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Personal Care Manufacturer Reduces Costly Downtime with OMRON TM5-700 Cobot

Case Study

7/8/2021

Operator collaborating with OMRON TM5-700 cobot for assembly automation in electric shaver manufacturing_cropped

Industry

Consumer Goods

Application

Screw Fastening

Robot Solution

OMRON TM5-700 Cobot

Solving manual changeover delays in high-mix personal care production

A leading personal care manufacturer was challenged by regular delays on its electric shaver assembly line. Frequent product changeovers required manual tool swaps and lengthy retraining, resulting in lost production hours and inconsistent output. Skilled operators spent significant time adjusting fixtures and verifying screw fastening, while each new product variant introduced risk of human error and extended downtime.

To address these bottlenecks, OMRON integrated the TM5-700 collaborative robot into the assembly automation process. The cobot’s intuitive programming interface enabled operators to set up new product types in minutes, eliminating the need for specialized training. Single-minute exchange of dies (SMED) became standard practice, with the cobot automatically adapting to multiple product formats and executing precise screw fastening for every unit.

The benefit was immediate and measurable. Changeover time dropped by 80%, allowing the manufacturer to respond rapidly to market demand and introduce new models without sacrificing throughput. Assembly automation also improved process consistency, with the TM5-700 delivering repeatable quality and reducing rework. Operators now focus on higher-value tasks, with the cobot handling routine assembly steps safely and efficiently.

Watch the story:

“OMRON cobots are designed to be supremely flexible, both in the way they are simple to program, and in the way that they can be used. Here, the customer can achieve single-minute exchange of dies (SMED), moving from one product type to another extremely quickly.” — Barry Oorbeek, Key Account Manager Industry Solutions at OMRON Benelux

Results at a glance:

Noticeably faster changeovers between electric shaver models
Consistent, repeatable assembly quality across product types
Rapid onboarding for operators with user-friendly cobot programming
Flexible assembly automation supporting diverse production needs
Safer working environment with reduced manual handling

Flexible assembly automation for frequent changeovers

When production teams manage frequent model changes, even small improvements in changeover time, quality, and consistency can make a meaningful difference. OMRON helps manufacturers use collaborative robots and assembly automation to support more flexible, reliable operations.

If similar challenges are part of your production environment, our team can help explore an approach that fits your workflow and long-term goals.