The new SABACE project, which stands for Sustainable Automated Assembly for Customized Products, focuses on solving dynamic needs in assembly systems.
SABACE is a project within the Production Cluster for assembly, which started in April 2021 and will run until 2024. Partner companies are Volvo Cars, Scania, Parker and Volvo AB. The project’s goal is to develop an industrial strategy for the development of safe and sustainable assembly where humans and robots work together, a strategy that supports high productivity and performance for heavy and / or electrified products in a composite system with many product variants.
In dialogue with the industry partners, two main knowledge needs have been identified. First, the importance of identifying potential areas for long-term application of automated solutions within the assembly line by considering safety, ergonomics and productivity factors. Project manager Kerstin Johansen, at Jönköping University explains:
– In order to increase productivity when assembling customized products, you must find ways to support the assembly in a good way. It may be to replace some elements with automation to relieve the operator, and then you have to consider ergonomics, safety and that the automation is flexible. And it should provide maintained or preferably increased productivity, without sacrificing quality, while being sustainable in the long run.
The second need identified is for safe handling of automated operations during, for example, battery installation.
– We assemble active materials. When we install battery packs, the product becomes more dangerous the longer we get in the assembly and the greater the consequence if we make an incorrect assembly. Therefore, we focus on eliminating the risk of incorrect assembly. Automation can contribute to reduced risk and also provides increased traceability and repeatability, explains Kerstin Johansen.
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