At Sennheiser Manufacturing USA in Albuquerque, precision is non-negotiable.
Each week, the ability assembles 30,000 printed circuit boards (PCBs) that energy 1,500 skilled audio units for the Americas and Asia. With 115 completely different PCB variants operating by means of manufacturing, automation is crucial to take care of throughput and high quality.
However one vital step remained handbook: 100% PCB testing.
As manufacturing elevated, testing turned a bottleneck.
Right here’s how Sennheiser eliminated that bottleneck and elevated the variety of PCBs examined by 33% in a single 12 months.
Outcomes at a look
- 33% improve in PCBs examined inside one 12 months
- 115 PCB variants dealt with with one adaptive gripper
- 100% PCB check protection maintained
- Actual-time cobot KPI monitoring carried out
- Second cobot justified utilizing manufacturing knowledge
Preserve studying for the complete story…
The problem: handbook PCB testing turned a bottleneck
“At Sennheiser, we check every little thing 100%,” explains Manufacturing Supervisor Steven Nery.
The method was easy however repetitive:
- An operator locations a PCB into the tester
- Closes the fixture
- Waits for the check cycle
- Removes the board
- Masses the following one
Repeat for eight hours.
With 115 PCB sorts and rising manufacturing demand, handbook dealing with restricted scalability. The staff wanted an answer that might:
- Deal with frequent half changeovers
- Adapt to completely different PCB sizes and kind elements
- Preserve constant high quality
- Combine shortly with out disrupting manufacturing
The answer: versatile gripping and collaborative automation
Check Engineer Roger Case started exploring automation choices. The breakthrough got here with Robotiq’s 2F-85 Adaptive Gripper.
“Robotiq had a novel answer: a dependable gripper that may handle half changeovers shortly, which was essential for our high-mix, high-volume manufacturing. Plus, its large stroke match the shape issue of the PCBs we had been .”
Inside weeks, the staff deployed a Common Robots UR5 cobot outfitted with the 2F-85.
The automated workflow:
- The robotic picks up a PCB with the gripper
- Strikes it to a scanner to validate half ID
- Masses it into the tester
- The tester indicators begin
- After testing, the system sends a go/fail message
- The robotic types the PCB into the suitable bin
The end result was a repeatable, constant testing cycle — with out handbook intervention.
Measuring efficiency with Robotiq Insights
From the start, Sennheiser handled their cobot like a brand new staff member. They even named it ART (Automated Robotic Crew member).
However efficiency wanted to be measurable.
“Since we all the time consider how new staff are performing, I instructed our managers we must always do the identical for ART,” says Case.
To trace KPIs, the staff linked the robotic to Robotiq Insights, a web-based monitoring utility.
Insights shortly turned a store ground management software utilized by a number of teams:
- Managers use dashboards to visualise manufacturing efficiency
- Engineers obtain every day stories and cease alerts
- Operators obtain notifications when trays want reloading
“I exploit Insights to speak info to non-engineering folks, as a result of I can simply level to the dashboard and clarify what’s occurring,” says Nery.
When the robotic stops, the staff is aware of instantly — and may react shortly. That visibility remodeled automation from a black field right into a controllable, optimizable course of.
33% extra PCBs examined with greater consistency
After one 12 months, the numbers had been clear.
“With ART1, we noticed a rise of round 33% within the variety of PCBs examined over a 12 months,” says Case. “And the standard was greater as a result of the dealing with was extra constant.”
The manufacturing knowledge collected by means of Insights helped justify the acquisition of a second cobot.
In the present day, ART2 (a UR5e) operates alongside ART1, and the manufacturing facility is aiming to double PCB testing capability.
The primary deployment eliminated a bottleneck. The second scaled a confirmed system.
A brand new function on the store ground
Automation didn’t remove jobs; it elevated them.
Marcella Segovia beforehand carried out the repetitive handbook testing course of. In the present day, she runs the robotic testing operation.
She:
- Prepares trays
- Prioritizes job orders
- Modifications robotic applications for various PCB sorts
- Screens manufacturing
Insights sends her a textual content message when trays are empty so she is aware of when to reload.
“I used to be just a little afraid of the robots at first, however I actually wished to learn to run them,” she says. “They’re quick, however I can sustain — and it’s nice how a lot we’ve elevated our numbers.”
Repetitive handbook testing turned a higher-value technical function on the middle of manufacturing.
The larger image: scaling with knowledge, not assumptions
Sennheiser didn’t automate every little thing directly.
They:
- Recognized a transparent bottleneck
- Deployed a versatile cobot cell
- Measured efficiency
- Used actual manufacturing knowledge to justify scaling
That’s Lean Robotics in motion.
By combining a versatile adaptive gripper, a collaborative robotic, and real-time efficiency monitoring, Sennheiser turned testing right into a aggressive benefit — and constructed a transparent path for future growth.
If PCB testing is limiting your throughput, the chance might not be in including labor — however in eradicating the bottleneck with versatile automation and measurable efficiency.
