Speaker 0 00:00:00 Manufacturers are looking to work smarter, faster, and cheaper. And at Bosch Rex Roth, we are working side by side with our customers to build the factory automation solutions that will be needed to address their future business demands.
Speaker 2 00:00:20 Welcome everyone to the robot industry podcast. I'm Jim Beretta, and I am pleased to have Armando Gonzalez from Bosch Rero join us Armando joined Bosch Rexroth in 2021 as the business leader for the industry 4.0 and turnkey systems group. He brings over 18 years of experience implementing highly automated solutions within the electronics, fast moving consumer goods, pharmaceutical automotive, and packaging industries with an analytical mindset to solve complex business challenges. He looks to help Bosch Rex Roth continue to shape the modern industrial revolution. Armando currently resides in Dallas, Texas, and as a graduate of the university of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in economics. Welcome Armando to the podcast.
Speaker 0 00:01:09 Hey Jim, thanks for having me
Speaker 2 00:01:10 Armando. I'm sure everyone knows who Bosch Rex Roth is, but remind us who BR is.
Speaker 0 00:01:17 Yeah. Bosch Bosch corporation, right? They're a privately held company that's, uh, been in existence for over 200 years. You know, we're about $90 billion based outta Germany. And, uh, we have over 70,000 employees globally. We're focused in, um, many sectors in automotive, um, is where we're primarily known. Um, but a lot of folks these days also know us as you know, their appliance, um, uh, manufacturer, um, you know, we, we produce our own line of high end appliances from dishwashers to ranges, um, and refrigerators. We own brands like Thermador and, uh, over the last few years, when everybody, when the housing markets boom in here in the us, um, a lot of folks are, are using our, our appliances at home. And Bo Rero actually falls in their industrial automation space where, uh, as you know, Bo Rero has been very well known in the electronics and drives division as well as their assembly technology solutions, um, and industrial hydraulics.
Speaker 2 00:02:23 Thank you for that. Armo tell us a little bit about your background too.
Speaker 0 00:02:27 So a little bit about, about me, you know, I joined the industry, um, nearly 20 years ago with key sensors working on fiber optic sensor technologies, vision systems, laser laser measurement systems, and, um, laser coding systems. Um, and that's where I got into the space. Um, and in 2006 I joined sch packaging systems based outta Kasim Germany. And that was my first introduction into robotics. And I've been in the industry ever since.
Speaker 2 00:02:57 Nice, thank you for that. So can you explain to the audience what an AMR is because we're gonna talk about that a little bit today.
Speaker 0 00:03:04 No, absolutely. I I'd love to, you know, I've been tasked with leading the north American business unit at Bosch Rex Roth for AMR and robotics. AMR stands for autonomous mobile robots and, uh, these robots, I mean, they're very similar to what, what you use at home with, with your Roomba, right? They're autonomous robots that work within your manufacturing facility using slam navigation rather than external marker markers for, for localization, so they can map your facility and all the environment. Um, so that way it could plant its path.
Speaker 2 00:03:37 Nice. And what are some of the misconceptions of robotic automation from your perspective?
Speaker 0 00:03:44 Yeah, there's, there's quite a few, right. Um, I think one of the primary ones is, you know, robots are here to, to take my job and quite frankly, I couldn't be further from the truth. Um, a fellow Texan came on your show, not too long ago, Eric G with plus one robotics and they have a great slogan and I, and I love it. Right. I even think they have like some swag on their shirts that, that, that repeat the slogan, you know, robots, work people rule, uh, and that's absolutely right. You know, people are the primary source of the intelligence within the robots. Um, if we train our people, if they adopt the technology, you're gonna maximize the benefits of robotics automation. The other component that I think is, uh, wrongly perceived is it's just for large manufacturers, right? Coming from Bosch. We use this technology in our facilities, but we also work with external customers.
Speaker 0 00:04:42 Um, I'll give you an example. You know, I was working with a father, son, du outta Chicago. They make, uh, vegan marshmallows. And this is right before COVID and they came to us at a pack expo and said, Hey, we've, we've got a challenge. You know, we've got some, some new contracts that we wanna fulfill, but I just can't find enough people to help support us. Um, and what I wanna do is alleviate some of the non-value added tasks like stacking boxes, uh, per se, and, um, and try to incorporate palletizers what can you do for us? And what we developed is a, is a quick deployable palletizing solution using collaborative robots that you could bring online and have in production within three months. And keep in mind this isn't a large company, it's a father son do. The son must have been about 15 and it was so cool seeing both of them meet with us and just seeing the son's eyes light up and the questions that he was asking. I mean, they're learning the stuff really early and it worked so well for them that they came back for another unit.
