Design Energy, a New Zealand robotic automation specialist, has designed and built over 100 unique robotic solutions for Kiwi companies over its decade in business. The success of the company is testament to the increasing uptake of robotics in local manufacturing.
Looking to tried and trusted industry leaders, Design Energy formed their partnership with Universal Robots (UR) in 2012.
“We found an increase in companies looking to enhance their automation capabilities,” comments Mike Shatford, Managing Director of Design Energy. “Processes that are dull, dirty, or even dangerous, are prime targets for automation. These provide quick wins which make a big difference to productivity and profits. Cobots are a perfect match for these tasks as they are affordable and easy to use.”
Shatford says that the company is dedicated to helping its customers on their automation journey. “Our purpose is to help companies to become more productive and profitable through automation. We achieve this by getting to know the customer and their unique objectives.”
“Before we even consider what solution will ‘make the boat go faster’, we put a lot of time and effort into getting to know our customers’ businesses”, he adds.
After many years in the industry, Shatford and his team believes that this approach works best and says that their customers can attest to this too. “By studying the current processes and hearing about the customer’s pain points, you can identify the opportunities to automate”,
A Long-Standing Partnership Between Design Energy and Universal Robots
“We’re the longest serving integrator outside of Europe, winner of the 2015 APAC Best Solution Award and a UR-certified provider of integration, service and training”, says Mike.
Recently, Design Energy saw an increase in “jobbing shops” taking an interest in cobots to assist with welding applications. “Often in these manufacturing businesses, traditional robots are underutilised due to their complex nature and the inordinate amount of time it takes to program them. Quite often, these companies don’t have the high-level skill set or time to program industrial robots.”
Increased Demand for Cobots In Welding Applications
“This is where cobots come in”, he adds. Cobots offer a simple solution by increasing accuracy in common tasks such as TIG, laser, MIG, ultrasonic, plasma welding.
“They add flexibility, efficiency and freedom to processes and can be moved to areas where application support is needed. Cobots are also easy to redeploy to other areas and offer added flexibility as they can be used for multiple tasks with only small program or end effector changes required.”
UR cobots are designed to work collaboratively with humans. “If a cobot comes in contact with a person, the patented technology limits the force at contact, and it can also be programmed to operate in a reduced mode when a human enters the work area but to resume full speed when the person leaves.”
Design Energy at EMEX
Design Energy will be showcasing three UR Cobots on their stand at EMEX, New Zealand from 15 to 17 February. Hosted at the ASB showgrounds in Auckland, EMEX is New Zealand’s largest tradeshow for the engineering, manufacturing technology and electronics sectors. Design Energy will be exhibiting on Stand 3015.
“We are going to showcase three cobots of different sizes, namely the UR3, UR5 and UR10. Visitors are free to come through and interact with the cobots to see how easy they are to program and how safe they are to use. We have always found that people are blown away when they realise the quick win cobots can provide as an automation solution”, says Shatford.
“We encourage customers, curious onlookers and those wanting to discuss automation solutions for their business to visit us and meet the UR cobots! We will be happy to answer any questions and look forward to welcoming them to the stand”, he concludes.
Find Out More
Universal Robots will be hosting regular webinars to help customers get started with cobots and explore automation opportunities. Furthermore, local support, service and maintenance as well as training offerings through our online UR Academy, global network of Authorised Training Centres, and UR’s extensive UR+ ecosystem is also locally available.
