ROBOPLAS Cuts Design Errors by 65 to 75 Percent with SOLIDWORKS Design

ROBOPLAS IML: Robots & Plastics Systems designs and manufactures advanced high-speed robotics and automation systems for rigid packaging, especially in-mold labeling (IML) products. The company’s products include ROBOPLAS IML robots, ROBOVISION IML vision quality control systems, take out robots, palletizing systems, boxing systems, belt conveyor systems, and other automation solutions. ROBOPLAS has customers all over the globe, with products used in more than 35 countries.

From its start in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2006, ROBOPLAS used SOLIDWORKS® design and SOLIDWORKS PDM solutions in concert with SolidCAM® machining software exclusively. In May 2021, ROBOPLAS chose SOLIDWORKS Design to make it easier to access, manage, and share design files with the entire product development team, including remote offices.

“We did have problems sharing data and needed a system that we could use together with our design, manufacturing, and assembly teams, which are located in different geographic locations,” Engineering Manager Ahmet Taşlica recalls. “We were exploring available cloud-based platforms that would enable us to communicate, collaborate, and share/manage data. With input and advice from TEKYAZ [the local SOLIDWORKS and reseller], we decided that the best solution was to leverage the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform.”

Since implementing SOLIDWORKS Design, company personnel can access projects quickly and securely from any location via any desktop or mobile device, streamlining communications. The ease of design, file management, secure data sharing, and assembly tracking—all with the flexibility of the cloud—enable ROBOPLAS designers and engineers to collaborate and communicate on designs more efficiently, resulting in shorter design cycles and increased throughput. The company has also decreased design errors by 65 to 75 percent while it has improved in-house quality standards and realized cost savings.

Taşlica notes, “In developing our systems, it is necessary to work with common, compatible data during the design phase, revisions, customer feedback, electrical assembly, and cabling. Otherwise, the plethora of files can become overwhelming, resulting in wasted time for the entire team.”

Increased Competitiveness and Market Share

While the original goal in moving to the cloud was to provide secure access to design data from anywhere, the addition of SOLIDWORKS Design helped ROBOPLAS maintain and grow its customer potential and increase its competitiveness in providing fast, quality, and appropriate service, resulting in more significant market share.

Taşlica concludes: “Using SOLIDWORKS Design [on the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform] helps us reach a quality solution quickly and has effectively improved our competitiveness and our market share.”