A New Addition to the RoboLive® Team

Last month, Product Manager Samer Hammoud started work as the newest addition to the RoboLive® team.

Samer’s prior experience in automotive manufacturing makes him uniquely suited to the role, and he hopes to use his expertise to get RoboLive® in the hands of those that need it most. “My goal is to establish RoboLive® as the industry standard for big car manufacturers and their suppliers,” Samer said. “With my role, I want to accomplish growth.” His previous experience includes work in Mercedes-Benz and Nissan facilities in both Europe and North America, so he’s familiar with the automation challenges that RoboLive® addresses. 

In his personal life, Samer loves to travel and speaks multiple languages, a talent that will be an asset as RoboLive® continues to expand into factories around the world. Collaboration and global expertise is especially important to the RoboLive® team as we continue our mission to deliver cutting-edge software solutions that meet the changing needs of modern manufacturing professionals.

While he is an expert in his field of automotive engineering, Samer also has a strong background in business administration that he’ll use to support the growing RoboLive® team. In addition to assisting with the project’s development, Samer assists with the sales and support processes, and introduces RoboLive® to stakeholders at trade events.

Samer has already gotten started with the RoboLive® team in Schöppenstedt, Germany, but his work providing RoboLive® consultations and demonstrations will see him traveling around to major manufacturers and shows. He most recently represented RoboLive® with our team at the Hannover Messe 2023 trade fair, where attendees were able to see firsthand the impact that the software has on a rapidly changing manufacturing landscape. “In terms of Industry 4.0,” Samer said, “I’m contributing my part to the transformation of the automotive industry.”

Hannover Messe 2023

After a long week of networking, learning, and fun, we’re back from Hannover Messe 2023

This annual show, one of the most important trade events in Europe, is a 1 week celebration of all things industry. Covering subjects from materials to logistics and beyond, and bringing together over 250,000 attendees from around the world, Hannover Messe was a chance to bring the benefits of RoboLive® to an even wider audience.

While Hannover Messe is a broadly-focused show, each year does focus on specific themes. Among this year’s key topics was Industry 4.0, the digital transformation currently revolutionizing manufacturing. Of course, it’s a subject our team of robotics professionals is uniquely suited to discuss.

Our solution RoboLive® combines analysis, documentation, and visualization tools into a comprehensive software solution that increases productivity and improves production quality. It’s a development that’s taking factories around the world into the modern era, with our software helping keep operations in line at major automotive and components manufacturers. Manufacturers and system integrators alike benefit from RoboLive® on a daily basis—and everyone we met was certainly excited to see it in action at Hannover Messe. From our vantage point in the Lower Saxony “Digitization” pavilion, we were able to meet with dozens of manufacturers and give demonstrations showing just how powerful RoboLive® is. We also took part in the show’s “Startup Speed Dating” event, a meet and greet session designed to give up-and-coming innovators a chance to connect.

Now that the show is winding down, our team is ready to get back in action providing the automation solutions that keep robotic production processes running smoothly. It’s been a long road from our first exhibition last year at Control 2022 in Stuttgart, and we’ve enjoyed every step along the way. Feedback from stakeholders is how we continue to improve RoboLive®, and it’s how we can continue making our contribution to the digital transformation of manufacturing automation.

Hannover Messe is just the beginning of an action packed year for the RoboLive® team. We’re set to appear next at Hamburg’s 2023 Auto Summit in May, and again in the United States for the FABTECH trade show in Chicago—check out our schedule for a full list, and view our HM23 exhibitor profile if you weren’t able to attend the show for yourself.

Of course, you don’t need to wait for a public appearance if you’re eager for a closer look at RoboLive® . We’re happy to provide live demonstrations or custom consultations at your convenience. Get in touch with our team today for more information, and follow our LinkedIn for the latest RoboLive® updates and news.

RoboLive® Names New Operating Manager

Effective January 1st, Heiner Steinbrink is named as RoboLive®’s new operating manager. Together with founder Ralph Dreßler, he will form the head of the growing team moving forward.

Steinbrink comes to the RoboLive® team from Osnabrück, Germany, where he began his career at the Osnabrück Economic Development Agency. There he worked in business support and innovation consulting, experience he has continued to develop throughout his career in the exciting German start-up landscape. Steinbrink’s leadership will help the RoboLive® team navigate a period of rapid growth after a successful launch.

