Business regularly bemoans the high costs associated with labour (especially inefficient labour). One of the weapons in the corporate armoury of cost-cutting is often automation, which directly results in a reduced personnel head-count.
This dichotomy is graphically presented in the South African economy. Despite good growth in gross domestic product (GDP) figures, the number of unemployed persons just does not seem to decline.
A somewhat naïve socialist approach believes that labour must be subsidised, at all costs. An equally naïve capitalist approach argues that the 'bottom-line' is absolute.
Festo, the European pneumatic and mechatronics specialist company, believes that automation and manual labour are not mutually exclusive. By way of demonstration of this philosophy, the company recently facilitated a tour of Phillips Semiconductors and its former NXP Sound Solutions division in Vienna, Austria. One of NXP's 'specialities', is the manufacture of cellphone loudspeakers.
800 million new mobile phones in 2007
NXP anticipates that during 2007, 800 million new cellphones will be manufactured. Consider that each cellphone contains at least one loudspeaker, and many are sold with an external headset that contains more than one loudspeaker. That equates to an awfully large number of loudspeakers that will need to be manufactured.
NXP was experiencing considerable difficulty keeping up with the demand. Not to mention the radically cheaper labour costs of the Asian economies. The company required 78 machine operators to assemble just 5 million speakers per year… not an economically viable operation.
So NXP turned to Mikron Assembly Technology (Switzerland) and Festo (Germany) for a solution that can produce 100 million parts per 5 million cycles. Mikron's G05 assembly cell was the answer. These comprise electro-mechanical servo drives for precision work. However, pneumatic components are used for all the tasks that require less precise work. Festo's CPV pneumatics valve is the basic pneumatic building block.
The G05 is built using standard modules and units. Mikron's COO, Rolf Rihs, explained that by using standard pneumatics and other parts, the company had been able to reduce the delivery time of the machines to four from seven months. The supplier was also able to achieve quicker reconfiguration, as well as a 60% re-usability of components. The modularity also enables the line to be 100% relocated to a location in China in only 12 days.
Interestingly enough, the G05 uses a cam-driven configuration with 12-18 pneumatic cylinders on each station. One may be led to believe that cam-driven solutions would be obsolete in this day and age, but considering that all they require is reliable lubrication, cams remain a viable alternative for high- reliability installations.
Labour vs machines?
Despite NXP being able to use this very cunning solution to achieve its targets, it is not able to dispense with the use of manual labour altogether. A spokesperson explained: "Despite the construction time of the assembly line being significantly reduced by the use of Festo's technology, manual labour remains an important part of our production solution, especially during the 'ramp-up' period of a new product. We cannot afford to wait for complete construction of a new line before delivering product to market. Labour requires very little training/preparation for this sort of assembly… hours or days only. This means that we can provide our customers with smaller quantities of a new product at very little notice. As soon as the assembly line is ready, we can provide for their full requirements."
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, the same labour that is released from the repetition of assembly by the G05s, can be redeployed into the research and development section of NXP.
Conclusion
This symbiotic relationship between labour and automation provides a wonderful, non-confrontational model of doing business. It clearly demonstrates that technology and humanity can co-exist to their mutual benefit.
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| www: | www.festo.co.za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Festo South Africa |
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