Speaker 2 00:05:45 I think some of the best advice is to get your 15 year old involved in your business. Right?
Speaker 0 00:05:49 Yeah. Then that's funny. I have two kids and, uh, I'm teaching them as much as I can. <laugh> we love geeking out, um, uh, on, on a, a daily basis. They like learning what we, what I do and what our company does and, you know, showing 'em videos of, of applications. It's like, ah, dad, that's cool. But you know, there's, there's another misconception too, right? Being a part of a global organization, adopting a robotics technology in a, like a low cost of labor environment. A lot of times you get the idea that, well, you know, it's low labor cost, it's tough to justify a robotic technology. Uh, but when actuality, if you find these applications that are non-value added and, and allow their, their operators, their teams, uh, to be more productive and make their jobs more fun and easy, they're easy wins. And, uh, I'll share, share a story.
Speaker 0 00:06:43 I recently just finished a deployment at our Bosch to Luca, to Luca Mexico facility. This is a massive automotive facility for our, the systems group and has over 3000 employees, lots of traffic. And they came to us, um, uh, basically with the challenge to try to help reduce some of the traffic that, uh, they experience within their facility. They have operators and, and personnel moving heavy carts, upwards of, you know, 700 kilos throughout their facility walking 250,000 square feet, um, for every cycle, um, you know, this is a 24 7 operation. So they wanted to alleviate some of that stress that their teams face and reduce some of that traffic and, uh, also improve safety at their facility. So we were able to, to implement our initial pilot and it took off quick. And now we're talking about, uh, fleets of robots. So just because you might be in a low, uh, labor cost environment, it doesn't necessarily eliminate the possibilities of incorporating robotic technology.
Speaker 2 00:07:51 It's interesting that you mentioned about traffic, like, because that is a big thing, right? We've got all these different, uh, people and forklifts and autonomous mobile robots and such all wanting that, um, very valuable real estate.
Speaker 0 00:08:05 Yeah. That's a huge challenge. You have forklifts intermixing with, with tuggers intermixing, with AGVs intermixing, with AMRs all within your, your workplace. Um, so how do you manage that? And that's probably one of the biggest challenges we're facing right now is how do we communicate? And let's talk the same language, right? You know, C three PO I think spoke like 6 million different languages. <laugh> we need these robots to communicate within one and, and, and share where they're at, within, within your environment. Um, so that way, um, they, they can set alarms, they can open doors, they can interface with equipment and other robots. Um, so there's some very intelligent people, as you know, um, working on, on this, uh, mass robotics, uh, standards and exploring, um, these challenges with different manufacturers, um, to create a common protocol. Um, and, and then you, you also mentioned, uh, the maps and, and the environment, you know, which map do you use? Uh, that's a big challenge as well. Um, you know, who, who controls the robots? You know, there's, there's a lot of different robots out in the market, um, filling different, um, applications. Um, and there's not necessarily one manufacturer that can address them all. So, you know, one, one robot might well work, well, indoors mine, one might work well outdoors. And in some cases they all interface with each other. So as a, as a, um, community, we need to come together to, to, to find the right, the right way to manage that for our customers.
Speaker 2 00:09:43 It almost leads me to think about, uh, like a, a new job and a factory, and that's like a factory flow expert, right? Who's the traffic cop.
Speaker 0 00:09:50 Exactly. Exactly. So we talk about, you know, eliminating jobs, these robots are actually creating more jobs because you, you need, you need these champions, you need these individuals interfacing, owning the, the, the technology and, and then bringing to the different vendors or manufacturers they're challenges. So we can address them quickly because it's a new technology. So there's a lot of things that we still don't know, right. And we're learning. And the people on site that are, are championing these, these, uh, solutions and these deployments are, are critical.
Speaker 2 00:10:24 Well, I'm glad that you chatted a little bit about your, um, the vegan marshmallow, uh, company, because there has been a big perception, I think, in the industry, Hey, I'm too small to automate, Hey, I'm too small for an AMR, uh, solution. And that's just not true
Speaker 0 00:10:39 With, with the way technology is evolving, Jim, you're absolutely right. It's, it's making it more cost effective and quicker to deploy, um, and requiring less technical capabilities. Um, the engineers, these days coming out of, out of college are, are very well positioned, um, with a lot of the programming languages that they're learning. And a lot of them are also developing that outside of the, the, um, uh, institutions, educational institutions. Um, and these folks are quickly adopting and, and, and being a, a key, uh, resource for us, um, in, in these new businesses that we're, we're moving forward with.
Speaker 2 00:11:21 I do see some, uh, themes Armando going through the industry, like, um, being ultra safe and being ultra easy. And you see companies like opening up their APIs, which are all kind of interesting things, uh, happening, which I I'm very excited about.
