2008年3月19日消息，由于應用靈活的快速的自動化解決方案，flat-pack家具行業正在進入一個新紀元，ABB正在幫助像IKEA一樣的世界領導廠商，創建新的全套自動化生產線，并快速獲取投資回報。 IKEA，一直是世界家居品牌排名的前幾位，正在領導家具制造業實現自動化，無論是應用的flat pack還是20世紀60年代的組裝家具。 公司一直保持強勁而穩定的增長勢頭，其出售斯堪的納維亞風格的家具和多種家用器具，服務領域遍及歐洲、亞洲、中東和北美地區的36個國家，每年都會新開發幾個新店。 為了減少運輸費用，其將多種產品實行扁平包裝，用戶可以在家中對其進行組裝。該公司還設計了一種屬于自己的家具，此家具在50多個國家出售，擁有1300個提供商。 為了滿足迅速增長需求，IKEA通過自己的子公司Swedwood International正在計劃使其制造能力在五年之內雙倍化，與ABB公司就機器人解決方案簽定框架協議，這將使其能夠以低成本、快速、靈活且有效地生產flat-pack家具。 ABB已經為Swedwood International現有的35個工廠提供了機器人解決方案和各種電力自動化產品和系統，從完整的工廠電氣化解決方案到分布式控制系統及工廠自動化平臺都有涉及。 新架構協議覆蓋了一系列機器人產品，可用于噴漆、包裝和裝盤應用，以及IRC5控制器，PickMaster軟件和高級向導技術。 另一個瑞典的flat-pack家具制造商，已經從ABB機器人解決方案中得到了受益。該公司最近在其三個裝盤裝和包裝站中安裝了8個ABB機器人。 安裝的效果是生產力增長了45%，投資回報將在兩到三年內全部實現。 [FONT=times] original text [/FONT] [font=times][Color=#708090]2008-03-19 - The flat-pack furniture industry is entering a new era of robotized flexible manufacturing and ABB is helping world leaders like IKEA create new fully automated production lines and reap a rapid return on investment. IKEA, consistently ranked the world’s top home furnishings brand, is leading the way in automated furniture manufacturing, much as it did with the concept of flat pack or ready-to-assemble furniture which it launched in the 1960s. The company is enjoying strong and sustained growth, selling Scandinavian-style home furnishings and housewares in more than 270 stores in 36 countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America, and opening dozens of new stores each year. To cut transportation costs, it uses flat packaging for many products which customers assemble themselves at home. The company also designs its own furniture, which is made by about 1,300 suppliers in more than 50 countries. To meet this boom in growth, IKEA – via its wholly owned subsidiary Swedwood International - is planning to double its manufacturing capacity within the next five years and has signed a frame agreement with ABB for robotics solutions that will enable it to produce flat-pack furniture speedily, flexibly and efficiently at low cost. ABB has already supplied Swedwood International’s existing 35 factories with robotics solutions and a variety of power and automation products and systems, from complete factory electrification solutions to distributed control systems and factory automation platforms. The new frame agreement covers a broad sweep of robotics products for painting, packing and palletizing applications, as well as IRC5 controllers, PickMaster software and advanced vision-guided technologies. Another flat-pack furniture manufacturer that has reaped the benefits of ABB robotics solutions is Sweden-based, Svedplan. The company recently automated half its manual picking line by installing eight ABB robots in three palletizing and packing stations. The result was an increase in productivity of 45 percent and a return on investment of between two to three years.[/color][/font]