Sustainability Assessment of Industrial Robotics Transition in SMEs
Channel: JMU ISAT
Date: 2018-09-22

NOTE: Unfortunately, Kyle's presentation was the very last one of the day and our video camera shut off halfway into this presentation. Sincere apologies to Kyle Epping, Dr. Zhang, and their supporters and friends for a technical screwup that was not their fault.

Full Title: Sustainability Assessment of Industrial Robotics Transition in SMEs
Presenter: Kyle Epping
Advised by: Hao Zhang
Abstract: Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face challenges of implementing industrial robotics in their manufacturing due to limited resource and expertise. The economic potential of using industrial robotics, however, remains to be large due to manufacturers leaning towards newer technology and automated processes. Industrial robotics within SMES is vital to keep US manufacturing competitive as production systems moves into Industry 4.0. The research for a comprehensive sustainability decision making of adopting industrial robotics is limited for SMEs. This study presents a system methodology of evaluating sustainability of implementing robotic techniques in key processes that would benefit the SMEs. The methodology identifies the vital factors (i.e. economic, technology, management) for decision making of implementation a robotic technique. Economy tradeoffs are evaluated using life cycle costing method that assesses and compares two alternatives’ operational costs discounted over a specific time period. Environmental impact is evaluated using life cycle assessment that analyzes material use, energy consumption throughout the stages (manufacturing, implementation, and maintenance) of adopting robotics. Finally, a social life cycle assessment will be conducted to evaluate the impacts industrial robotics have within human psychology, workplace relations, and public policy. In order to demonstrate the application of the proposed methodology, a case study with SMEs manufacturing characteristics is presented. This research will benefit the engineering management community by providing SMEs an analytical tool for industrial robotics implementation decision making.