Processes and competencies for in-house system integration of robotic applications : A case study using collaborative robots

Industrial robots are important for the competitiveness in high wages countries and during the last 10 years the number of installed robots have tripled in the world. A combination of the high demand for robots and system integration and a lack of competence makes it hard for companies to acquire the robot applications they require as well as maintain and improve them. By using easily programmable robots developing the required competence for system integration is uncomplicated, however, the tradition of buying turn-key automation has led to a lack of competence in in-house system integration. Collaborative robots are often regarded as more easily programmable than traditional robots. By performing a case study with a collaborative robot, the thesis aims to map and present the process and competencies needed to perform system integration in-house. The thesis identifies a process for system integration including education, initialization, application, design, installation and preparation, programming, evaluation, production and presents them in a final model. Further, the thesis presents project supervision, project leadership, project participation, organizational change leadership, problem-solving, process and system, programming, installation, technology, method and safety and regulation competencies as necessary for successful system integration inhouse. Finally, the steps of the process and the competencies are overlaid as to show which competencies are necessary for which process steps. The thesis provides a guide for in-house system integration not previously found in academia