HELLA is now investing a figure in the high two-digit millions (Euros) to further automate the 15 production sites under its global lighting division. Most notably, this involves implementing collaborative robots (cobots) and artificial intelligence methods. Compared to traditional industrial robots, they do not operate shielded and do not require a separate protective device. The project is scheduled to run for a total of five years. There will be 1,000 cobots used in total worldwide, roughly half of which are already in use.
Detailing on the project, Dr. Frank Huber, Managing Director responsible for the Lighting division at HELLA, said, “By further automating our plants more, we not only want to additionally increase our efficiency, but also improve our high level of quality even more. By doing so, we want to further strengthen our position as one of the world’s leading suppliers in the field of automotive lighting.”
Due to the high level of complexity involved, the production of headlamps and rear combination lamps is still characterised by a comparatively high proportion of manual activities. At the same time, the projects are usually very model specific and therefore only have a limited runtime, meaning that it is not profitable to use conventional industrial robots in certain production sections.
Dr. Huber continued, “Full automation is often not productive for us. That is why we are focusing primarily on smart automation for our manufacturing processes. Cobots in particular play an important role here. They can be easily integrated and flexibly adapted and make a significant contribution to assisting colleagues in production in the long term.”
