Workforce Development
“It is hard to find employees here in the Pacific Northwest, because aerospace is such a large volume,” says CEO of Tool Gauge, Debbie Lee. “We have a great opportunity here with bringing in the cobots, because we’re now looking for a different type of employee than in the past. Before, we were hiring for machine operators, people that would just stand, swing a gate and pull parts off the press. Now, with the robots coming in, we’re looking for that type of employee that is going to be able to do the programming and set the robots up and work alongside the robots.”
Cobots Automate and Lower Labor Costs
Universal Robots Helps Tool Gauge Double Production of Plastic and Metal Aerospace Components Despite Labor Shortage
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acoma, Washington-based Tool Gauge manufactures precision metal and plastic components and assemblies for the aerospace industry, but producing these labor-intensive products in a tight hiring market presents significant challenges. With long-term customer contracts that can’t be renegotiated, Tool Gauge turned to automation to help mitigate and contain labor costs. Two collaborative robots from Universal Robots accomplished that goal, while also decreasing scrap and improving product quality. And while reducing the need for additional workers for repetitive, undesirable jobs, Tool Gauge also found new opportunities for employees to add value, improve safety, and gain job satisfaction. Jim Lee, Tool Gauge general manager, faces the stark realities of doing business in a global market. Even though the company is close
18 | IMD | Q4 2020
to many of its customers in the Pacific Northwest, those customers can do business anywhere in the world, including in much lower-cost labor markets. “It became clear to us that the way that we can compete is not by adding more bodies but by adding more technology, and then adding more value using that technology,” Lee explains. The company’s fixed-price contracts can extend for five to seven years, without the ability to renegotiate even if labor costs increase. Tool Gauge needed to build in efficiencies—and found that cobots from Universal Robots (UR) were the perfect solution. Lee describes the three key advantages of UR’s collaborative robots. “We chose Universal Robots because number one, they are cobots: We were always kind of afraid of using automation because there’s a huge capital investment, but that isn’t the case
