"The demand for robotics applications is constantly growing, not least as a result of the ongoing labor shortage. We are constantly expanding our network in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in order to offer our customers competent integration partners close to them," explains Andrea Alboni, General Manager Western Europe at Universal Robots. "Our experienced system integrators and sales partners enable our customers to automate quickly and easily and are always available as contacts, especially for small and medium-sized companies. They are the ones who support our customers every day with a great deal of expertise and passion."

Efficient and flexible solutions thanks to UR cobots

Competent advice and first-class service are also top priorities for Matheus Service GmbH: since 2012, the company has been supporting its customers with a great deal of passion and expertise on their individual path to automation. With around 20 employees, the company focuses in particular on projects for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and offers programming support as well as maintenance and spare parts services in the areas of pick & place, packaging and palletizing. "Our mission is to provide our customers with the best robot solution for their individual needs quickly and easily and to support them with the best service for their automation project," says Matthias Weinandy, Managing Director at Matheus Service. "The cobots from Universal Robots are an ideal addition to our portfolio, as they are easy to integrate and work reliably. For this reason, we have now also decided on an official partnership," Weinandy continues.

Progress and innovation in automation

Another new Certified System Integrator, Lechner Maschinenbau from Untermarchtal, has been offering its customers machines and individual automation solutions for sheet metal processing for over 40 years. Its product focus includes round bending machines, flanging and beading machines as well as welding systems with a focus on pipe and container production technology. Since the end of 2021, the company has also added robotic solutions in the form of collaborative robots, known as cobots, to its product portfolio. "After the very positive experience we had with UR in the automation of our in-house welding shop, the next logical step for us was to work together in the field of automation and material feeding for our customers' CNC bending machines," says Thomas Lechner, Managing Director at Lechner Maschinenbau. "The simple programming of the UR cobots in particular is the key selling point here," continues Lechner.

More flexible workplaces in production

URT Utz Ratio Technik, founded in 1982 in Korb, Baden-Württemberg, and FMT Flexible Montagetechnik GmbH, founded in 1993 in Limburg-Oberfrohna, Saxony, develop and implement customer-specific systems and equipment for the production of a wide range of components and for the automation of assembly, handling and testing processes. The portfolio of the two companies belonging to the Utz Group includes manual, collaborative and semi-automatic workstation systems, as well as complex transfer technology and fully automated systems. "Under our credo 'Automating the future', we develop high-quality, high-performance systems for production and assembly automation," says Thilo Utz, Managing Partner at URT and FMT. "As a Certified System Integrator, we will have even better opportunities to automate our customers' processes in the future and thus offer them a real benefit. We are expanding our growing portfolio for assembly and production automation with innovative cobots that perfectly complement our existing expertise. As a result, we can now open up completely new possibilities for our customers to make the production of tomorrow future-proof," continues Utz.

Partner network supports staff shortages with the integration of cobots

With the expansion of its partner network, Universal Robots wants to reach companies that are facing the challenge of no longer being able to produce efficiently due to a lack of labor. "Many companies are currently suffering from a labor shortage. More and more companies are opting for automation in order to be able to produce reliably even during economic peaks," says Alboni. "One of our goals is to dispel common concerns and prejudices about robots and to educate people about the many benefits of cobots. We are delighted to welcome our new integrators, who complement our network perfectly with their expertise."