For over 60 years, Husqvarna - with its range of chainsaws for forestry, agriculture and horticulture - has stood for high performance, user-friendliness and safety. To ensure its long-term success and stay one step ahead of its competitors, Husqvarna is constantly looking for new production opportunities. In 2018, the company decided to modernize part of the production process. The aim was to make the assembly of the chainsaw starter faster, more flexible and less error-prone, which would also result in fewer interruptions in production and less waste.

To achieve this, the company opted for collaborative robots (cobots). They were to work directly on the production line alongside staff to provide additional flexibility and enable employees to be trained for higher-value tasks. "We wanted a collaborative solution that could be deployed relatively quickly and also offer the necessary flexibility to expand our operations or perform other tasks in the future," emphasizes Jimmie Sollén, Technical Manager at Husqvarna.

Optimizing production with Yumi

After analyzing various solutions, the decision was made in favour of the Yumi collaborative two-arm robot from ABB. The cobot now works side by side with the operators on the assembly line. There it removes screws and screws them onto the chainsaw to attach the starter.

Yumi now helps with the production of over 400 chainsaws per shift. Husqvarna appreciates the high repeat accuracy of the cobot and the fact that fewer errors occur during assembly. In addition, the working environment for the staff has improved significantly with the use of the robot. This is because the repetitive tightening processes were detrimental to ergonomics.

"The new solution is significantly better and more reliable than our previous one," continues Sollén. "The robot relieves our employees of what is often a very tedious task. If a problem occurs, it is also easy for our team leaders on the production line to intervene and restart the process. YuMi has given us much more flexible production." Johan Håård, production technician and team leader on the assembly line at Husqvarna, adds: "Using Yumi for bolting is one of the best decisions we have made. Yumi has eliminated many monotonous tasks for our employees. We want to make the screwing process as non-manual as possible. Because this repetitive task doesn't benefit the customer either."

Collaborative robotics - cooperation on an industrial scale

The successful integration of Yumi prompted Husqvarna to explore further possibilities for using robots to further optimize the production of chainsaws. As a result, a second collaborative application was installed on the same assembly in 2020 for one of the subsequent production steps: screwing in the handle device while simultaneously attaching a chain catcher. The solution used consists of the ABB IRB 1600 industrial robot including safety-certified SafeMove software and laser scanners. It enables safe collaboration between humans and robots without the need for extensive protective measures such as enclosures or fencing or, as in this case, only partially.

"When we started looking at the second collaborative solution, it quickly became clear that with the ABB robot and other optimization measures, we would be able to further reduce our costs per product produced. This naturally has a positive effect on our competitiveness," says Sollén.

More robot solutions in the future

Yumi is an established and accepted team member on the assembly line. Husqvarna will therefore continue to invest in sophisticated robotic solutions to further increase its manufacturing flexibility and cost efficiency. "We are constantly looking for new opportunities that automation opens up and have ambitious plans for further collaborative solutions - either with pure cobots or collaborative applications. In this way, our factory will become even more competitive," summarizes Sollén. "When it comes to our future investments, we see ABB as a real strategic partner. We are very satisfied with the collaboration: we always get the support we need from ABB - at exactly the right time."