Worker assistance systems have been gaining ground in the field of automation and assembly workstations for a good two years now. The offerings are diverse. For complex processes, full automation is either not possible or no longer economically feasible - not to mention individual production. Manual assembly has its pitfalls, as humans make mistakes. However, if they are guided intelligently through the work process, the susceptibility to errors falls rapidly. With its own app store and the "The Assistant" system, Ulixes has a product on the market that combines all the components required for a digital and assisted workplace in one compact device.

No programming knowledge required
Visual instructions are projected directly onto the workstation and completed work steps are monitored by sensors. Ulixes has been successfully using the app store as its own software platform for 20 years: It can be used to control robots, test benches or entire lines on a graphical app basis. The App Store for the assistant also benefits from this experience. As with smartphones, no programming knowledge is required here either. After one or two days of training, the customer can independently implement new applications, change or add applications. Flexibility and ease of use are key features of the system. It is fully integrated, meaning that the user can simply copy the workflows to another assistant.

Alexander Tillmann, Managing Director ulixes © Ulixes

Clear competitive advantage: assisted work
Digitalization and a batch size of one are now achievable for every company. "You don't have to turn this topic into a huge project with investments in the hundreds of thousands of euros, you can start simply, pragmatically and budget-friendly," explains Ulixes Managing Director Alexander Tillmann and goes one step further: "Non-assisted work has no future. The insights into production processes gained with the assistant already show a clear competitive advantage over workstations equipped only with classic sensors." Thanks to the real-time quality check, the error rate is close to zero - even at the end of the shift. This knowledge of the system's safety also allows workers to work in a more relaxed and productive manner.

Turnkey solutions from Ulixes Solutions
Whether for rear spoiler assembly or electronic parts testing, in order picking or for documenting complex work processes: The assistant is used every day for a wide variety of applications. Many of these turnkey customer solutions have been created by Ulixes Solutions, a business unit for services related to the Assistant and the App Store. The services offered range from consulting and complete project management to employee training, all from a single source. pb

Systematic process optimization © Ulixes

Systematic process optimization
The assistant provides the necessary data basis. With the help of analysis apps, insights are gained, appropriate measures are derived and implemented as direct optimization. The assistant data can also be integrated with data from ERP/MES and evaluated. The identified optimizations can then be mapped via the assisted processes.