Offline Robot Programming: Benefits for Quality and Delivery Times

at XCMG Machinery

Construction machinery maker XCMG has doubled its efficiency in generating new robot programs for its robotic welding cells. This was achieved by introducing FASTSUITE Edition 2 to manage offline programming processes. The CENIT software can be used to program robots by virtually any provider, and it ensures constant, replicable process quality in robot programming for all of XCMG’s production cells. Offline optimization via FASTSUITE Edition 2’s 3D simulation capabilities and reduced plant downtimes ensure maximum manufacturing quality while also shortening delivery times.

About the customer

XCMG Machinery

XCMG Machinery is the world’s third-largest producer of construction machines and one of China’s most competitive listed producers of industrial machinery. The company’s products include construction cranes, compacting machines, road-building machines, concrete machinery, fire extinguishing equipment and other types of construction-related machinery, many of them with the largest market share in China.

To the customer website

Business challenge

Productivity

To increase efficiency, greatly expand the use of robots for welding work in production.

Product quality

Transform traditional welding process into an intelligent, digitalized manufacturing process boosting product quality.

Market position

Continuous optimization of production for building on an excellent market position

Customer goals

Digitalizing manufacturing

Robot programs for production cells should be generated long before the start of production.
These programs should be validated via 3D simulation.
The simulation must mirror the real manufacturing result in all respects.
End goal of XCMG: A digital factory with seamless data and processes.

Working more effectively

XCMG will continue to use robots by different manufacturers in production, e.g. KOBELCU, FANUC, etc.
Employees must be able to deal with different systems, programming languages and operating methods.
The production of construction machinery will also involve a variety of solutions for seam welding.
In future, employees should be able to program and control all welding cells via a single software.

Making quality replicable

XCMG wants central, comprehensive quality control of its robot programs.
This cannot be achieved via manual robot programming (“teaching”).
Optimized solutions for robot welding tasks must be replicable.
The prerequisites for replicable quality are centralized quality control and full documentation of all programming.

For XCMG, digital transformation is a matter of core strategic orientation. Our production process uses more than 100 industrial robots of various brands. We decided to introduce FASTSUITE to enable offline programming and 3D simulation of robots by different manufacturers. For XCMG Group, this move has improved production efficiency and process quality. Additionally, the initiative underscores our company’s proactive approach to a changing industry as well as our pursuit of innovation. The FASTSUITE offline programming software lets us generate the robot programs before the materials for the new product even arrive at the production site. And our programming efficiency has at least doubled.

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Offline Programming: Reaping Efficiency and Quality Benefits

To meet the tasks defined by XCMG, we implemented our FASTSUITE Edition 2 software. This achieved a significant reduction in time and cost expenditure for generation of production-ready robot programs, because the solution supports programmers in a wide variety of ways and offers a 3D simulation environment that precisely reflects real manufacturing results.

The FASTSUITE Edition 2 technology packages let us fully support manufacturing technologies like arc welding. Our touch sensing solution for state-of-the-art welding precision proved to be a particularly valuable feature for XCMG, because welding work on large-size components can lead to warping and heat distortion. Touch sensing lets the robot autonomously and dynamically adjust the welding path, eliminating any need for manual intervention. Additionally, the seam tracking function enables the robot to automatically recognize the welding seam via a sensor.

The introduction of FASTSUITE Edition 2 for offline programming has also given XCMG central quality control of its manufacturing processes. Via the simulation environment, the software lets the production managers validate each robot programming prior to production release.

For this purpose, XCMG relies on a FASTSUITE-based digital plant model for virtual testing of the robot programs to ensure they are error-free. Whether the programs were generated by offline programming or via manual teaching is irrelevant. Any potential problems can thus be recognized and resolved at the workstation, rather than having to be addressed during actual production.

Because the software fully documents the programming process, it also permits the reuse and standardization of quality-assured solutions. The parameters and strategies by which a component was manufactured can therefore be replicated at any time.

For the company, the key aspect is that these benefits can be achieved for all production cells, irrespective of the make or model of the robot. Because XCMG’s employees now work with a single software rather than many different programs for the individual robots, the company has also achieved greater flexibility in terms of work organization.

Thanks to our offline programming software, XCMG was able to significantly improve its overall operating efficiency by reducing plant downtimes.

For XCMG, the introduction of FASTSUITE Edition 2 has been an important milestone on the company’s path to its strategic goal: The digital factory.

In a nutshell:

FASTSUITE Edition 2 incl. touch sensing and seam tracking
Virtual programming, simulation and validation

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Results and conclusion

Reduced workload

Compared to manual teaching, FASTSUITE Edition 2 has reduced work time by approx. 50 percent.

Reduced quality costs

Increased process security thanks to early error recognition and avoidance via simulation, yielding a 30 percent reduction in quality costs.

Increased standardization

A digitalized, error-free workflow has improved time-to-production rates and increased the use rate of standard routines by 25 percent.

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