通过它的TouchMark商业，Delphon(a Hayward, CA-based manufacturer) provides high quality, precision pad printing services to the medical device and electronics industries. Pad printing is a printing process that can transfer a 2D image onto a 3D object. The company’s cleanroom manufacturing facility enables it to handle prototypes ranging from small clinical trials and engineering lots to large production volumes.
像当今大多数制造商一样，Delphon一直发现很难为其生产运营找到机器运营商。
“Recruiting operators has been next to impossible. It only got harder once the pandemic hit,” said James Garner，，，，director of TouchMark’s manufacturing operations.
Examples of the medical device printing done by TouchMark.作为回应，Delphon一直在寻求自动化其生产操作的各个方面。Delphon在自动化的任务中遇到的问题是多重的：该公司调查的机器人系统的成本太高，花费了太长时间安装或提供了太少的价值。
加纳说：“过去曾考虑过机器人自动化，但ROI从来没有意义。”“其他配乐机器人（协作机器人）的工作速度与人类操作员相同，需要持续的监督，并带有高标价。选择其中一个魔术师将意味着Touchmark的人工成本和吞吐量将保持不变，而其资本支出会增加。”
尽管缺乏成功为其运营找到合适的机器人自动化技术，但Delphon仍在继续搜索，并找到了Rapid Machine操作员（RMO）快速机器人技术与众不同。Delphon的关键因素是，具有内置计算机视觉和预训练的人工智能的RMO可以以每月2,100美元的价格运行使用的机器触摸标记。
With two RMOs doing the work of five Gel-Pak operators, the company is saving $20,400 per month, and the operators were redeployed to other activities.
Garner指出，RMO最多只花了几天时间才能设置，并且只需要操作员的灯光监督，该操作员可以同时使用另一台机器。
TouchMark put the RMO to work on a task it had been running the same way for 30 years—applying pressure-sensitive adhesive to semiconductor packaging. With the RMO successfully automating this procedure, TouchMark brought in another RMO to work a pad printer alongside the first RMO.
“Production became less expensive and more consistent,” said Garner. “TouchMark’s RMOs worked at the same rate, hour by hour, day by day. That steady pace proved invaluable during the pandemic when other manufacturers were struggling to staff their machines.”
在RMO部署之前，将操作员分配给每个垫打印机。现在，一位员工可以同时操作第三台机器时，可以监督这两个RMO。其他两个运营商在Touchmark的运营中被重新部署了。有了两个RMO，TouchMark每月节省15,640美元。
Based on the success of the RMO at TouchMark, Delphon began using the RMO at its Gel-Pak facility, which manufactures containers and films to protect electronic materials and components. Gel-Pak uses the RMO to clean molded parts with an ionized air knife prior to assembly. With two RMOs doing the work of five Gel-Pak operators, the company is saving $20,400 per month, and the operators were redeployed to other activities.
Speaking to the value that robots-as-a-service has brought to Delphon’s operations across two of its divisions, Philip Haseltine, vice president of Delphon’s manufacturing operations, said, “If you don’t have a massive engineering staff and you want to start saving immediately, this is the business model for you.”
Garner added, “We don’t have a ton of engineering resources. We don’t have any robotics engineers or software engineers. For us, the RMO was an easy, quick, and incredibly rewarding entry into the world of robotics.”
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