Speaker 0 00:11:38 Yes. Yeah. I mean, as, as folks know who know Rex Roth, and for those who don't, you know, Rex Roth promotes ourselves, we promote ourselves as an, an open, uh, platform, um, for those developers, those creators to use our technology and not be hamstrung with proprietary programming languages. Um, it allows you to use your, the, the, the best, um, solution for your application, the best program for your application. And, you know, as, as we we've talked before, you know, control X is a big part of, uh, of our future at Rex Roth.
Speaker 2 00:12:17 So maybe just do for a bit of clarity, what is control X
Speaker 0 00:12:21 Control X? You know, it's, it's a disruptive technology. It's a, it's our new control platform, um, within Rex Roth that, that us utilizes, um, it's industrial PC utilizes Linux with Antu core, um, uses some of the highest, um, uh, processing, um, chips available on the market. So, you know, it's, it's virtually future proof and what's unique about it is it's, it's open it's, uh, you know, we talked about interoperability earlier. Well, you know, just because you have a specific program that you, you prefer for your application, we don't limit you from being able to use it on this platform. And it's extremely secure given that it it's runs off Linux. And so this, this technology is really, what's gonna set the tone for us in the future.
Speaker 2 00:13:13 And so what other applications kind of, are you seeing with, uh, using AMRs? Is it, it obviously it's moving material, uh, around in a warehouse or in a manufacturing facility,
Speaker 0 00:13:24 Right? Right. So moving, moving material in and out. I mean, that's what, we're what we're, um, discussing internally within our own, uh, Bosch facilities is any, any areas where you have high traffic, you have, um, manual intervention to move carts, move trays, move, um, dollies, or, or replace tuggers. Um, those are, are perfect examples, quick hits, or low hanging fruit type applications where it, it it'd be a good opportunity to evaluate your environment and how these robots work within it.
Speaker 2 00:14:00 So I wonder, are you seeing a lot of your companies, even if they might be big companies, like take like one or two units before they commit to like, they need 20, but they kind of start off small. Is that, are you kind of seeing that as a trend?
Speaker 0 00:14:13 Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to eat the whole elephant. Right. <laugh> and then that's, that's what you'll see sometimes too. I mean, you'll have these, these, uh, engineers with really high aspirations and we're, we, we, we work alongside them to audit their environment and, and, and explain to them, well, you know, we gotta let the robot work for you. Right. So we gotta prepare the environment for the robots. You get max benefit and starting off with the pilot is probably the best advice I could ever give. Um, someone who's looking to adopt this for the first time, evaluate it.
Speaker 2 00:14:45 It must be a little frustrating because, you know, pilots, I, and I, I agree that I think pilots are, are really beneficial when you're trying to integrate new technology, but this just seems so, so simple and such common sense, but I can kind of see the machine tool department needing one and the then machine tool gets up. And then you're like, well, what about the shipping department? Ooh, what about, um, final assembly department? And you can almost see them all saying, Hey, we need three, we need two
Speaker 0 00:15:11 You're right. Once you run this pilot and, and you have that owner interfacing with it, they start the, the light bulb just turns on and they start seeing potential opportunities to deploy it. And all of a sudden you've got involvement from the entire group. Um, so that change management aspect is extremely critical, um, for, for these organizations to be successful because they'll start getting generating ideas, generating ripples throughout their organizations where, you know, they'll get visitors and all of a sudden that other facility in Seattle wants whatever you're doing down in Texas.
Speaker 2 00:15:47 Very important to tell the stories. Right.
Speaker 0 00:15:48 Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 00:15:50 And so what does that look like if I wanna do a pilot with you for my warehouse? Like, what happens do I, I just call you.
Speaker 0 00:15:56 Yeah, absolutely. You know, you'd, you'd call me and my, and my team. And what we would do is we'd, we'd walk through your facility, take a look at, you know, the different elements that might, um, uh, uh, provide, you know, um, uh, good results and some areas that we may, we may need to adjust and, and account for. So that way we can set the expectations with our, with our partners and then our end customers as to what, what they could expect with that initial deployment, because, you know, not, not every site is a, is, is a, a ideal site for this type of technology. And in actuality, our, our site in Toluca was extremely challenging for us because it's so large, high traffic, very dynamic. Um, we, we, we definitely cut our teeth at, uh, at that deployment, but we learned, you know, ways to navigate around it and what these these systems can, can do well, and not so well,
Speaker 2 00:16:53 Optimizing roots is probably a pretty important thing. Right. And you wanna have a hand in there so that you can help your customer.
