Why robot leader ABB says the EV shift 'changed everything'

The automotive industry was very different a couple of years ago for robot makers such as ABB. Most vehicle manufacturers were focused on the same thing: how to optimize final assembly. "EVs changed everything," said Joerg Reger, who leads the Switzerland-based company's robot unit. "Now everybody is looking to fix the big problems instead of fine-tuning." The No. 1 challenge for EVs is cost, which ABB is addressing by making its robots more adaptable and more autonomous. Reger also told Automotive News Europe Correspondent Nick Gibbs why ABB is seeing a surge in investment from European automakers during a recent interview at the company's R&D center in Friedberg, Germany.

What is the biggest problem you are being asked to solve in automotive manufacturing today?

The biggest challenge our customers face is managing a broad range of variants. Carmakers offer all the different combustion types and now they have to decide whether to build plants for just electric cars or for all combustion types. Everybody has to be very, very flexible. This includes the production lines. We offer flexible cells with a standardized design supporting multiple applications, for example, for gluing, for sealing, for spot welding, for arc welding or for assembly. These cells are supplied by autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that bring the warehouse closer to the production line. In old plants you still see a lot of fixed conveyor technology. Is it possible now to do the work without changing tools, without stopping the line. That really improves takt [cycle] time, resulting in very high productivity regardless of how big the variances are. This drives down costs.

In the past automakers worked toward preplanned manufacturing targets. Is that no longer the case?

Overall sales figures are going down but EV sales are increasing very fast. Customers are unsure whether to buy a combustion car or an EV. This makes it super difficult for the car manufacturer to estimate numbers, particularly for electric cars. Some months they have good EV sales and the next month they are down. Some automakers are producing EVs on the same line as combustion cars while others are doing it separately. Ford has switched its Cologne plant to make EVs. Volkswagen's factory in Emden is only making EVs. Others such as BMW have mixed lines. Regardless of the choice, what is clear is that you need a very flexible line.

Will mobile robots and flexible cells be the norm going forward or are they going to be a stopgap until the automakers figure out what is going to be popular?

Clearly, the trend is toward flexible automation. Having a combination of standardized, flexible production cells with AMRs is the way forward. More and more customers are asking for them. With Ford, we have a large number of AMRs. Jaguar Land Rover is now in discussion with us about this as is BYD.

Automakers say they want to simplify production a lot. What does that mean for you and how does that tie in with the flexibility?

Companies such as Tesla, Rivian, Xpeng and BYD have fewer options in the car, which makes it much easier to manufacture. When you have less complexity, a flexible line is easier. Configurating a Tesla takes five to 10 minutes. They are also reducing the number of parts in the body-in-white through the use of megacasting. At the beginning, the others were laughing about ideas such as megacasting. But now everybody is looking at how they can reduce the number of parts in the body shop. We worked on that in China with Tesla and we are presenting the idea to others.

Doesn't megacasting hurt you because it reduces the need for robots?

Maybe we will have fewer robots, but then we come in with more AMRs, resulting in more flexible manufacturing. We don't see the move to megacasting as an issue. If the companies go this way, we will support them. We are also doing more drilling and milling of the castings.

Does the current labor shortage increase demand for robots?
 
For all repetitive and dull tasks, we should use robots. When it comes to lifting heavy things, there should be robots. Flexible automation means jobs move to a higher level. We see more digitalization coming. We currently collect data from the assembly line, put it in the cloud, analyze it and give information back to the operators so they can make better decisions. Of course, maintenance on the mechanical and electrical sides will continue.

In which parts of the world are labor shortages driving automation?

Particularly in Europe. We are not only talking about a transformation of technology; the people also have to transform. The current focus is on EVs, which means on battery assembly, how to make the motors and so on. Companies have to determine how to transition people to these new jobs, but they also need to get different specialists on board. This transition is coming very fast, so the challenge is to find enough of these specialists.

How big is robotics within the wider ABB group?

We are not really allowed to give numbers, but we had fantastic growth last year. We continue to grow this year.

What was your geographic split?

We are strongest is China, followed by the U.S. and Europe. But we see that the Chinese market is slowing down and Europe is speeding up. The driver in Europe and U.S. is e-mobility.

Are your customers in China reducing new spending?

They are going more overseas. First to Southeast Asia, meaning Thailand and Vietnam, and then Europe. They are moving abroad because their own economy is slowing down.  

Will Europe overtake China as your top market?

China remains super important for us, but we have strong growth in Europe in the U.S. at the moment. Europe, in particular, is catching up. We are seeing more and more investments.

What is driving that?

E-mobility. The big players are investing more and more as the growth of EVs rises.

Where are you strongest when it comes to EV production?

The battery tray and the battery cover because we have great technologies when it comes to welding. The competition is super strong in battery assembly itself; everybody is going there. We are also doing electric motor and rotor assembly for Renault, Ford and Tier 1s such as ZF. This is completely new for us as we have only getting into this sector in the last two to three years.

How does it break down in terms of revenue between the body shop, paint shop and other areas of the production line?

A quarter is subassemblies [including the cockpit], the body shop is 20 percent. The EV powertrain, which includes the battery, motor assembly and so on, is 20 percent. Then the press shop, paint shop and electronics account for about 35 percent. The body shop is going down with the arrival of megacasting, but we did not lose revenue. We grew like hell last year.

How automated can final assembly get?

We have a process to bring the cockpit into the moving car body with a robot installation we developed two years ago. But when it comes to this final assembly, the more you move production to low-cost countries the more difficult it is because then the payback takes three to 3.5 years instead of two years.

You mentioned that automakers are shifting their focus away from automating final assembly. Why is that?

Two years ago, most automakers were focused on the same challenge: What can we do to optimize final assembly. The rest of the process was already highly automated. But then EVs came and the focus changed. Autos was a solid business for so many years and EVs changed everything. Now everybody is looking to fix the big problems instead of fine-tuning. There are new players coming in, driving new technologies, thinking outside the box, which was not possible before in the automotive world. In the past, the traditional Western companies were setting all the standards. This is changing dramatically. Now everybody is looking for the best technology for new solutions.

Are you being asked to speed up everything?

Overall, EVs are still very expensive, so there is pressure to bring down costs. That is the reason why automation is at the top of the agenda at all companies now. The driving force behind automation now is: How can we find smarter solutions to produce?

What reduction in personnel is possible if the flexible cell concept is used in the body shop? Can you turn out the lights?

Yes. That is what we are driving for in the daily operation. Fewer people, more monitoring data for problems. At the weekend, the maintenance will still to be done, but its more planned. It's not coming by surprise.

How big a problem is it if automakers refuse to allow data out of the plant via the cloud?

At the beginning, we told our customers that we needed to have the data, but now we use a factory-based solution. You have to move with the market trends. Some customers say it's OK to put the data in the cloud.

Are they worried that that you are going to get a competitive advantage from the data?

That is a big reason for this, but cybersecurity has also become more of an issue. In addition, with the move to EVs everybody is going in new directions, therefore, they are very secretive about what they are doing.

How big a part of your business is refurbishing older robots?

Refurbishment has been part of our business for many years. It is good because we can give a customer another eight or nine years' of usage.