Tiki Safety in Bro, Sweden, outside Stockholm, manufactures respiratory protection solutions. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, demand for the company's respirators has increased exponentially both in Sweden and worldwide. To meet the high demand, production was equipped with a robot solution from ABB.

"By using the ABB robot, we have been able to speed up the throughput time tenfold. This enables us to fulfill our orders and deliver to hospitals in Sweden and around the world as quickly as possible," says Mikael Klockseth, CEO of Tiki Safety.

The respirators from Tiki Safety are positive pressure masks with a small blower on the top. However, there was still a need for optimization in the production of the respirators themselves. In order to increase production capacity and improve product quality at the same time, the 3Button Group worked with ABB to develop a new production cell that forms the rubber sealing strip around the respirator. The 6-axis IRB 2600 robot is responsible for loading and unloading the masks.

"Thanks to the collaboration with the 3Button Group and ABB, we received a turnkey solution in record time that works perfectly. We were up and running the day after commissioning and were producing masks at a completely different speed than in the past," says Klockseth.

Faster into production with programming and simulation software

Before the optimization, the production step took around six minutes; with the new production cell, it now only takes 40 seconds. "We expect to be able to do it in under 20 seconds in future - that's simply incredible! What's more, no special skills are required to work on the new line. And: less manual work than before ensures better product quality," says Klockseth about further possible increases in efficiency.

RobotStudio was an important element in the fast and successful commissioning of the robot. ABB's programming and robot simulation software allows a complete robot installation to be created, simulated and tested in a virtual 3D environment. Once the robot cell, including Tiki Safety's programming, was added to RobotStudio, the experts were able to use the simulation to quickly identify new possibilities and make decisions.

"In RobotStudio, we immediately saw that the robot in the cell had enough time to take on additional tasks. We will therefore integrate our test station into the same cell so that the robot tests the masks while the plastic parts are being produced and molded. It saves us an enormous amount of time if we don't have to test manually," explains Klockseth.

Improved working environment and more production capacity

Increased production capacity, higher quality and more parts in the same cell - replacing old machines with a modern robot brings many benefits. It is also a boost for the working environment at the Swedish company. "The ABB robot has solved a lot of the machine problems we had before. Thanks to the robot, production runs smoothly. In addition, our employees are now much better able to manufacture the product. They enjoy working with the new, 'cool' machines!"

The company is now better equipped to meet the high demand for respiratory protection solutions. According to Mikael Klockseth, they are already thinking about the next step: "As the technology has proven to be so good, we are considering using another ABB robot. This would allow us to double production."