b'During a night shift, two Mill-Assist systems with traditional Fanuc industrial robots tend Haas VF-2SS CNC mills unattended.Fusion | RoboJob-USAdont have the kind of power den- based OEMs that sent machiningdoing this is with what Zoberis calls sity needed to drive an aircraft. work outside the country lost con- purpose-built robotics: ready-to-trol of the process. purchase systems that include a Robots on the March In addition, Zoberis pointed tosix-axis robot and related hardware Aircraft and automotive salesa spike in interest during the pan- and software, all designed for a par-may be languishing due to supplydemic in switching from CNC ma- ticular application.chain constraints, but thats not thechine tending by operators to auto- Wereofferingoff-the-shelf, case in the automation industry. Formated machine tending. turnkey solutions for small-to-me-three consecutive quarters, NorthWith the pandemic receding,dium-size companies that normally American robot sales have hit re- interest among shops is still thewouldnt see this as an affordable cord highs, according to the Asso- same or higher, he said. Its likesolution, he said, adding that he ciation for Advancing Automationtheyve got a bunch of Ferraris inexpects 40% to 50% growth in de-in Ann Arbor, Michigan. their shops and theyre finding thatmand for these purpose-built sys-For CNC machining in particular,their spindles are underutilized, sotems in 2023.orders for automation are beyondtheyre looking at ways of trying toIn addition to systems for CNC expectations, said Craig Zoberis,automate as quickly as possible tomachine tending, Zoberis said the founder and president of Burr Ridge,stay competitive. main categories now are systems Illinois-based Fusion | RoboJob-USA,Currently, one popular way offor welding, palletizing and sheet which provides systems for automat- metal fabrication.ically loading and unloading CNCcontributors These systems are examples of turning and milling machines. what he sees as a new productiza-He said one reason that busi- AeroDynamic Advisory LLC tion of robotics.ness is booming for firms like his734-773-3899 This is changing the landscape is that machine shops are over- www.aerodynamicadvisory. because you dont necessarily need booked due in part to increasedcom a custom or engineered solution interest among manufacturers inFusion | RoboJob-USA where you hire an integrator to right shoring machiningthat866-952-9020 come in and do a scope of work is, having precision-machined partswww.robojob-usa.com and determine what you need, made in the United States for U.S.S&P Global Mobility Zoberis said. Now theres a cata-consumptionin the wake of the800-516-2021 log of purpose-driven products for pandemic, during which many U.S.- www.spglobal.com/mobility (different) operations.CTEctemag.com/cteguide.com17Yearend.indd 17 11/15/22 12:02 PM'