Robotic drilling: sofa, so good

A family-run furniture maker has become an industry leader with the help of digital manufacturing experts at the AMRC who proved that robotics and automation technologies could increase capacity and improve productivity in its production process. Fibreline wanted to determine whether, using camera technology, its labour-intensive process for drilling of buttonholes in pieces of foam could be fully automated. The AMRC completely de-risked the investment by presenting the Keighley-based business, the largest independent cushion manufacturer in the UK, with a feasibility study confirming the technology could work and full specification for a drilling cell – including the equipment and hardware needed. Now fully installed by robot integrator Olympus Technologie, the technology has turned Fibreline into the supplier of first choice because of its productivity, consistent quality, and new capacity to do a large range and volume.

The AMRC brought a skillset we simply didn’t have. The project has increased our capacity and improved our productivity, and we’re incredibly pleased with the result.

Richard Prudhoe, Managing Director, Fibreline

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