The company has so far run three of the four ABB programs developed on RobotStudio, and start-up time for painting was about 10 to 12 hours for each, he says, instead of about 40 hours that would have been needed for each bus using a point-to-point approach.Īs robot paint programs are needed for additional bus models, NABI will consider acquiring RobotStudio for its own use, says Roby. The approach eliminated the need for NABI personnel to train the robots using a point-to-point approach with a teach pendant, saving significant time, Roby says. “We had 2D models of the buses which we sent to ABB, and their engineers transferred that to 3D,” notes Roby.Īfter creating the 3D bus models and placing them within a 3D model of spray booths on the NABI line, ABB engineers simulated the painting processes and developed paint path programs for download directly to the robots on the actual line. As part of the NABI deal, ABB used the RobotStudio software to simulate the line and develop robot paint programs for four different bus models. Several factors contributed to NABI’s selection of ABB Robotics, says Roby, including the availability of an ABB simulation and offline robot programming software package called RobotStudio. Robots initially apply primer to the buses, which then move through a manual sanding booth and masking area before traveling through two robotic base coat zones and a final robotic clear coat area. The contract for the paint line went to ABB Robotics, Auburn Hills, Mich., which installed a total of eight of its IRB 5400 robots, two in each of four zones. NABI expects to achieve a payback on the robotic paint line investment within three years, says Roby, based largely on the labor savings. The robotic line, by contrast, can meet expected volume needs running a single shift per day, with a need for 32 employees. But to meet anticipated volume requirements, a manual system would have required two lines, each running two shifts per day, with a total of 112 workers. NABI considered installing a new manual paint system, says Roby. The company late last year completed a 50,000 square foot addition to its Anniston manufacturing plant, including a robotic paint line at a cost of several million dollars. “We needed to go from an average of 200 to 300 buses a year at each of the plants to several hundred buses annually in Anniston.” “That’s why we expanded here,” says Jeff Roby, paint manager at the NABI plant. But in 2006, after NABI acquired several other bus manufacturers and made plans to consolidate production in Anniston, the company was suddenly looking at a big jump in volume. At North American Bus Industries (NABI), in Anniston, Ala., workers used to manually spray-paint one 35- to 60-foot-long bus per shift, with the paint operation running two shifts per day.

Robotstudio world zones