With more than 10,000 employees and an annual product value exceeding $4.1 billion, GEM Co. is one of China’s top manufacturers. It has a special focus on sustainable development and waste recycling and needed to efficiently move materials.
In the field of urban mining, GEM recycles and uses waste power batteries, electronic waste, scrapped cars, waste plastics, and nickel-cobalt-lithium-tungsten strategic resources. The Guangdong, China-based company said it mainly remanufactures nickel cobalt lithium tungsten, rare resources of gold silver platinum palladium, ultrafine cobalt nickel tungsten powder materials, and modified plastics.
In the new energy field, GEM manufactures ternary precursors, ternary cathode materials for power batteries, and cobalt tetroxide materials for 3C digital batteries.
GEM was interested in automating the end-to-end process from raw material intake to finished product delivery while still maintaining its commitment to green energy. Weighing goods during transport is an essential process, so the company also needed an automated system that would include that capability.
Register today to catch all of the action
SEER enables robots to use more real-time data
GEM partnered with SEER Robotics to deploy 27 intelligent robots to automate smart disassembly lines and warehouse processes. The robots are integrated with weight sensors to meet GEM’s requirements.
Founded in 2015, SEER Robotics said it helps intralogistics integrators and robot builders to create their own mobile systems. The Shanghai-based company develops and offers an all-in-one modular autonomy solution with localization, navigation, motion control, and robotic AI, all packaged into one controller.
Some highlights from its deployment with GEM include:
- Multi-robot collaboration and process integration: Rotating lifting robots work with stacking autonomous forklifts, linking raw material storage, disassembly processing, and product sorting. This doubled production efficiency, according to SEER.
- Intelligent centralized system: The M4 Smart Logistics Management System, an advanced fulfillment management system (FMS), and a 2D visual dashboard enable real-time robot monitoring, ensuring every command hits its mark with precision, the company said.
- Compatibility with proprietary batteries: The system integrates with GEM’s self-developed high-performance lithium batteries, featuring automotive-grade cells and smart battery management systems (BMS), guaranteeing 24/7 factory operation, explained SEER.
- Data-driven optimization: Autonomous forklifts collect real-time weight data, fueling lean production decisions with 99% accuracy, the company claimed.
GEM reports improved accuracy
GEM said it had a smooth implementation process with SEER. The company designed its robotics operating system with a variety of end users in mind, so GEM said its employees were able to quickly get up to speed on the system.
The SEER robots weigh items during transport, then upload the data directly to GEM’s manufacturing execution system (MES). GEM said this has improved production quality.
So far, GEM said it’s happy with its results since integrating SEER’s robots. It said real-time data uploading accuracy has reached 99%, shortening material turnaround times.
“Labor costs slashed by 50%, with operational efficiency and data accuracy soaring!” said a GEM project manager.
Working with GEM’s self-developed battery system has also boosted operational efficiency, the companies said.
