Robot arm creates value and flexibility in production at Induflex

Induflex was founded by Lis Larsen in 1989, and today, the company is under the leadership of her son, Rico Larsen. Induflex specialises in processing plastic, natural, and synthetic materials, bringing over 30 years of experience to the industry. Currently, the company employs more than 45 individuals.

In 2022, the company acquired the UR robot, which was mounted on a table for the finished products.

Facing challenges in acquiring labour, especially skilled industrial technicians, the company saw an opportunity to invest in a UR robot. This robot could work alternately at their CNC machines around the clock, eliminating repetitive tasks for their employees. They chose the Universal Robots' robot due to its scalability and ease of expansion with additional robots.

Freeing up time for employees

"The robot can now take the items and rotate them in the machine as they are being made. Where a person used to stand and turn and change items continuously, the robot can now attend to a machine for several hours at a time,"

Martin Staun, Production Manager

Previously, Induflex had an employee standing at their laser engraving machine, lifting the item three times during laser engraving to rotate it 360 degrees. Now, the robot rotates the item as it is engraved and effortlessly switches to new items.

"We are very pleasantly surprised by the solution and the way BILA has handled the entire process, solving the challenges that have arisen along the way,"

Martin Staun, Production Manager

Easy and flexible solution

For Induflex, it was crucial that the solution be easy and flexible. The robot is efficient, capable of moving between multiple machines, including CNC milling machines and CNC lathes, and can easily handle various plastic items. As Induflex operates solely on order production, with each order being unique in terms of formats and sizes, the robot must adapt to the diverse range of customer orders.

"It has been important for us that it is a robot solution that we can move around to several machines in our machining workshop, depending on where the need is. Additionally, the robot has allowed us to reduce the cost of certain types of tasks, especially for larger series," says Martin Staun.

Even though the new "colleague" is still relatively new in the production process, the company has already made significant progress with the UR robot. It has taken over more routine tasks, freeing up time for employees and increasing efficiency in many of their customer orders.