Interview with our partner Javier Urriza from Largoiko Robotics
Remember our partner from Largoiko Javier Urriza, who participated in the Robotics Demo Days? We would like to share a great interview where Javier tells how their complex palletizing experience in the graphic arts sector has helped them to develop robotics solutions for packaging.
Five years ago, the Navarran engineering company Largoiko opened a business area for the installation of robotic palletizing and depalletizing cells for graphic arts. This high specialization has projected this distributor of Universal Robots internationally. Beyond Spain, it carries out projects in Portugal, Serbia, the Czech Republic, and even China. Javier Urriza, Largoiko's business development manager in Europe, explains how the company, founded in 1998, is expanding into another sector with high potential: packaging.
When did you become interested in collaborative robotics?
We work with as many automation tools and technologies as possible, including robotics. Four years ago we started working with cobots for the automotive sector, and last year we adapted our business area for graphic arts to a collaborative solution that is in great demand.
What is the solution?
It's called Co-Pal. In the graphic arts sector, especially in offset, the book manufacturing processes that go from printing the paper to obtaining the bound book are not done online. I am referring to folding, stitching, stapling, gluing, binding... At the output of each of these lines, the product is palletized and then depalletized for the next line. Therefore, many of these processes take place during the day. In addition, the products are not usually uniform and have a wide variety of models, weights, papers, heights, and vices on the spines. That is where Largoiko's know-how in graphic arts comes into play, which has allowed us to develop robotic solutions, as well as control software, focused on the sector. The result is very satisfactory and we would like to expand it towards packaging since it is closely related.
Why don't you work linearly in graphic arts?
Generally due to the different working speeds of the machines and the complexity in the preparation of the model changes are produced in them. For example, the binding line is much faster than the stitching line. This means that two or three sewing lines are normally needed to meet the production of a single binding line. On the other hand, digital printing does tend to work online.
What does the introduction of a cobot contribute to these continuous palletizing and depalletizing processes?
Graphic arts companies are usually located in old ships with space problems. They are living ships in which today there may be a sewing line and a new one may be added tomorrow. That is why manufacturers are reluctant to install fixed industrial robots. Instead, the collaborative robot is more versatile and less invasive: you can use it in a grappling line and then palletizing boxes.
Why is it a natural step for your solutions to extend from the graphic arts sector to packaging?
Many graphic arts companies have complemented their activity with packaging or have even fully invested in this sector. In addition, the palletizing and depalletizing of books pose great complexity, and the experience that this field has brought us makes it easy to develop solutions for packaging. We are working on several projects in this line that will soon see the light.
When do you think is a good time to integrate collaborative robotics into a company?
We have clients that are growing a lot and fast. Once they are stabilized and the production lines are working optimally, the next step is to optimize resources, increase productivity and reduce costs. With robotic solutions, we help them to be more competitive. As for the ideal time to integrate cobots, it is usually now, as long as the company receives a quick return on investment.
What is usually the return on investment?
The average is between one and two years. There are cases in which it is very fast because the staff is reduced in repetitive tasks, with ergonomic problems and with low added value. In addition, we see an increase in productivity. The technician is focused on the machine working correctly, and the line suffers fewer stops.
What are the most common applications in which you have worked for the packaging sector?
The clearest process is palletizing. When the company becomes familiar with this type of solution, it is common for it to request access to other processes such as the introduction of the product into the box, the union of lines…
What trends do you see in the application of collaborative robotics in packaging?
The trend is to automate all repetitive processes. We also work with very compact and easy-to-move solutions, and we will see more and more mobile and intelligent collaborative robots, capable of performing various tasks depending on the need.
Can you describe a success story promoted by your company that shows the potential of collaborative robotics in graphic arts?
We have a client from Valladolid that had a bottleneck in the manufacture of books: that of the paper folding machines. The company decided to install an intermediate machine that consists of some stackers after whose exit our collaborative solution intervenes. We started with two Co-Pal palletizer installations. The increase in production generated and the quality of the pallets was so clear that after three months they asked us for two more cobots. In this way, we are palletizing with alternating production the four double production folding lines. There are two different products on each line, so the cobot packs them and moves them to the corresponding pallet. Thus we are palletizing eight products in an automated way.
Have you quantified the increase in productivity that your collaborative facilities represent?
The increase is between 15 and 30%, because a human is not capable of palletizing products every six seconds at the exit of a binding line, with weights of about 15 kilos and for more than half an hour. The cobot can do it autonomously and for 24 hours while the employees focus on the operation of the lines and the quality of the product. Our collaborative solution manages a package every 14 seconds. That is, more than 250 per hour. It can reach more than 36,000 kg of paper handled per day.
How can we ensure that a collaborative robotics project is viable?
The first step is to analyze whether it will provide a reduction in costs and/or an increase in production. We must also assess whether it is technically feasible and whether it will cause any change in production. We try that the solution covers, if not all, at least 80% of the production. Regarding the economic proposal, it has to offer an ROI of fewer than three years for companies that work two shifts or more.
What is your added value as a distributor of collaborative robotics?
Our 25 years of experience in the automation sector give us experience in various technologies that allow us to offer different types of solutions. In addition, we have our own machining workshop, with which we can meet any R&D or technical assistance need, and replace any part or claw in a matter of minutes. Our clients also value our knowledge of the graphic arts and packaging sector.
Complete the sentence: in 2030 collaborative robotics…
… It will not only be collaborative, but mobile, adapted to different types of work, and fully integrated into the day-to-day of companies.
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