DigitalituM

Digitalization tools for Manufacturing

Ulixes - Worker Assistent Systems

We Make Manual Assembly Great Again 

Ulixes GmbH is a unique SME from the Stuttgart area in Germany. It has a client relationship with the majority of the who is who of German Auto manufacturing in “Benz-town”,  the official nickname of Stuttgart. 

While working for decades on Robotic systems and Automation Systems, They came up a couple of years ago with their “Der Assistent”

What is Manual Assembly

Is a process, where a product is assembled by a worker by hand and/or by using additional tools. Manual Assembly has its dominance for: 

Low Quantity – High Variance 

complex assembly, where automatic assembly stations have less ROI 

High Production Flexibility in terms of production lots 

Observance

While things like Vision Systems, Torque Controlled screw Guns and other tools have made their way to the Manual Assembly workbench, the overall process hasn’t changed much for decades: A Work Instruction mostly in paper will tell the worker in a step by step approach with some pictures of how to put it together. 

An “End of Line” or EOL test at the end of the assembly process will do a functionality check and quality control measures on the assembled product 

Low Quantity – High Variance 

complex assembly, where automatic assembly stations have less ROI 

High Production Flexibility in terms of production lots 

Issues and problems of the current process

In a lot of cases, unskilled workers do the majority of the manual assembly tasks due to cost issues A lot of specific training efforts are necessary for each work process. 

per work station, specific training is required per every switched worker due to a lot of different reason 

( fluctuation, adding a shift, adding temp workforce for peak production, etc.) 

No embedded quality control in the assembly process

Der Assistent

Classic manual assembly use case with scan, assembly, screwing and scale 

This video highlights the classic capabilities of the Ulixes Assitant:

Barcode scanner torque controlled screw gun scale for weight verification after the assembly process to assure that all parts are in ( in addition to visual inspection through integrated vision system).

Collaboration between Ulixes Assistent & COBOT

Cobot + Assistent = symbiosis between human and machine

Loading parts from an automatic line and having them then inspected and add some manual assembly steps, is what this use case is all about.

The integrated Bluetooth-enabled caliber is used to do a quality check on the material. Guided

Augmented instructions give step by step advice to the worker and verification

Valve Block Assembly

The video starts with the verification of the parts barcode and loading the correct variant for the work flow.

 

The Assistant gives advices, how to place the valve block on the bench.

  1. In horizontal orientation to mount the top connector 
  2. To then turn vertical and mount the other connectors
  3. A augmented picture on the side shows the orientation of each fitting and also highlights from which bin, the fittings need to be taken out.  
  4. Specific instructions, how to tighten the fittings with 5S verification for the tools uses
  5. Quality control through integrated vision system on the go and displayed with green check mark after each work step 
  6. Small part verification before putting it on to the assembly to make sure, the correct part is assembled to the correct location
  7. O-ring verification shows the high resolution vision system used 
  8. Final check of all fittings with visual inspection of alignment

 

  • Result:
    • No training efforts
    • Even a new employee or temporary worker builds his first part 100% OK
    • 0% scrap rate / 0% NOK parts / 100% error free



Verification End of line packaging

In this use case, the table top is removed, so a wood crate can be put in with a pallet check.

Step by step, the worker gets instructions, what articles to put where. The entire packaging process is verified.

Pictures of the packaging process can be stored from individual steps or at the end, to verify, how the articles got packed in , in case of later customer complaint or shipping damages. 

For ergomic purposes, an additional screen is installed in this case to geive th specific instruction to the worker. 

  • Result: 100% Packaging quality
  • Always the same way packed
  • Automatic verification, what’s in the box
  • Build in traceability feature by capture pictures and send it to File server / ERP etc

what We offer

We have a full setup of an Ulixes “Der Assistant” test and show unit available in our headquarters in the Atlanta Metro.

We offer the following services 

Proof and Trial

Send us your product and we generate a workflow for you. You wwill receive a video or live demonstration of it.

VISIT our showroom in johns creek

Make an appointment and visit our studio in Johns Creek, Ga for a live demonstration with all the different partner products, DigitalituM offers.