Workstation
Workstations, or “Estaciones de trabajo”, are increasingly being used by more and more industries within their production processes to guarantee the quality of all their products. These types of machines are referred to in many different ways: Workstation, peripherals, pre-assembly machines, workstations, verification tools, semi-automatic machines, etc. But…
What are they really and what are they for?
Sectors such as the automotive, plastics, electronics, aerospace and food industries, where quality requirements are primarily based on reducing variability in each of the products they manufacture and maintaining 100% control over their manufacturing processes without compromising employee safety in the slightest and whilst ensuring production, have been using this type of machinery for years. Workstations are machines that always involve human intervention and can range from very simple set-ups with cradles to support a part and manually place clips, to more complex processes involving automated operations: threading, cutting, welding, screwing, drilling, verification, counting, etc. The key feature is that the machine and the operator work together to ensure that every product they manufacture is of excellent quality.
Isn't excellence what we strive for in our businesses?
ExcellenceThe capacity of an organisation to deliver products/services using the best available means and resources. Excellence is not achieved; one is always on a journey towards excellence because excellent organisations must continually seek out better means and resources.
That word that we all know how to say, but that only a few would be capable of explaining how to achieve.
Our workstations help us stay on track, as they are tailor-made for each of our products, ensuring 100% control over every stage of the process and working closely with users.
TICE Engineers Group With over 10 years of experience developing workstations, they indicate to us the design premises and main characteristics, as well as the advantages of a good “Workstation”.
Work cycle: The client and the designer agree on the stages and steps of the cycle to be carried out by the team. By using technology and POKA-YOKE systems, we ensure that this cycle and all its operations are repeated with 100% accuracy, reducing human error caused by fatigue, mood, etc., to almost zero.
Versatility The design of equipment based on a common standard and interchangeable cradles allows for model changes in the parts to be manufactured without requiring the fabrication of a new workstation. Instead, only modifications to the program and the fabrication of new cradles are needed to manufacture various models at the same station.
Efficiency The introduction of ICT increasingly allows us to track production and indicate to the equipment user what the next step is and what their objective is.
Traceability We know every product's When, How, Who and Where it has been manufactured, providing us with very valuable information when it comes to improving and investigating incidents.
Security The manufacture of custom-made equipment cannot avoid CE marking; it must be equipment that complies with the “ROYAL DECREE 1644/2008, of 10 October, establishing the rules for the marketing and putting into service of machines, the applicable directives and standards, so this type of machine gives the user the confidence that they will reduce the risk of accidents.
Benefits of working using a Wokstation:
- Improvement of repeatability
- Quality control during manufacturing, reducing post-process quality control costs
- Stable average cycle time
- Traceability 100%
- User safety
- Versatility in model/product change
- Reduction in learning time as the equipment user only has to follow the steps indicated by the workstation
- Reduction of errors due to the human factor.
The success of these teams is mainly based on good design carried out by specialised engineering companies such as Grupo TICE Ingenieros, where their technicians know the regulations and have the “Know-how”enough to design and manufacture these bespoke machines.
