Find out how Kuka, a company specializing in industrial robots and automated production services for industries, shortened the time between the design and production of its robot programs using robot programming software, Visual Components.
A ready-to-use solution with robot programming software
When it comes to highly sophisticated production lines and multi-robot work cell installations, one of the best ways to test and verify decisions is to simulate in a 3D environment and see these operations from as realistically as possible in real time.
KUKA chose the Visual Components simulation and visualization software suite primarily because it provides a readily available and highly developed solution. Thus, the software also offers comprehensive functionality at a price much lower than that demanded by large providers .
Additionally, KUKA leveraged other important software features: the combination of material flow and robot simulation on a single platform and reusable “plug-and-play” equipment libraries to support sales processes of business partners.
These features provide partners with a powerful layout configuration tool to help them produce highly realistic animated presentations and real-time production planning demonstrations for marketing and sales purposes. Additionally , end users of robotic production systems also benefit from the production model by performing material flow studies for improved throughput.
“Visual Components' flexibility and excellent R&D cooperation give us the freedom and ability to develop our robots to fit extremely versatile industries. We also like the open, component-based architecture of the software. »
Complete answer for robot manufacturer
In general, no solution other than Visual Components offered KUKA this overall flexibility, comparable price-performance ratio or completeness.
Furthermore, applications such as discrete event simulation only addressed a small part of what the robot maker wanted. Then, computer-aided design (CAD) systems could not provide process simulation. Some simulation and visualization capabilities were offered by large solution providers, but they were too expensive or lacked fundamental functionality.
Importantly, KUKA did not need to develop its own modeling software, which would otherwise have spent a lot of time and money on development. As a result, the company could “go into the field” with a ready-made solution.
Springboard to new markets
For many years, the automotive industry represented KUKA's main sales market. However, the versatility and openness of the robot programming software, Visual Components, now allows the company to diversify into new, more general industrial market sectors . Finally, Visual Components will help the business quickly adapt to these contrasting scenarios.
“It's an interesting challenge for us: the whole logic of the business is totally different when you compare these two categories of industries. In general industry, the biggest dilemma lies in the heterogeneous requirements of all kinds of different manufacturing processes. »
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