Flexible automation for increased worker safety and increased productivity in the prefab industry

The construction industry has long struggled with difficulties in increasing productivity.

In this project, we draw inspiration from another industry that has experienced a completely different productivity development in recent decades: the manufacturing industry.

Modularization and prefabrication of building modules enable a more industrial construction process, resulting in higher productivity. To maximize productivity gains in prefab, automation must be used in production.

Unlike, for example, the automotive industry, which is characterized by high volumes of an identical product, the typical case within the prefab industry is rather small series of a product that often changes or is produced in different variations.Today´s automation solutions are developed and optimized for the reality of manufacturing, such as the automotive industry.

In these industries, the production environment is completely structured and serial production of the same variant are repeated in very large volumes.

The robots that serve such industries are programmed once and then repeat the same program over and over again throughout their lifetime. Reprogramming a robot for a different task entails significant costs and production downtime.

Almost all robot programming is done manually, and specialized personnel with expertise in robot programming is required.

This makes it very difficult to use such technology for production with higher flexibility requirements, such as the prefab industry.

Since today´s automation solutions cannot be profitably used in such small-scale production, the degree of automation within prefab is relatively low.Enodo Robotics develops software for flexible robot production.

The solution is based on automatically generating robot programs directly from 3D models of the production environment and product. This allows for easy adaptation of a robot cell to a new product variant without costly manual robot programming.

This opens up entirely new possibilities and enables flexible robot production, which is precisely what the prefab industry needs to increase its level of automation.We have already developed a similar solution for the automated production of prefabricated reinforcement cages.

This successful collaboration project between Skanska, ABB, Husqvarna, Robotdalen, and Enodo Robotics has led to a robot cell that is controlled solely by a 3D model of the reinforcement cage to be built.

There is significant potential to apply the same successful concept within other segments of prefab, such as window production and concrete elements.The aim of this project is to develop a software platform for flexible production driven by a digital twin of the production environment and automatic program generation for the robot.

The goal is to replicate the successful concept developed by us and our partners for automated production of reinforcement cages in entirely different product segments within the prefab industry.

This will lead to increased flexibility, improved working conditions, and enhanced productivity for the prefab industry.