Client Background
Client name: An Industrial Automation solution provider
Industry: Manufacturing
Services: Welding automation solutions, Material handling solutions
Areas of operations: Global
Number of customers: 375+
Total annual revenue: $ 80 million (Unlisted)
Challenge
Commissioning an industrial robot remotely can present a host of challenges:
- It requires the availability of automation infrastructure to start robot programming. This can result in longer project timelines.
- It creates a dependency on a robotics expert to be present at the factory to program and deploy the robot.
- Manual programming associated with robot commissioning can be tedious and time consuming.
- Additional transportation and travel costs are involved.
- Offshore integration testing and onsite deployment drive up logistics costs.
- Rigorous integration testing can cause damage to the robots even before deployment.
Solution
Taking up the challenge, Wipro devised a remote commissioning solution with the following features:
- Process digitization of the entire shop floor. This was done in order to:
- Run multiple test cases to validate safety interlocks and cycle time.
- Run tests with a physical PLC to validate PLC code (Virtual Commissioning).
- Generate Offline Programs (OLP) for robots.
- A tele-operations platform with an intuitive UI that enables interaction between the factory operator on site and a robotics expert at a remote location, thereby facilitating the remote deployment of robots.
Business Impact
Wipro’s solution delivered the following benefits to the client:
- 66% reduction in deployment time. This effectively addressed the issue of longer project timelines.
- Eliminated the need for a robotics expert to be present on the shop floor, as Wipro’s expert team could test the entire solution on digital platforms and deploy the robot from a remote location.
- 50% reduction in logistics cost.
- Quality improvements at a solutions level through enhanced virtual testing.