Exploring new technologies to extend workers’ capabilities
TIAGo Base made a welcome addition to the team at Catalan electrical wiring company MAPCABLE this year. MAPCABLE is a brand within Fundació MAP, an entity that provides work opportunities to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and in situations of vulnerability in Ripoll.
Fundacio Map has a Special Employment Centre (EEC), CETMAP, where people with disabilities work in multiple productive activities based on emerging sectors of the territory (industry, environment, tourism, services, agri-food). The MAPCABLE branch performs any type of work related to electrical wiring, industrial assemblies, bagging, and packaging.
PAL Robotics‘ Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR), TIAGo Base, is helping workers at MAPCABLE with intralogistics tasks including indoor deliveries. At the company, the robot is transporting 600x400x170 stackable boxes which are assembled on top of the robot, around the centre, to support team members throughout the day.
We had the chance to talk for our blog with Roger Bosch, Head of Production at MAPCABLE on the goals of the company, as well as how an AMR (Automated Mobile Robot) like TIAGo Base fits in with the team and their work.
Introducing the company, Roger told us, “Mapcable is a special work centre providing opportunities to people with disabilities, that started 25 years ago – it began with simple manual work and has continued to grow until the present day. As well as being a supplier for our customers, we are a centre with 5000 square metres of facilities. Today we have a team of 70 people – in our centre we like to try new approaches, and for us, technology and people should go hand in hand.”
Regarding the company’s aims, Roger continued “At MAPCABLE we do industrial/development work to meet customers’ needs, especially for electrical wiring. For electrical wiring we work through the full process a customer may need – with the aim that their infrastructure is fully prepared.”
Roger emphasised the importance to the team of trying new approaches and new technology, explaining, “one of MAPCABLE’s business objectives is the technification of the workshop, and robotics is fundamental to help us achieve this goal.”
He added, “we have always been keen on exploring new technologies, so how can we not be willing to adopt a PAL Robotics’ robot?”
He explained how new tools, such as robotics can help team members to achieve tasks which sometimes otherwise they could not, “the main role of the special work centre is to provide jobs for people, and what robotics allows us is to offer competencies and give tools to people that sometimes cannot perform tasks on their own. An example is people with reduced mobility who have to move heavy products from one place to another inside MAPCABLE’s facilities – this can be a limitation to the tasks people can perform. In the end technology allows lots of people from the collective we are helping to accomplish tasks that weren’t possible for them before.”
Easing deliveries and workflow between teams on a daily basis
Roger also explained how working with AMR TIAGo Base has improved the intralogistics workflow, reducing bottlenecks in deliveries between areas and team members. He told us, “the main limitation of physical transportation before was that the material had to be transported by a person with a pallet truck, which requires a lot of effort.”
“Now we are using TIAGo Base for the material flow, from the moment the production is done at the wiring department, to the quality and issuing department. When this was done in a traditional way, a lot of orders and material were accumulated and then this was carried through to the issuing department – therefore a bottleneck was transported to another department, because the person doing the quality process received a lot of orders at the same time.”
He went on to tell us, “as there is a continuous flow with TIAGo Base, this bottleneck has disappeared and the issuing department handles the material steadily. Until now we had not considered this improvement. However as TIAGo Base has this autonomy it has improved our process a lot.”
Acceptance of the robot by team members
The acceptance of new technology including robotics by team members is very important so that the tool can be fully used. Roger talked more about this, “TIAGo Base is a robot that draws your attention as it works alone. So the team was very surprised about it and had a lot of queries. For example – how will we use it? Will it work? Regarding the warehouse, they were also concerned if it would be compatible with electric forklift trucks.”
“Nevertheless, in a short time, seeing that the robot worked and people were using it, the whole team has now integrated TIAGo Base in their daily tasks. It is now an essential tool, therefore acceptance has been very nice. PAL Robotics is a leading company in the robotics field, and our organization has a clear vision and values, among which, when choosing a supplier, the proximity of trade is very important.” Roger concluded.
The integration work of AMR TIAGo Base at MAPCABLE started in February 2021 and we went there recently to capture progress so far. Learn more about TIAGo Base’s work at the MAPCABLE warehouse as well as the company itself through our video.
TIAGo Base’s work at MAPCABLE including visual programming
At MAPCABLE, TIAGo Base delivers loads between the production workshop and the quality and issuing department. The robot docks automatically at the dock station when charging is needed – but is able to work a full shift of 10 hours before charging. The team at MAPCABLE also uses visual programming on TIAGo Base to instruct the robot on tasks – visual programming is a new feature to make controlling TIAGo Base even more user friendly than before, in particular for those without robotics expertise.
Our TIAGo Base family of robots
TIAGo Base has a whole family of robots with different configurations for different types of indoor deliveries. The robot works autonomously to enhance logistics, cut down costs, and boost efficiency and productivity in organisations, as well as adapting to changes, avoiding obstacles and people. The AMR (autonomous mobile robot) has the aim of providing an affordable and versatile mobile robot with autonomous navigation to be used in logistics for industry and business.
We would like to thank Roger Bosch for taking the time to tell us more about MAPCABLE and the teams’ experiences using our TIAGo Base robot. To find out more about MAPCABLE, including their aims, projects and work, visit their website.
To learn more about PAL Robotics and the different TIAGo Base customizations available, visit our website. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with our experts to discuss how TIAGo Base can help improve your intralogistics.