Plastic Molded Concepts (PMC) of Eagle, Wisconsin, is using Sawyer, the collaborative robot from Rethink Robotics, in its manufacturing operations to drive business growth and create skilled jobs for its employees. Through automation, PMC aims to increase the efficiency of its 38 injection molding machines. As a first step, Sawyer is producing components for a pressure gauge.

"There is no better way to increase efficiency than automation," said Larry Floyd, President of PMC. "Our initial goal with Sawyer was to continue our growth trajectory of the past few years. However, once we integrated Sawyer into our production, it quickly became clear that this automation solution would exceed our expectations while increasing employee satisfaction."

In PMC's production process, Sawyer takes parts from a press, places them in a CNC drill, recognizes when the holes have been drilled and then places the parts in a container. When there are exactly 160 parts in the container, Sawyer pauses until an employee replaces the box. A quick touch is all it takes for the cobot to resume its work.

Relief from monotonous tasks

PMC takes on a wide range of injection molding tasks for its customers, such as in-mold decoration, precision manufacturing, melting, post-processing, assembly and packaging. While the business has grown steadily, PMC has experienced a high turnover of new employees. With the help of Sawyer, PMC wants to relieve its employees of monotonous tasks to enable them to take on more demanding, complex activities and strengthen their loyalty to the company. With Sawyer taking over the monotonous work steps in the production of pressure gauge components, employees can devote themselves to more qualified tasks.

"Automation is an effective way to counter the shortage of skilled workers. The key to success is that the robot is quick to implement and easy to use for repetitive tasks that are unattractive to employees," emphasizes Jim Lawton, COO at Rethink Robotics. "PMC proves that automation can enhance production jobs rather than replace them. Robots relieve their human colleagues so that they can devote themselves to more responsible activities."