Shane Ferris – My First Month at Cobots.ie
Today, the blog is being taken over by our newest team member – our Sales Development Manager, Shane Ferris. He’s been with us for just a month, and we’re delighted to have him. Here, in his own words, Shane describes his first 30 days or so with us.
It’s hard to believe that I’m already one month into my new role with Cobots.ie.
Here are the 5 key things that have made me fall in love with cobots (collaborative robots) in general, and Cobots.ie in particular.
1. Collaborative Robots and a Collaborative Company
These fantastic robots were designed to work alongside humans, making the human job much easier, all while automating the process. It doesn’t always mean replacing the human – it just means working together and freeing the human up to work on more important tasks.
Cobots.ie work closely with our clients and partners to offer a fully automated system, increasing efficiency and productivity while decreasing downtime. Even after installation and set-up, the Cobots.ie team are here to offer support and assistance to the customer, every step of the way. Which leads me to my second point.
2. Training at Cobots.ie
We pride ourselves on being a cost-effective automation partner. With this comes our vast knowledge of the industry and how to make the robot work for you. We have our own training facility and are the only Universal Robot certified training company in Ireland. We make sure your staff are trained up to use your cobots and the programmes you need. This is a two-phased approach, starting with core training, then progressing to advanced. Within these phases, we pass on all our knowledge, so you don’t have to wait for someone else to programme your Cobot. This is a testament to our client relationships. We empower you by passing the control of your Cobot and its programming back to your in-house team. Of course, we are always close by should you require any additional support!
3. Team Player
We work alongside the best-in-industry to make sure that you get all you need from Cobots.ie. This includes grippers from On Robot and Robotiq, and vision systems from VisionID, PickIt3D, Keyence and Cognex.
We have a great working relationship with our integration partners, ITS, who recently won the award for Best Use of Robotics in partnership with their client, Boston Scientific, at the IMR Manufacturing Awards. In this cell, they used our very own UR 5e and UR 3e, without the use of conventional safety. The cell was developed to make their packaging and verification of medical fully collaborative, making the Cobot the primary safety for the cell. This was a proud moment for ITS, Boston Scientific and, of course, Cobots.ie.
4. Innovation
Innovation is key to the Cobots.ie team, who are always working towards finding solutions, improving processes and increasing productivity for our customers. We were delighted to officially launch the CoMig, Cobots.ie’s new welding application at the IMR Manufacturing and Supply Chain event which took place on the 29th and 30th of January, 2020, in Dublin’s Citywest exhibition centre. Cobots.ie is proud to be one of the first Irish companies that can now provide companies with a fully automated welding solution, significantly increasing weld output and weld quality.
5. Growing Industry
Universal Robots has experienced phenomenal growth over the last number of years. Latest figures show over 42,000 (stats from UR website) cobots (collaborative robots) are now being used in companies around the globe. They have passed on a wealth of experience to our staff and now, with the new Robot Hub (further info here), which includes Universal Robots and the Mobile Industrial Robot (MIR), the future of Cobots looks very bright indeed.
The month has flown by so quickly and already I feel at home here. After spending the first few weeks speaking with clients, it is easy to see why they all choose to work with cobots. Cobots.ie works for the customer, helping solve the problems that keep our clients up at night. We make sure that all of this is accomplished with the input of the client, our team and our partners.
Thank you, Cobots.ie and all the staff, for having me and making me feel so at home. Thank you to the many customers that have spent time with me over the last few weeks – it has been so rewarding. I look forward to the tasks that lie ahead and I am sure that, with the team and partners we have in place, we will have many more happy customers in 2020.
– Shane Ferris, Sales Development Manager