Surge in orders triggers robot purchases

We're getting a flood of orders for fittings, especially from the greenhouse and wind turbine industries.

That is why the company has purchased a robotic system—a robot with all the necessary accessories—mounted on a cart so that it can be used in various locations throughout the production process.

It is a product from the automation company Gibotech, which Gibotech calls GiboCobotFlex, and it is part of the company’s GiboSmartSolutions.

That is why we chose the GiboCobotFlex

The idea for GiboCobotFlex from the desire to develop a flexible, portable, and, above all, affordable collaborative robot solution with short delivery and commissioning times.

The choice fell on Omron’s collaborative TM robot because it is easy to program and features a special camera that is perfect for this application. OnRobot is not only a leader in standard grippers, but their system makes it quick and easy to change grippers, which is crucial in a solution like GiboCobotFlex.

CobotFlex is designed to cover a wide range of applications and flexible production.

CobotFlex is built on a flexible base (cart) that is easy to move between different tasks. To get up and running quickly between tasks, standard grippers with quick-change mechanisms are primarily used. The robot’s integrated camera is used as part of the setup for new tasks, meaning the operator does not need to program the robot when switching to a new task. In practice, this means that CobotFlex can, for example, perform machine tending, switch to quality control, and pack items into boxes in the course of a single day without the operator having to do anything other than ensure that the correct order number can be read by the robot and that items are available.

We bought it to increase our company’s capacity. We can, so to speak, extend our operating hours since the robot can run overnight. I like that it’s a unit we can move around to wherever we need it. The only limit to what we can use it for is our imagination.

Finn Stræde-Christensen, Director at Steeltec

- CobotFlex is one of the solutions under the GiboSmartSolutions concept, which is a library of previously developed automation solutions. At the same time, GiboSmartSolutions is based on many years of experience in automation, addressing requirements for production and process optimization, factory flow, ROI, after-sales support, and service. For nearly 40 years, we have been delivering automation solutions to a wide range of industries and for many different types of production. To make the most of this knowledge and experience, we have developed GiboSmartSolutions, which combines various automation solutions as needed and involves the customer earlier in the decision-making process so they can fully benefit from the solution, adds Kenneth Pedersen, Project Sales Manager at Gibotech.‍

GiboSmartSolutions all areas

Gibotech currently has three primary business areas. The hospital sector, where central sterilization departments, goods receiving areas, AGV operations, and blood sample robots are the key areas. Robotic systems for industry, which currently range from collaborative lightweight robots and lightweight robots for industrial applications to conventional industrial robots—often combined and always tailored to the task at hand, frequently with AGV transport to integrate the entire production flow. The company’s oldest business area is CNC machines, primarily for wood, plastic, and composite materials, as well as light metals. However, there is a growing demand for automated machine operation, and in recent years Gibotech has delivered many combined solutions featuring both CNC machines and robots worldwide, collaborating with the CNC manufacturer to develop this area globally.

GiboSmartSolutions primarily GiboSmartSolutions industrial solutions, many of which are based on a modular approach, allowing customers to purchase a single robot cell or combine multiple modules into a comprehensive solution—for example, with or without a mobile robot or CNC machine.