Matsunami Glass Ind., Ltd.

Matsunami Glass Ind., Ltd. manufactures various types of glass for microscopic, medical, and electronics applications. The company found that using conventional industrial robots to alleviate manpower shortages was difficult, due to space restraints and the need for complex programming that had to be outsourced. After encountering Universal Robots and their industrial collaborative robots (cobots), the company succeeded in developing robot applications in-house, feeding large glass plates into machines for cutting as a part of their glass design work. Not only did the 15 cobots help achieve a 50% increase in production volume with no additional staffing, it also enhanced the technical skills of the employees, enabling them to build automation systems without relying on external resources.