At Sennheiser Manufacturing USA in Albuquerque, precision is non-negotiable.
Each week, the power assembles 30,000 printed circuit boards (PCBs) that energy 1,500 skilled audio gadgets for the Americas and Asia. With 115 totally different PCB variants operating by means of manufacturing, automation is important to keep up throughput and high quality.
However one vital step remained guide: 100% PCB testing.
As manufacturing elevated, testing grew to become a bottleneck.
Right here’s how Sennheiser eliminated that bottleneck and elevated the variety of PCBs examined by 33% in a single 12 months.
Outcomes at a look
- 33% improve in PCBs examined inside one 12 months
- 115 PCB variants dealt with with one adaptive gripper
- 100% PCB take a look at protection maintained
- Actual-time cobot KPI monitoring applied
- Second cobot justified utilizing manufacturing information
Hold studying for the total story…
The problem: guide PCB testing grew to become a bottleneck
“At Sennheiser, we take a look at all the things 100%,” explains Manufacturing Supervisor Steven Nery.
The method was easy however repetitive:
- An operator locations a PCB into the tester
- Closes the fixture
- Waits for the take a look at cycle
- Removes the board
- Hundreds the subsequent one
Repeat for eight hours.
With 115 PCB sorts and rising manufacturing demand, guide dealing with restricted scalability. The workforce wanted an answer that might:
- Deal with frequent half changeovers
- Adapt to totally different PCB sizes and type elements
- Preserve constant high quality
- Combine shortly with out disrupting manufacturing
The answer: versatile gripping and collaborative automation
Check Engineer Roger Case started exploring automation choices. The breakthrough got here with Robotiq’s 2F-85 Adaptive Gripper.
“Robotiq had a novel answer: a dependable gripper that may handle half changeovers shortly, which was necessary for our high-mix, high-volume manufacturing. Plus, its vast stroke match the shape issue of the PCBs we had been .”
Inside weeks, the workforce deployed a Common Robots UR5 cobot geared up with the 2F-85.
The automated workflow:
- The robotic picks up a PCB with the gripper
- Strikes it to a scanner to validate half ID
- Hundreds it into the tester
- The tester indicators begin
- After testing, the system sends a go/fail message
- The robotic kinds the PCB into the suitable bin
The outcome was a repeatable, constant testing cycle — with out guide intervention.
Measuring efficiency with Robotiq Insights
From the start, Sennheiser handled their cobot like a brand new workforce member. They even named it ART (Automated Robotic Staff member).
However efficiency wanted to be measurable.
“Since we at all times consider how new workers are performing, I advised our managers we must always do the identical for ART,” says Case.
To trace KPIs, the workforce related the robotic to Robotiq Insights, a web-based monitoring software.
Insights shortly grew to become a store ground management device utilized by a number of teams:
- Managers use dashboards to visualise manufacturing efficiency
- Engineers obtain each day studies and cease alerts
- Operators obtain notifications when trays want reloading
“I exploit Insights to speak data to non-engineering folks, as a result of I can simply level to the dashboard and clarify what’s occurring,” says Nery.
When the robotic stops, the workforce is aware of instantly — and may react shortly. That visibility reworked automation from a black field right into a controllable, optimizable course of.
33% extra PCBs examined with larger consistency
After one 12 months, the numbers had been clear.
“With ART1, we noticed a rise of round 33% within the variety of PCBs examined over a 12 months,” says Case. “And the standard was larger as a result of the dealing with was extra constant.”
The manufacturing information collected by means of Insights helped justify the acquisition of a second cobot.
Right now, ART2 (a UR5e) operates alongside ART1, and the manufacturing facility is aiming to double PCB testing capability.
The primary deployment eliminated a bottleneck. The second scaled a confirmed system.
A brand new function on the store ground
Automation didn’t get rid of jobs; it elevated them.
Marcella Segovia beforehand carried out the repetitive guide testing course of. Right now, she runs the robotic testing operation.
She:
- Prepares trays
- Prioritizes job orders
- Adjustments robotic applications for various PCB sorts
- Screens manufacturing
Insights sends her a textual content message when trays are empty so she is aware of when to reload.
“I used to be just a little frightened of the robots at first, however I actually needed to learn to run them,” she says. “They’re quick, however I can sustain — and it’s nice how a lot we’ve elevated our numbers.”
Repetitive guide testing grew to become a higher-value technical function on the middle of manufacturing.
The larger image: scaling with information, not assumptions
Sennheiser didn’t automate all the things directly.
They:
- Recognized a transparent bottleneck
- Deployed a versatile cobot cell
- Measured efficiency
- Used actual manufacturing information to justify scaling
That’s Lean Robotics in motion.
By combining a versatile adaptive gripper, a collaborative robotic, and real-time efficiency monitoring, Sennheiser turned testing right into a aggressive benefit — and constructed a transparent path for future enlargement.
If PCB testing is limiting your throughput, the chance is probably not in including labor — however in eradicating the bottleneck with versatile automation and measurable efficiency.
