The client is a manufacturer of custom thermoformed cabinet doors. As such, it has vast warehouses of vinyl rolls of different colors and textures. At the very beginning of the production of a batch, the employee assigned to cutting had to operate the forklift in order to remove the correct roll of material from the warehouse and bring it to the cutting station. In addition to requiring more specialized training, this operation extends the cycle time and thus the client has equipped itself with collaborative robots which will be responsible for handling the material. However, these robots must be integrated with the production station, and controlled using a simplified interface, accessible to less qualified workers.
Take control of the robotic platform selected by the customer.
Design the data structure for inventory maintenance and manipulation, and integrate with the client’s existing databases.
Create a production application including:
• Python
• FastAPI
• Vue.js
• MySQL
• Docker
The delivered solution is a web application developed in Python and Vue.js, which manages a warehouse and consumes material using a robot. The application is deployed in test and production with Docker, and features a simulation mode to test robot operation without risk.
The application offers three main screens:
This project has just been put into production, so the impacts will be revealed in the coming weeks.
The deployed solution will highlight the benefits of the robot for the company and employees. In particular, a reduction in cycle time for cutting operators, the ability to employ less specialized labor who would not be suited to operating the forklift, the ability to optimize and reclassify materials in the warehouse between two production shifts, and more generally better use of available human resources.
