ABB integrating robotics, automation

Orlando, Fla. — Orders are up 6 percent, and the integration of B&R Industrial Automation GmbH is on track for the Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd.

ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer has declared "the transition year 2017 is behind us" when the company reported a $572 million profit on sales of $8.6 billion for the first quarter of 2018 and growth in all divisions.

B&R, which was acquired for an undisclosed price in April 2017, joined ABB's industrial automation division to form a global Machine and Factory Automation business unit expected to reach a midterm revenue target of $1 billion.

At NPE2018, the company showed early results of what the new business unit can do. ABB wants to strengthens its position in the No. 2 spot behind German rival Siemens in the processing and industrial sector.

The acquisition, which was close to $2 billion, according to Reuters and Bloomberg, combined Eggelsberg, Austria-based B&R's software and products for modern machines and factory automation with Zurich-based ABB's robotics, process automation, digitalization and electrification.

To support the integration, ABB announced earlier this year that it will build a $123 million research center and training campus to develop technologies for factories of the future at the B&R headquarters site in Eggelsberg. The center will be operational in 2020, and ABB says it will better position the company to serve the $20 billion machine and factory automation market segment.

In the plastics industry, demand is growing for ways to adapt to high-mix, low-volume manufacturing as the shift from mass production to mass customization continues for processors, Helen Ke Feng, ABB's global industry segment manager for plastics and rubber, told Plastics News.

At NPE, ABB put a spotlight on flexibility and efficiency for plastic parts and products manufacturers. The business has a portfolio of six-axis robots and systems for "tending" almost every size and type of injection molding machine, she added.

ABB's customers are in the automotive, electronics, consumer goods, appliance, medical and health care markets. The business offers them not only robot hardware and software, but also "deep application expertise to create unique, purposeful solutions," Feng said.

The centerpiece of the NPE demonstrations was the FlexLoader FP300, a compact part-feeding and tending-function package equipped with a six-axis IRB 1600 robot, which Feng said can feed and guide inserts in insert molding applications or feed clips and small parts to an assembly station.

"Unlike traditional feeding systems, the FlexLoader is capable of handling various part sizes and shapes and can be easily adapted for post-processing applications ​ like assembly," Feng said. "It's a good replacement for bowl feeding in assembly or inserting applications."

The entire function package, including the robot, is built on a single baseplate and takes up little space, she added.

"The IRB 1600 robot features a 10-kilogram payload and a 1.45-meter reach, and achieves up to 50 percent shorter cycle times than competing robots in machine tending applications," Feng said.

ABB says it is seeing steady demand for robotics and shorter-cycle products, and its focus on certain industries, such as food and beverage, automotive, consumer electronics and communications, has spurred orders, especially for robots.

ABB also showed plastics processors new drives, also called variable speed drives or variable frequency drives, and controls to integrate the latest features into their existing line designs while providing the torque precision and speed control that the machinery demands, according to Erika Redlinger, an ABB marketing specialist. To this end, ABB recently released the ACS880-PC packaged drive for the plastics industry, she told Plastics News in an email.

"The latest generation drive solution with direct torque control guarantees precise control performance with any type of motor," Redlinger said. "Housed in a UL rated, NEMA 12 cabinet, with customizable options, this solution can control any plastics application from extruders to winders to injection molding."

Also at the booth, B&R showed plastics processing control devices, including a range of hardware from simple input/out modules to digital servo drives and industrial PCs as well as software components for automation development and modular application (mapp) technology, which it says offers flexibility, scalability and ease of project development.

B&R has a strong presence in the plastics industry, including blown film, extrusion, injection molding, thermoforming and blow molding, Shaun Kneller, global account manager for B&R, said.

The addition of mapp technology allows users to develop applications in two-thirds less time compared to traditional control platforms "because you configure more and program less," Kneller said in an email.

Mapp components are more than a group of templates and libraries, he added, saying each includes application functions, full web diagnostics, visualization worksheets, and operator configuration, not programming.

"All the mapp components automatically communicate in the same way as apps on your phone do, using publish/subscribe ports, eliminating the need to setup communications between, for example, axes and alarms or recipes and file handling software," Kneller said. "All the interconnecting data is transferred automatically, making implementation simple."

Most B&R competitors offer a complete template for plastics software but without the ability for OEMs to use their own intellectual property, which Kneller said "negates any selling advantages they may have when presenting the final machine." Mapp technology, he said, adapts visualization to the customer's graphical style and enhances control codes to special features of their mechanical solution.

"Our products can be applied in all industrial controller markets all the way down to the in-house board designs," Kneller said.

When combined into an OEM installation, mapp also has the core features of alarming, diagnostics, files handling and reporting, in addition to the standard machine control and customer specific control.

"Furthermore, future enhancements become even simpler; with core components already implemented, additional features can be applied," Kneller said.

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ABB has been working to make robots easier and more intuitive to set up, program and use, Feng said. For tending injection molding machines, ABB has software (PlasticApp) to program and operate robots from a handheld human machine interface (FlexPendant) while maintaining the flexibility to work in the programming language ABB developed (RAPID) for customized processes in 1994.

To provide greater productivity, Feng said ABB has developed robotic cell solutions that handle secondary injection molding operations and can improve cycle times.

"A recent example is a robotic clipping cell that places small metal or plastic clips onto a major part just after being unloaded from the molding machine," Feng said. "The cell has the ability to handle a variety of clip types and sizes to match the flexibility inherent to the IMM tending robot. The solution can either be integrated into or separate from the IMM tending operation and, with vision functionality, can perform an immediate quality check of the affixed clips."

ABB also has been creating ways for people and robots to safely work closer together to maximize flexibility and productivity. Feng said ABB's dual-arm collaborative robot, YuMi, has been accepted by plastic customers requiring accurate and collaborative solutions. Another product, SafeMove 2, facilitates human collaboration with ABB robots of all sizes, while enabling lean and more economic robot solutions, Feng added.

Then, there's digitalization, which she said unlocks the highest levels of performance "by connecting robots and advanced computing power to gather valuable information from the entire plant" to improve efficiency and reliability.

"As plastics processing evolves from mass production to mass customization, the flexibility and efficiency provided by ABB robot automation are playing an important role in plastic parts manufacturing," Feng said.

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