Getting to the heart of what is important to the industry is the key to helping people choose the right products for their various applications. SCHUNK has been asking questions and listening to what their customers say to find out some of the reasons that they choose one product or supplier over another.
Reliability is #1 reason for Hirebotics
Most companies that use robots to manufacture parts only make money when their robot is running. However, for Hirebotics this is especially true; their robot-workers are hired out to other companies and they literally do not get paid if their robot doesn’t work!
Hirebotics is the first Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) provider offering full, turnkey integration of collaborative robots for hire. The majority of companies that use hired robot workers are looking to fill labor shortages. The Hirebotics model is designed to be just like hiring a person, but instead the customer gets a robot worker.
Matt Bush, COO and Co-Founder of Hirebotics, knows that partnering with SCHUNK and using PGN+ grippers on their robot workers is the best choice for reliability and speed: “In the past, we used grippers that were not able to handle the requirements that we have for speed and reliability. Since changing to SCHUNK grippers we no longer have to think about the reliability of the gripper, it just works.”
A wide range of standardized products, as well as customization ability, drives HandlingTech’s supplier decision
German company HandlingTech Automation-Systems has been providing customers all over the world with innovative and primarily robotized automation solutions since 1994. Their portfolio ranges from standard systems to highly complex special machines.
The assembly hall at HandlingTech is bursting at the seams at present, with every square foot being used to push forward with customer projects. Thomas Imme, Project Manager for Mechanical Production at HandlingTech, draws on SCHUNK'S extensive gripper portfolio for his automation projects without exception. He says: "No matter what robotized automation solution we are planning and implementing for our customers, I always find what I need in SCHUNK's PGN-plus-P portfolio when looking for a suitable gripper – and if ever something isn't standard, they will help me devise a customized solution."
Despite widespread standardization, HandlingTech highlighted an issue that is often seen in the industry - the individual requirements of customers can pose a challenge for engineers at successful companies time and time again. Having a product with a full range offered as standard, as well as the ability to customize for very specific applications, helps to reduce this complexity significantly.
Imme values individual, highly reliable support from his suppliers when choosing the correct gripping systems, and relies on the highly practical support during commissioning. "The geometries of the grippers are already stored in the CAD tools and selection of these is made simple and is incorporated into the planning and also tested on the computer right away using a simulation."
Precision and premium quality: The difference is in the details
Bystronic, a Swiss company, provides automated solutions for bending sheet metal. Outstanding precision and repeat accuracy are paramount in the process used to bend sheet metal, often with complex geometries.
Bystronic Application Engineer, Jochen Schreiber, is responsible for selecting the appropriate gripper technologies. He says: "For the mobile equipping automation function of the compact bending press, I chose a SCHUNK benchmark parallel gripper PGN-plus-P because its patented multi-tooth guidance allows workpieces to be gripped and fed to the press with high precision and high repeat accuracy. In this case, the quality of the end product depends entirely on the precision of the feed."
As a company, Bystronic rates precision and premium quality above all else without compromise. Companies that place this level of emphasis on quality not only expect this from the overall solution, but also from every individual component that is implemented in that solution.