希望通过机器人提高您的运营，但不知道从哪里开始？
Which applications are going to be the best for your specific business?
塑料行业可靠哪种应用？
Engineers are using robots in the plastics industry for years and adoption continues to grow.根据最近的一项研究, plastics is currently one of the top industries for robotics growth.
各种各样的强有力的ial robotic applications could be beneficial for your company. But, it can sometimes be difficult to know whether you are making a good decision when you are considering a new robotic application.
Would it be useful to see applications that have already been shown to work in your industry?
什么持有公司回来采用塑料行业的机器人
People often have reservations when they are considering robotic automation, particularly if they haven’t deployed robots in their company before.
即使您认识到机器人可以为您的业务带来的好处，您也可能不确定。也许您有有限的空间可用于机器人。也许你担心没有足够的机器人技能。或者也许你担心机器人可能会使人们从工作中取代。
All of these worries are understandable. However, they are not always realistic.
These days, there are robots available for almost any task and any need. Solutions exist that allow you to mitigate most doubts that you might have right now.
How Robotics is Changing the Plastics Industry
Robots have been used for a long time in the plastics industry.As far back as the 1980s, they were already being used in larger production facilities for tasks that included material handling, machining, and gluing.
Now, 40 years later, robots are well established in some plastics businesses and are less utilized in others. In particular, smaller plastics companies that previously relied on manual or offshore labor are now recognizing the benefits of using robots in their operations.
Robots bring a wealth of benefits for companies in the plastics industry，包括更高的生产率，更好的一致性，工作时间更长，以及人类工人的更安全的工作条件。
5 Proven Ways the Plastics Industry Can Use Robots
There are many good robot applications that you can deploy in a plastics company. In fact, most of the applications that we mention elsewhere on this blog are just as applicable to plastics as they are to any other industry.
但是，这里有5个使用机器人的常见应用程序，有一些现实世界的例子：
1. Injection Molding
机器人的共同任务是注塑成型。这涉及与注塑机接口，装载机器的步骤，并在模制后清理工件。
One example of an injection molding robot is shown in this video from Limac Formplast in Sweden. The cell employs an ABB IRB 1600 to perform a series of tasks in the injection molding process.
在视频中，Anders Granstrand来自集成公司的Animex解释了他们如何看到较小公司的趋势在塑料行业内部署此类自动化解决方案。
2. Blow Molding
A related application is blow molding. This process is used to create plastic bottles — amongst other things — and robots are a good option for handling those bottles after the blow molding has been completed.
This video shows an industrial robot with a custom end effector being used to handle large water bottles after they have been formed in a blow molding machine. Such applications save human workers from performing back-breaking manual labor for hours on end, which saves them from repetitive strain injuries (RSI).
3.塑料焊接
Robots are a reliable option for many different types of welding,including spot welding and arc weldingof metals. They are equally suited to plastic welding processes and have been successfully deployed in various businesses.
This video shows a particular plastic welding process as performed by an industrial robot. This improves the weld quality and consistency. As with other types of robotic welding, it can also reduce the amount of wastage.
4. Sorting
There are plenty of items to be sorted in a plastic manufacturing business. Robots provide a good option for consistently sorting products at high volume and don’t need to take up too much space, a common concern in the plastics industry.
This video shows an application employing SCARA robots, which are popular in the plastics industry due to their low space footprint. It shows Frisbees being picked and placed onto a conveyor.
绘画
绘画是许多塑料制品的必备工作。它有一些特定的要求在机器人上完成。例如，对于某些类型的绘画，您应该确保您拥有易燃雾化涂料的防爆机器人。为此原因，有专门的绘画机器人available on the market.
该视频显示了一个机器人喷涂塑料笔记本电脑盒。
Which Robot Task to Start With and How
These 5 examples are only a few of the many robot applications that you could employ in your business.
但是，你应该选择哪个？
这是一个很好的主意，首先从一个相对简单的任务开始部署，并将为您提供快速的投资回报。从那时起，您可以移动到更复杂的应用程序。
您可以通过选择合适的编程系统更轻松地进行部署。一个好的机器人编程工具将减少您在部署机器人的时间，并允许您更新机器人的编程，即使您没有广泛的机器人体验。
For example, painting is a perfect task for a handheld robotic programming tool like theRoboDK TwinTrack. This tool allows you to track the desired path with your hand, which the robot will then replay without requiring any extra programming.
对于其他任务，一个良好的离线编程系统can help you to reduce downtime and makes programming easier than with conventional programming methods.
哪项任务在您的业务中最有用？Tell us in the comments below or join the discussion onLinkedIn,推特,Facebook,Instagram，或者RoboDK论坛.
