CASE STUDY HOW ROBOTIC AUTOMATION SUPPORTS NEW LINES OF BUSINESS Showa Co. Ltd., a Japanese industrial washer and dishwasher manufacturer, began production of face masks in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems Initially, their mask manufacturing process: involved a lot of manual work, resulting in long , excessive in-process and frequent product defects; lead times inventory the initial production capacity was 1.5 million masks per month, but the number of orders exceeded 2 million per month. In order to meet the demand, their production process needed to be upgraded drastically. Solution In order to increase production capacity, it was necessary: to fully automate the entire production process from mask manufacturing to inspection, packaging, and packing for shipment, and to minimise manual work; to define the process which involved cutting, layering, and folding the , attaching a nose-fitting wire and ear straps, adding inspection by camera for defects, wrapping masks individually in plastic, then packing each lot in boxes. unwoven fabric By introducing high speed picking robots – Kawasaki Y series – in the entire process, the company: achieved a production capacity of 2 to 3 million masks per month; drastically reduced the number of workers for material handling from 10 to 1. Since then, the company has made further improvements, and it can now produce more than 9 million masks per month. The robots are active on the mask production line 24 hours a day: as a result, this solution has significantly improved efficiency, speed and accuracy. 8. Complete the sentences with the words given below. automate • camera • COVID-19 pandemic • defects • demand • face masks • lead times • nine million • shipment • Y series Along with industrial washers and dishwashers, Showa CO. Ltd. introduced the production of .............................................................. . The company started their face mask production in 2020 because of the .............................................................. . Initially, the manual production resulted in long .............................................................. . Manual work involved frequent product .............................................................. . The company’s initial production was insufficient to meet the market .............................................................. . To increase the face mask production, the company decided to fully .............................................................. the entire production process. The robots perform manufacturing production, inspection, packaging and packing for .............................................................. . The inspection to detect defects in the pieces is carried out by a .............................................................. . Now the company has a monthly production of more than .............................................................. masks. The high-speed picking robots employed are Kawasaki .............................................................. . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. GLOSSARY : : : inventory scorte di magazzino lead time tempo d'esecuzione unwoven fabric tessuto non tessuto