Reusing industrial robots to achieve sustainability in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of redesigning, reusing, remanufacturing, recovering, recycling and reducing (6R) to sustainable manufacturing and discuss the general procedure to reconfigure robots. Two critical challenges in adopting industrial robots in small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) are flexibility and cost, as the number of tasks of the same type can be limited because of the size of an SME. The challenges can be alleviated by 6R. The 6R processes allow a robot to adopt new tasks, increase its utilization rate and reduce unit costs of products. Design/methodology/approach There is no shortcut to implement sustainable manufacturing. All of the manufacturing resources in a system should be planned optimally to reduce waste and maximize the utilization rates of resources. In this paper, modularization and reconfiguration are emphasized to implement 6R processes in sustainable manufacturing; robots are especially taken into consideration as core functional modules in the system. Modular architecture makes it feasible to integrate robots with low-cost customized modules for various tasks for the high utilization rates. A case study is provided to show the feasibility. Findings Finding the ways to reuse manufacturing resources could bring significant competitiveness to an SME, in the sense that sophisticated machines and tools, such as robots, can be highly utilized even in a manufacturing environment with low or medium product volumes. The concepts of modularization and 6R processes can be synergized to achieve this goal. Research limitations/implications The authors propose the strategy to enhance the utilization rates of core manufacturing resources using modular architecture and 6R practice. The axiomatic design theory can be applied as the theoretical fundamental to guide the 6R processes; however, a universal solution in the implementation is not available. The solutions have to be tailored to specific SMEs, and the solutions should vary with respect to time. Practical implications To operate a sustainable manufacturing system, a continuous design effort is required to reconfigure existing resources and enhance their capabilities to fulfill new tasks in the dynamic environment. Social implications The authors focus on the importance of sustainable manufacturing to modern society, and they achieve this goal by reusing robots as system components in different applications. Originality/value Sustainable manufacturing has attracted a great deal of attention, although the operable guidance for system implementation is scarce. The presented work has thrown some light in this research area. The 6R concept has been introduced in a modular system to maximize the utilizations of critical manufacturing resources. It is particularly advantageous for SMEs to adopt sophisticated robots cost-effectively.

Briefing: UK-RAS white paper in robotics and autonomous systems for resilient infrastructure

“…Similar efficiency benefits can be expected in the construction industry in the short to medium term, especially in sub-sectors like pre-fabrication, modular construction and off-site manufacturing where research and actual implementations are already underway (e.g. Bi et al, 2015). In the mid-to long-term, in situ fabrication will also be much quicker (e.g.…”

“…There are new approaches to quantify the financial benefits of these investments. For example, Bi et al (2015) carried out research showing and justifying how SMEs should invest.…”

New CAD/CAM course framework in digital manufacturing

“…For examples, engage program at the seventh university aimed at increasing the capacity of engineering institutions to retain undergraduate students by facilitating the implementation of three research-based strategies, i.e., (1) improve faculty-student interaction; (2) improve spatial visualization skill; and (3) use everyday examples in engineering teaching, to improve educational experiences [6,32]. FIGURE 1 Evolution of manufacturing system paradigms [12,15,16,36,37] To adapt the rapidly advancement of computer aided technologies; we propose to improve existing disciplineoriented engineering programs at least for some of upperlevel engineering courses. The objective is to develop a new course framework whose constitutive elements are not varied with an increase of computer-aided tools or the diversification of sub-disciplines.…”

Strategic Outcome Using Fuzzy-AHP-Based Decision Approach for Sustainable Manufacturing

“…In this investigation, the affinity between configurability and sustainability was explored in terms of system flexibility and utilization. Certainly, modularization and reconfiguration are crucial to attaining sustainable manufacturing, as emphasized in [76]. Finally, the simulation outcomes were utilized to evaluate the competitiveness of the various manufacturing configurations.…”