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The importance of the manufacturing sector in the countries' economy has been highlighted in the current crisis. All experts advocate strengthening a key sector that society needs as an engine of its economy and that in recent years has been under great pressure from countries with low labor costs.
The consequences are evident and certainly traumatic; relocation of many companies and what is worse, the disappearance of an important part of the industrial fabric. In this difficult environment, industrial companies face the challenge of searching for and implementing new productive and organizational technologies that allow them to face the future with a guarantee of success. Only a drastic increase in productivity that affects costs and quality will save the manufacturing sector and its jobs.
Innovation through the implementation of new technologies, the continuous improvement of processes through lean manufacturing tools and collaboration with suppliers constitute the three most consolidated alternatives. Its application and potential must be taken into consideration by any company that intends to survive and have a future in the complex economic environment we live in.
Within new technologies, automation and more specifically industrial robotics constitutes a strategy to improve competitiveness that has proven to be able to avoid relocation phenomena. In the US there are hundreds of examples of manufacturers that have avoided relocation by reducing the robot-operator relationship and increasing processes with automated machines. If the ratio in the US is 1 to 240, companies with greater robotization and high profits are 1 to 6. In specific sectors such as machine tool manufacturing, the installation of robots is being intensively promoted due to the increase in productivity that they can provide.
Robotization in itself has two clear initial objectives; reduce manufacturing costs and increase productivity. The additional benefits related to flexibility, security and quality leave no doubt about the profitability of its implementation. Robotics can make tasks simpler that until recently were repetitive, tiring, tedious, dangerous, difficult, precision or developed entirely by hand. The continuous lowering of the cost of acquiring an experienced industrial robot in recent years will cause the manufacturing environment to change drastically in the not too distant future compared to what we know. Plant operators will be technically trained workers with skills in new technologies who will manage automated cells. Its mission will focus on carrying out various levels of inspection, ensuring the flow of materials between different areas.
Obviously not all processes and products can be robotized. This possibility must be addressed through an internal exercise of identification and prioritization of automation based on common sense, technical knowledge and a clear implementation methodology.
When implementing solutions, multiple factors must be taken into account; Firstly, aspects such as the type of product to be manufactured, the production process, safety levels, product quality and the location of the installation. The sector and the requirements of the end customer are also important. The levels of precision, demand, cleanliness and quality required in industries as different as metallurgical, metal-mechanical, food or pharmaceutical are not the same. And finally, it is also very important to be clear about the final production cycle time.
There is no point in manufacturing or automating something correctly if the time it takes does not meet the premise of saving work, time and money. Studies carried out in recent years show that the implementation of robots is widely deployed in Spain at the large company level thanks to the leadership of its automotive industry. However, its degree of implementation in SMEs is very diverse and there is still much to do. The urgent field of action in Castilla y León and, specifically in the Ribera del Duero, justifies the implementation and request for concert access for this type of strategic teaching. Large companies: GSK, Michelin and Calidad Pascual, as well as SMEs, urgently need this type of “local” human talent.
It is advisable to strategically anticipate the location of this type of studies in the Ribera del Duero and urgently, thus avoiding the current problems of searching for and retaining talent that large companies and SMEs in the region have already suffered for eight years.
From this conception, a series of official higher grade and Professional Certificate educational offers will begin from the 2022/2023 school year. We started with the Higher Level Training Cycle “Higher Technician in Automation and Industrial Robotics”. We wish it to be agreed upon by the Junta de Castilla y León.
Discover how at Colegio San Gabriel, we are forging the future through learning and collaboration.
