Small-lot contract stampers can benefit from robotic press tending as much as big automotive stampers can, says Peter Stephan, program manager for stamping for Fanuc Robotics America, in an article beginning on page 22. Some smaller stampers agree, based on recent projects Stephan's been involved with. This is a far cry from only 15 years ago, when opinion held that robots didn't even belong in the pressroom. Such is the 40+-year history of robotics in industry. The technology has appeared and prospered, converting pessimists into believers along the way. Robots have indeed revolutionized how manufacturing works. In doing so, they've overcome all sorts of fears. There were fears that robots were way too sophisticated and fragile, promising nothing but downtime; fears that robots would make human employees obsolete; and fears that buyers would never recoup their investments in robotics. By and large, these fears were conquered and today, loads of metalforming applications are assisted by robots, or show the potential of benefiting from their use.
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