Automation experts Universal Robots is conducting its inaugural ‘SME Automation Month’ this October.
The month will be dedicated to supporting Northern Ireland’s community of small and mid-size enterprises to understand and access collaborative robots (cobots) to begin to bounce back from the challenges of Covid-19.
A wide array of free resources such as webinars and online one-to-one consultations with local automation experts will be provided, as well as new leasing options which will allow SMEs to reap the financial rewards of automation before having to start payback on their cobot.
The full SME Automation Month offering includes:
• Introductory Webinar - SMEs can join an expert-led webinar on Wednesday October 7 at 11:00am which will detail the month’s offering in full and serve as a guide to attendees on how to avail of resources.
• Free Automation Assessments – connect with experts who can analyse existing operations and detail where cobots can optimise production, increasing efficiency, output and profits
• New Leasing Terms – although UR cobots are already affordable, starting at just £300 per month, UR’s new ‘buy now, start paying 2021’ leasing programme allows SMEs to reap the financial reward of automation right away
• Expert training – businesses can train their team in cobot programming within 2-4 days. As UR cobots are highly user-friendly, very little training is needed
• Quick, painless setup – cobots can be set up within 30 minutes, meaning that SMEs can benefit from increased productivity and profits almost immediately
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Mark Gray, Ireland and UK Country Manager for Universal Robots said: “Following a challenging period for the industry, greater adoption of automation is critical across the NI SME landscape to allow producers to support jobs by ensuring they are competitive, efficient and flexible enough to thrive now and into the future.
“Yet, we know that many SMEs still feel ill-equipped to start their journey with automation. We also appreciate that during these uncertain times, SMEs are understandably reluctant to invest in new technologies, but with cobots, smaller businesses can reap the benefits, almost immediately and at an affordable cost.
“We’d love to see NI’s SMEs engaging with automation like we have seen across Great Britain in recent months and SME Automation Month is an ideal time to do so. Bloom in a Box used our cobots to adapt their operations quickly during the initial coronavirus outbreak, switching their production line from packing flowers to manufacturing PPE, proving that whether a business wants to improve existing operations or quickly adapt to a new market opportunity, cobots make it simpler to be flexible and stay profitable.
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“At Universal Robots, we’ve seen a huge increase in the frequency of cobots in the Northern Irish workplace in the last 12 months. In addition, there has been huge variation in the types of workplace enquiring and adopting cobots to perform specific functions.
“The magic of cobots is that they are purposefully designed to change the workplace for the better – to collaborate with humans and make their working life easier. In addition, cobots make the workplace safer by ensuring that humans no longer have to do dangerous or overtly manual labour and can focus on brain-led tasks such as innovation and research. Now, with distancing a key measure in the fight against coronavirus, cobots pose a real opportunity for SMEs when it comes to keeping workplaces safe.
“We hope that the increased prevalence of cobots, as part of the rise of automation will deliver a positive shift in the perceptions held towards them. For us, it’s all about education and helping people to see the benefits to understand that cobots are here to support and empower.”
Businesses can find out more about SME Automation Month and register for resources by visiting here or following Universal Robots on LinkedIn.
