company
Steelcase
industry
Furniture and equipment
country
France
staff
300–350
Why does Steelcase use cobots?
Steelcase's main goal was to significantly improve working comfort and safety at a seat shell gluing station. The factory manufactures over 600,000 high-quality office chairs every year. To optimize ergonomics while increasing productivity across a wide range of models, the company opted for a collaborative solution. The cobots now support the team in meeting high quality standards under safer conditions.
What challenge needed to be solved?
Manual gluing involved considerable strain and risk for staff. Employees had to run back and forth between five different work tables and operate a heavy glue gun, which often led to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). In addition, the use of adhesive heated to over 165 degrees Celsius under high pressure posed a significant risk of burns. Steelcase therefore sought a solution to automate this dangerous task while remaining flexible enough to accommodate different upholstery thicknesses and seat models.
What does Universal Robots' solution look like?
In collaboration with a certified partner, two UR5 cobots were implemented at newly designed, height-adjustable workstations. The system recognizes the components independently and automatically adjusts the adhesive application.
Preparation
The operator prepares the foam layers of the seat at the first station.
Intelligent detection
The cobot uses a laser and camera to identify the reference point and the thickness of the foam.
Precise application
After approval by the operator, the UR5 applies the exact amount of adhesive required.
parallel operation
While the robot is gluing, the operator is already preparing the second station, which eliminates idle time.
Why the UR5 was the ideal choice for Steelcase
Thermal load capacity
The cobot handles the technical heat exchange with the 165-degree hot adhesive hose without affecting the mechanics.
High precision & repeatability
Only by precisely guiding the glue gun was it possible to achieve a 50% reduction in material consumption while maintaining the same quality.
Combination with sensor technology
The simple integration of cameras and lasers allows the robot to independently recognize components and thicknesses and adjust the program accordingly.
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Precise automation for the highest quality standards
Universal Robots' e-series ensures that around 250,000 seats are bonded each year with consistently high quality and a perfect finish. Thanks to automated detection of component thicknesses, errors in the bonding process are avoided. This allows Steelcase to deploy its experienced staff to more value-added tasks such as final assembly and quality control, while the physically demanding tasks are reliably performed by the cobot.
“Our task is to design the entire periphery around the robot in such a way that the customer's requirements are met. The special feature here was to have a human operator and a cobot handling a risky element working together at the same station while maintaining good productivity.”
Raphael Schwartz
Project manager / Automation expert
