Spanish EMS improves throughput with Sawyer Robot

Based in Alonsotegi, P4Q has been looking to automate more of its factory for many years to improve efficiency and consistency, but traditional caged robots were unappealing due to high costs and employee safety concerns. After purchasing Sawyer, the company deployed the robot in just a few hours and is using and considering the robot for several additional tasks in addition to printed circuit board testing. This includes inspecting parts, taking pictures for quality insurance, picking and placing and line loading and unloading. “Automating critical tasks in our production process has long been a priority, but we struggled to do it affordably,” said Alejandro Caballero, operation manager, P4Q Electronics. “With Sawyer, we have a cost-effective solution that improves the consistency of the process, which leads to better part quality and increased productivity. It’s given our organization a competitive advantage beyond what we expected.” “A predictable, controlled process is critical to delivering quality product to customers, and, like many organizations, P4Q turned to automation to ensure consistency and predictability,” said Jim Lawton, COO, Rethink Robotics. “Sawyer affordably automates key processes and reduces the variability that often comes with humans performing the same task. By automating just one critical factory floor task, undesirable process variation can be greatly reduced.” P4Q plans to assign additional tasks to Sawyer moving forward, with the goal of 100 percent part quality. Additionally, P4Q is hiring additional personnel with the stated goal of finding additional areas to implement collaborative robots and automate the production process even further, Rethink Robotics states in a press release.