Mercedes-Benz car manufacturer has made its robot workers redundant and plans to replace them with humans.
Luxury cars offer buyers multiple choice when it comes to extras, anything from cooled or heater cup holders to the style of caps on tyre valves in the S-Class sedan.
Customisation is a prime selling factor and this needs the independence and dexterity of mind which only humans can provide whereas a robot’s strength is in constant repetition.
“Robots can’t deal with the degree of individualisation and the many variants that we have today,” Markus Schaefer, head of production, said. “We’re saving money and safeguarding our future by employing more people.”
He underscored this by saying that robots “can’t work with all the different options or keep pace with changes”.
The company’s biggest plant at Sindelfingen, Germany produces more than 400,000 vehicles a year, making efficiency of operations paramount.
But increased demand for individualised autos is beginning to get the upper hand, forcing manufacturers to rethink robotic assembly line behaviour.
Robots will still be deployed, but they will be made to work more in conjunction with human workers instead of being in their own robot pen. Arming workers with an assortment of little robots is referred to as “robot farming” by Mercedes.
Manufacturers BMW and Volkswagen also are testing lightweight robots safe enough to work alongside people in order to keep up with the quickening pace of change in the industry which is being driven by the kind of innovations forging changes in smartphones and iPads.
Mercedes is striving to cut down manufacture time to 30 hours per car as opposed to the 2005 average of 61 hours.
Consumer demand for individuality is such that the luxury car company wants to introduce 30 new models and attendant gizmos by the end of the decade.
