Some of the biggest factors affecting manufacturing, as has been reinforced by industry professionals across the board in recent months, have to do with shortages of skilled workers and a lack of expert knowledge at many facilities. More than one executive on stage at IMTS 2024 in September, discussing the future of manufacturing, agreed that there were simply too many skilled workers leaving manufacturing—largely through retirements—and not enough newer, younger skilled workers entering the trades to replace them.
IMTS, FABTECH, RAPID + TCT and other trade shows also have highlighted potential solutions to the problem: collaboration and automation. Such partnerships were underscored at a recent media event held at Modine Manufacturing Co.’s Jefferson City, Mo., plant in early September. The Cobot Welding Summit not only highlighted Modine’s collaboration with Flextur Inc. and Kinetic Technologies LLC, it also showed how automated systems can be successfully implemented on the shop floor to help their human counterparts—without taking away their jobs.
A Heated Situation
Modine—a manufacturer of thermal management systems that has been in business for nearly 100 years—has enjoyed its share of success, starting with supplying radiators for the Ford Model T. And the company’s growth plans combined with recent increases in customer demand, including heat transfer systems for electric vehicles and traditional radiators, would normally be viewed as cause to celebrate; but the manufacturer faced an incredible challenge as it tried to ramp up production—largely due to a shortage of skilled workers.
The Jefferson City fabrication center, which supplies metal components for heating systems used throughout Modine’s other factories, relies on skilled welders to get the job done. Thus, a shortage of new and replacement welders there affects the entire company.
Automation seemed like a logical solution. To this end, the company began adding several cobots into its work processes. However, turning the cobots into a productive part of an efficient workflow proved to be more difficult than anticipated, especially in terms of fixturing.
In addition to pushback from some of the company’s existing skilled workforce, there was “an overall lack of knowledge on how best to use the cobots,” explains Chris Crowe, the Jefferson City plant manager. As a result, he says, the cobots weren’t being fully utilized—if at all. That’s when the company decided to look for some external help.
Flexing Kinetic Partnerships
Modine had engineers programming on site, but making fixtures was taking longer and was costlier than expected, according to Crowe. At the same time, some work Modine had been doing for another client exposed it to Flextur, a Dalton, Ohio-based company that prides itself on enhancing welding productivity. Modine’s lean and continuous improvement manager got a firsthand view of Flextur’s cobot system, quick-change tables and innovative fixturing solutions, and saw a possible solution to Modine’s biggest challenges that could be accomplished cost effectively.
With roots in Ohio’s Amish community, collaboration was already a well-ingrained part of Flextur’s culture. To help build trust, Flextur initially rented its technology to Modine. Additional cells were added, but both companies realized they would need assistance to meet all the requirements and recruited Kinetic Technologies to join the team.
Kinetic brought its expertise in rotating tables and other motion-dependent components to the mix. In addition, Kinetic also is said to have greatly reduced the timeline of the project by providing some of the additional automation and movement needed, according to the partners.
In collaboration with Flextur and Kinetic Technologies, Modine says it was able to rapidly implement multiple robotic welding systems that have proven themselves to be accurate, highly repeatable and capable of creating high-quality welds for the tanks they produce. Flextur’s modular system makes utilizing cobots make sense from an operational perspective to provide maximum efficiency and greater production, according to Flextur CEO Daniel Wengerd.
The company’s patent-pending Quick-Change Fixture Table and Quick-Change Fixture Plates ensure parts are positioned and clamped in the proper position every time, according to Flextur. And the cobot welding system allows users to switch to a different part in minutes via a couple of steps and the touch of a button.
Human Connection
The partnership has also helped win over the once-reluctant skilled workforce. Rather than replacing skilled workers, the cobots and other automation have allowed Modine to expand its capabilities, opening up the possibility of bringing on more skilled workers, not fewer.
“There were worries that cobots were going to replace people and nobody wanted that,” Crowe notes. “Skilled welders were and still are a major part of the process at Modine.”
After starting from scratch without any automation engineers on staff, Modine has trained more than a dozen welders to operate the cobots and has added a welding engineer. The program provides welders with new automation skills and is a scalable model for others to follow, according to Flextur. To address space constraints, the cobots are mounted on overhead gantrys; some manual welds are still done in hard-to-reach spots.
“The cobots provide consistent high-quality welds, and with good fixturing we have been able to avoid the problem of misaligned parts,” adds Glenn Zimmerman, Modine’s manufacturing engineering manager. “Skilled welders still provide inspection and rework where necessary. Our productivity increased initially by a factor of about two and a half times, more than doubling the number of tanks we are able to produce per day and has almost doubled again since.”
Results
Within less than a year, Modine’s Jefferson City plant in partnership with Flextur and Kinetic revitalized an idle cobot and integrated it into the company’s high-mix/low-volume production system. After starting with a single cobot, Modine has since expanded to four fully operational units.
These cobots, including integrating a 7th axis and turn table, are among the most advanced on the market, Flextur says. The transformation began in July 2023, with the plant moving from five standard hours per month to consistently achieving more than 600 standard hours, leading up to June 2024.
Modine’s journey began with welding parts that were just 1-ft (0.3-m) wide, progressing to welding 8.3-ft-long (2.5-m) watertight tanks. The company also tackled complex welding tasks, such as 900-inch (2,286-cm) linear welds, which is said to improve welding throughput by more than 250%.
During the Cobot Summit, which was held Sept. 4 in Jefferson City, the three companies detailed how they worked together to implement the new automation solution. The 150,000-sq-ft (13,935-sq-m) plant , which opened in 1979, makes copper brass radiators for the industrial truck, off-road, agriculture, military and generator set markets. The plant employs about 200 people, of which nearly half have more than 20 years of experience.
The cobots also provide safety benefits and remove operators from environmental hazards. While operators still perform some inspections and repairs, the cobot can be easily programmed and the system was outfitted with safety sensors to allow for safe operation compliant with RIA functional safety standards. Standardizing weld cells, meanwhile, eliminated operator-to-operator variation.
“Modine’s innovative approach and formation of strategic partnerships and commitment to excellence, have resulted in significant advancements, allowing Modine to achieve impressive milestones,” notes Mark Barglof, president and owner of Kinetic.
When it comes to welding robots, he adds, quality and reliability are essential. This includes factory acceptance testing to help reduce downtime and costly downstream fixes. Partnering with an integrator like Kinetic Technologies, provides a more comprehensive approach and a single point of contact..
For more information about Modine Manufacturing Co. visit www.modine.com or call 833-471-0004. For more information about Flextur, visit www.flextur.com or call 877-435-3988. For more information about Kinetic Technologies LLC visit kinetictechllc.com or call 513-395-1500.
