Perodua gives 13 robots to university

Perodua's MD (second from right) explaining details of a robot arm during the handover ceremony

What do robots do when they are retired? If they are the robots which welded together the Kancil at Perodua, they end up at Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) where they can still be of value, but in a different way.
 
Perodua recently gave the university 13 of its robots which will be useful as practical training tools for engineering students. The robots were previously operating on the welding lines at the factory in Rawang, Selangor, and were decommissioned following the end of production of the Kancil. Some 590,000 Kancils were manufactured using the robots over a 12-year period (a total of 720,000 were produced from 1994 to 2009).
 
Perodua personnel will provide training to UMP technicians on how to operate and maintain the robots. The robots will be kept at its Manufacturing Engineering Faculty which has an average of 200 students per academic year.
 
“Students will be able to learn – firsthand – the operations of these robots and they can take this knowledge and apply it in any automotive company or any other relevant industry as they see fit,” Perodua MD Datuk Syed Abdull Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar said during the hand-over ceremony. ““Our hope is that they take this opportunity to learn as much as they can to prepare themselves in the ever-demanding job environment.” 
 

Robots can weld body parts with greater accuracy and consistent quality	Paint finishes can also be of a higher quality with robots

Robots have been used in automobile factories since the 1970s and have helped to boost output as well as quality. Though they did displace a certain portion of the human workforce, robots have been useful in being given tasks which are dangerous or stressful for humans. Over the years, they have become more sophisticated and can carry out a broad range of operations. Their prices depend on the degree of sophistication and can range from US$20,000 for a simple robot with a single operation to over $100,000 for those which can handle multiple functions.
 
Robots require a substantial investment so they are usually used in factories which produce high volumes. However, in factories with smaller volumes, there are still simple robots which carry out painting and other minor operations. While robots can assemble cars at a higher speed and with greater consistency in quality, the speed can also be a disadvantage as it does not allow for variations and when there is a fault, many units may pass through before the fault is detected. With human operators, though slower, there is better control and variations can be more quickly made when required.

For other articles on the auto industry, check our archives which go back to 2004