Airbus Expands Robotic Use at Logistics Site

Aircraft giant Airbus is set to expand its use of robots at its Rochefort logistics facility in France.

Global aircraft production is slated for a boost, with Airbus predicting it will develop close to 1,000 airplanes annually by 2025. This production increase, coupled with continued labor shortages and costs, has led Airbus to turn to robotic assistants to shoulder some of the burden of repetitive manufacturing tasks.

Airbus will deploy robotic solutions from robotics company Scallog to take over parts picking tasks and create an automated warehouse. This will include two preparation stations, six “Boby” robots and 160 shelves to take on 50% of picking activity at the Rochefort site. This will ramp up in 2023 to eventually absorb 100% of the preparations.

The ramp up in robotics will be overseen by logistics company Blondel, and hopes to triple productivity at the site, optimize storage by 30% and reduce picking errors. 

“A wide variety of parts are needed for production stations,” said Christian Debucquet, director of Blondel’s Grand Ouest region industry business unit. “The Scallog solution should contribute to this by putting robotic technology at the service of the efficiency of our services and the development of our employees.”

Debucquet added that deploying the robotic solutions will be something of a trial, with similar initiatives planned for other sites if it proves successful.