As an international project, RoboLive®’s team is spread between Brunswick, Germany and Chattanooga, Tennessee—both major hubs for automotive manufactures that use RoboLive® in production. Steinbrink began his work with a visit to the team’s US office. Already closely familiar with the software and its capabilities, he believes RoboLive® has the power to transform the current manufacturing automation landscape. A unique software solution for system integrators and manufacturers working with industrial robots, RoboLive® offers new ways to increase productivity and ensure quality. “My drive is to leverage this potential and to bring the great benefits of RoboLive® to our customers,” Steinbrink said.

First customers are already discovering just how much RoboLive® can do for them. The software has been making a splash at trade shows around the world, being named one of the Top 20 Most Innovative Products at IZB 2022 in Wolfsburg.

After a team-building session and initial meetings with US-based RoboLive® team members, Steinbrink has returned to Lower Saxony, where he will meet with local industry leaders and demonstrate RoboLive®’s value to manufacturers. “I saw RoboLive® in action for the first time at the IZB trade fair in Wolfsburg 2022 and was immediately impressed,” Steinbrink said. “The software has the potential to have a radical impact on robotic manufacturing processes.”

Nissan Manufacturing Innovation Summit 2022

RoboLive being demonstrated at a trade show.

Fall has been as busy season for the team, as we travel around to trade shows across the globe introducing RoboLive®. Our most recent stop was in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Located just a few minutes outside Nashville, the town is only a short drive from our office in Chattanooga. It’s home to the Smyrna branch of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology: a campus for teaching technical skills to the next generation of manufacturing professionals. Sponsored through a public-private partnership with automotive giant Nissan, it’s outfitted with all the latest in robotic production equipment and training tools.

TCAT Smyrna is also home to the annual Nissan Manufacturing Innovation Summit. The two-day event trade fair is focused on the latest innovations in manufacturing technology, and draws professionals from all over the region. The RoboLive® team was thrilled to be selected as exhibitors at this year’s show, and our representatives hosted two presentations on digital twin technology.

The summit was enlightening, and it was a great opportunity to meet the next generation of industry professionals. From welding students to robot programmers, attendees at the show all had one thing in common: Everyone was excited to hear about RoboLive®. As a completely new solution to a familiar set of challenges, RoboLive®’s QA and optimization capabilities have to be seen to be believed. That’s exactly why we’re on the road, and why the Nissan Manufacturing Innovation Summit was such a big success.

If you’re looking to meet the team or see the software in action, we’re headed next to Wolfsburg, Germany, later this month for IZB. Not planning to attend? Just fill out our contact form and one of our representatives will be happy to schedule your live demonstration.

Glue Parameter Visualization with RoboLive®

A screenshot of RoboLive® in action, showing a CAD model with paths and parameters visualized.

Welding torches and nail guns rule the imagination when it comes to fastening, so you might be surprised to find how much glue is used in modern manufacturing. Industrial-strength structural adhesive is water-tight, strong, and lightweight, so it’s a perfect solution for seams in everything from automobiles to airplanes.

Of course, something so important needs to be carefully applied. While a part is held in place, a specialized nozzle deposits the glue along specific preprogrammed lines. Also written into the code are instructional cues to adjust the amount of glue deposited or speed at which it’s applied, specifications referred to as parameters.

Just like with the movement paths, glue parameters are meticulously programmed step by step into robot controller. It’s a delicate, error-prone process—and it’s notoriously difficult to check parameters for correctness once production has begun. Part of this is due to how hard it is to access the information. While the glue data is specific to physical points in three-dimensional space, parameters are only accessible in the code. It’s impossible to visualize where a change should be made, and even harder to confirm that a fix worked: When problems arise with the gluing output, engineers often need to walk the machine through each step of its instructions and try to see what went wrong. It’s a time-consuming and costly process, with imperfect results.

But what if glue parameters weren’t so obfuscated? That’s the question our team of engineers and developers asked. Dressler Automation has years of experience working with some of the biggest names in automotive engineering, so we understand the problem. As we worked towards the release of RoboLive®—our software solution for robotic quality assurance and commissioning—we came up with the answer.

