[:en][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Estimating time and cost for a project, or even part of a project, can be tricky. Breaking down the tasks into subparts must be done or you don’t stand a chance. Given enough time, you can develop an accurate estimate and put a good plan in place. But sometimes you can’t flush out all the contingencies because you’re under pressure to provide ‘your best guess’ RIGHT NOW, and we all know how those rough estimates suddenly become etched in stone.
You don’t want to give an estimate that is too low because you risk the possibility of project delays and cost overruns when unexpected problems arise. You don’t want to give an estimate that is too high because you risk the project not moving forward due to inflated costs. There is a fine line to giving a ‘close enough’ estimate within the time constraints you have. Even when giving quick estimates, some allowance for potential problems and risks must be made. This is especially true when you don’t have much time to think about it. By keeping a checklist of past problems and risks, you can quickly refer to the key areas that got you into trouble before and are likely to affect this project.
Some items to include:
If history shows it takes twice as long to finish tasks than you think, you could shortcut the process and just double your quick estimate. Or you might add extra time since you know the managers will try to trim it back anyway. Just ‘winging it’ in this way may get a quicker answer, but using a more systematic approach to the estimate process will give you better support for your assumptions. If you still don’t feel comfortable with the estimate, you should try to ask for more time to provide it and use your checklist as ammunition of things that need to be considered. At a minimum, get more clarification about how the estimate will be used. Just as with functional safety designs, taking time to assess the risks and consequences of non-ideal and unexpected conditions can go a long way to improving project estimates.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][:zh][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]No! They are not Inherently Safe!
A collaborative robot is intended to work “collaboratively” with a person. i.e. share a common workspace. It is force and speed limited by design to minimize any potential hazard. Collaborative robots fit the application where the task cannot be easily or cost effectively automated. They are easy to deploy, program and repurpose. Collaborative robots are new to everyone including the standards agencies.
A hazard and risk assessment is required that assesses the robot and the environment that it is deployed in. Just as any other robot, things such as collisions, speed, type of end effector and worksite need to be evaluated. Collaborative robots have their own sorts of collisions and hazards. They may not be as severe, but they still exist.
This all comes down to risk and the amount of risk that you are willing to accept! The diagram below shows the high-level steps for doing a Hazard and Risk Assessment. When following the steps, if you assess the risk and find it to be acceptable (your companies acceptable risk norms) then you are done. No need to add any risk reduction.
The next best approach is to determine if protective measures other than a Safety Function can reduce the risk to an acceptable level. If not, then you must assign a SIL and implement a safety function that will provide the required risk reduction.
exida can effectively train your team to perform machine hazard and risk assessments to identify all possible hazards and estimate the risk for each hazard. Specifically, exida coaches you through the process of evaluating the risk, developing and implementing risk reduction options. exida can also educate your team in multiple approaches to SIL target selection. These are just some of the things exida does to ensure you are on the right path![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row] [:]