor´s plans to fruition. A planned increase in stock, Breger said, will reduce delivery time by 50 percent.
The new plant also will provide room to expand and improve Sailor´s in-house technical center to educate customers about its robots.
"It´s almost classroom-style now," not in an industrial setting, Breger said.
Assembly is another reason Sailor chose to move its North American headquarters. The robots currently are assembled at the parent company, Sailor Pen Co. Ltd. in Tokyo, Breger said. But the firm plans to begin assembling the machines in the United States by the end of the year.
On the manufacturing side, the company was able to introduce a price savings on its robots this year because it recently began manufacturing the telescopic arm using thick-walled-aluminum extrusion, he said.
Sailor also introduced its SE series of robots at the show. The high-speed servo robot features a take-out time of 0.4 seconds and a total cycle time of 2.19 seconds on a 300-ton injection molding machine, Breger said. The robot is compatible with 50- to 850-ton presses.