In RoboLive®, glue parameters are displayed right alongside the paths on the CAD model of each part. Engineers can see all data points in real-time without needing to look at the actual code, making it easy to ensure that the robots’ actual movements are in line with the design documentation. And when something’s not right, it’s easy to see exactly what to correct and where to do it: RoboLive®’s visualization tools let you view data for each specific robot, program, and production line.

Glue parameter visualization is a powerful tool that will save manufacturers a lot of time and money: With traditional methods, errors in glue programing could take days to correct, making mistakes costly and updates impractical. RoboLive® is changing the game. For the first time, engineers can view gluing instructions in 3D and evaluate programming instantly. When changes are made or fixes implemented, the results can be reviewed at a glance. That means delivering better quality products with less downtime and less money spent—and that’s why RoboLive® is trusted by industry leading automotive and components manufacturers.

We originally developed RoboLive® for our own internal use, but once we saw how much manufacturers could benefit, we made it available to the public. It’s so much more than just visualization: RoboLive® can generate documentation, calibrate paths, and provide a comprehensive overview of all your robotic production processes.

Ready to see what RoboLive® can do for you? Contact us today for a free demonstration.

Case Study: Updating for Efficiency

Hemming robots simulated in RoboLive®

Here at Dressler Automation, we pride ourselves on maintaining efficient and accurate operations for our manufacturing clients. This month, we worked with one of the biggest names in the automotive industry and proved just how powerful our software solution RoboLive® can be. Read on to find out how Dressler Automation sets the standards in manufacturing automation.

THE CHALLENGE:

Hemming is a process in which powerful rollers fold down the edges of metal panels used in car bodies. A critical part of the assembly process, hemming is just one of the many careful operations needed to keep cars rolling off of production lines. It’s something that our partner, a major auto manufacturer in the East Tennessee area, has down to a science. They produce over 40,000 cars each day, for a total of over 8 million units in 2021.

Each task on the assembly line is carried out by specialized robotic arms. It’s engineering on a massive scale: Across Volkswagen’s 70+ plants, they have thousands of robots working in one of the most advanced manufacturing operations in the world.

Production robots carrying out fine tasks like hemming need to be incredibly precise. To create accurate motion paths, each robot at each point in the manufacturing process is given its own bespoke instructions based on real-world data points. It’s a meticulous process that involves a lot of calibration, compounded by the fact that the instructions are unique to the make and model of car being produced. They’re also specific to the robot’s physical place on the factory floor.

Any change from the robot’s original programming requires a lengthy and expensive re-teaching process. So when engineers decided to rearrange the hemming station on an automobile production line in Chattanooga, they had a big job on their hands.

THE SOLUTION:

As experts in manufacturing automation, Dressler was ready to help. We’re trusted by some of the biggest names in automotive engineering, and offer solutions backed by over 50 years of international robotics expertise.

With the changes to their manufacturing setup, the team could’ve been faced with weeks of expensive manual calibration and refinement. That kind of disruption to one of our partners’ operations wasn’t acceptable, so we went to the drawing board and thought it over. The answer we found was simple.

RoboLive® was developed by our own engineers for cases just like this. For our clients, industry leading auto makers and components manufactures, it’s a critical tool for maintaining efficiency and production quality.

Our experts worked with the bodyshop team to put RoboLive® to work on the floor. After the station was rearranged and the hemming beds set in their new positions, we were on the job.

THE DRESSLER DIFFERENCE:

A typical solution would’ve involved engineers spending long hours on a manual fix, or workarounds with imprecise results. We do things differently: Using RoboLive®‘s path calibration and process visualization elements, our experts were able to combine existing paths with new data points gathered directly from the robots. The data was then used to create new movements automatically from existing processes.

It’s essentially automating the automation process itself, and it’s a level of efficiency never before seen in the industry: The old process of updating instructions manual adjustment and measurements could have easily taken weeks. With RoboLive®, it was done in a day.

The hemming project showcases just one RoboLive®’s many uses, and it’s just one story of how Dressler Automation is continuing to set the standards in automation. RoboLive® bridges the gap between simulated environments and real-world conditions: It can generate technical manuals, correct inaccurate programming coordinates, or calculate vehicle-0 frames without laser measurement—and that’s just the beginning.

We’re ready to tackle any challenge you have in manufacturing automation. Get in touch with our team to request your free RoboLive® demonstration today.