Speaker 0 00:16:59 Absolutely. So we, we wanna walk side by side with them and know that they're, they're not alone in venturing into this, this, you know, vast ocean <laugh> by themselves. Right. They've gotta, they've got a partner to walk through with them. How long
Speaker 2 00:17:12 Does a pilot take, like as, or, or is that as long a piece of string, right?
Speaker 0 00:17:16 Yeah. It just depends. Right. And in some cases it could be, it could be, uh, a couple months as you get the system dialed in and, and, and realize the benefits. Um, and in some cases it could be shorter than that.
Speaker 2 00:17:30 And who's your economic buyer? Is it usually like a plant manager? Is it, uh, VP? Is it CEO? Is it CFO?
Speaker 0 00:17:37 Yeah, it's definitely, definitely on the higher level. Um, many on the, on the, uh, C level, definitely CFOs. Um, we definitely work with, um, the, it leads at the site because since these AMRs work through wifi, um, and, and they're localized on their, on their server, there's no communication coming out of that facility or from the robot. So we don't see any of that, of that information, but it's important to get the it team involved as soon as possible. So that way we can plan for any, any sort of, um, requirements that might be needed, like, uh, you know, uh, wifi extensions or whatnot.
Speaker 2 00:18:17 And while we're on the CFO discussion, what, what is the current thinking in ROI? Like when you talk, you must talk to your clients a lot about this.
Speaker 0 00:18:25 Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, with, with, um, the solutions that we're working at at Rex Roth, um, we're seeing ROIs in less than two years. And then if it, it also depends a lot on, you know, uh, you know, the, how many shifts you're running at your facility and, um, you know, where, where that, where that low hanging fruit is being applied. Um, in some cases it could be less
Speaker 2 00:18:49 When you think about, Hey, we can't hire people right now, or let's keep the people we have maybe put an AMR solution in so that we can deploy them in, in smarter tasks. Right?
Speaker 0 00:18:59 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you get a lot of that because, I mean, in some cases they don't even have someone to perform the task. Um, so you don't have any choice. Um, but this makes, makes a deployment, you know, within say 12 weeks. Um, you, you realize it, uh, very quickly, um, and you can get these things moving for you,
Speaker 2 00:19:17 Armando who's geek, plus I have in my notes to ask you about that.
Speaker 0 00:19:20 Yeah, yeah, no, that's a great question. And so, so geek plus is an early adopter of our Bosch Rex Roth, um, locating software. Um, they incorporated into their AMRs, they're a, they're a Chinese based, um, AMR manufacturer, um, and a huge player in the market. They have a really deep portfolio of AMRs AGVs, um, QR what they call QR bots, their bots that utilize QR codes in an, a grid format. Um, they also have a, uh, ass RS systems and, um, goods to person solutions. They're, they've got a very deep portfolio of, of solutions. Um, and they were a natural fit for us. Um, they're, they're very strong in Asia and they're looking to, to develop the north American market and they're already using Rex raw solutions. So we already had previous, um, uh, work experiences with them. And when we evaluated their AMRs and the potential in north America, it was a no brainer.
Speaker 2 00:20:23 Nice and Armando, what do you like to do when you're not selling robots?
Speaker 0 00:20:28 You know, uh, my wife likes to, uh, try to keep me in shape. Um, so I, I chase chase her around quite a bit. She's, uh, big enough fitness and, um, I'm big into eating. So, um, uh, if, if, if I'm not working out with my wife, I'm usually hanging out with the kids building Legos and, and geeking out, talking about web three and, and playing sports.
Speaker 2 00:20:49 And how can people get a hold of you?
Speaker 0 00:20:51 Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn, um, Armando Gonzalez, uh, with Bosch Rero, um, or via my profile. J a Gonzales, G O N Z a L E Z 2008. Um, or you can email
[email protected].
Speaker 2 00:21:08 Thank you for that. Our sponsor for this episode is Airhart automation systems Airhart builds and commissions turnkey solutions for their worldwide clients. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing, they understand the complex world of robotics, automated manufacturing, project management, delivering world-class custom automation on time and on budget contact one of their sales engineers to see what Airhart can build for you. I'd also like to thank a three the association for advancing automation. They're the leading automation trade associations for robotics, vision and imaging motion control and motors, and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies visit automate.org to learn more. And I'd like to thank our partner painted robot painted robot builds and integrates digital solutions. They're a web development firm that offers S E O and digital social marketing, and can set up and connect CRM and other E R P tools to unify marketing sales and operations. And they're
[email protected]. And if you'd like to get in touch with us at the robot industry podcast, you can find me Jim Perretta on LinkedIn. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. Be safe out there. Today's podcast was produced by customer attraction, industrial marketing. I'd like to thank my nephew, Chris gray for the music, Jeffrey for audio production, my partner, Janet, and our partners, a three painted robot and our sponsor Airhart automation systems.
