Case Study: Ket-Met achieves over 40% lower machine hour costs with Universal Robots cobots

UR cobot reduces machine hour costs by more than 40%

Ket-Met Oy, a Finnish subcontract machine tooling shop, struggled with rising machine hour costs, low automation in older CNC equipment, and a shortage of CNC machinists. Its cost competitiveness had fallen, making it difficult to win new business and grow revenue. Universal Robots provided UR10 cobots to help automate machine tending and other repetitive tasks.

Universal Robots’ cobots were integrated with Ket-Met’s CNC lathes and milling machines to handle workpiece loading/unloading, cleaning, transporting parts, assembly, and deburring. The results were significant: machine hour and unit labor costs fell by more than 40%, ROI was about 12 months per cobot, and the company won new orders while extending the life of older machines like its 1990 Hartford milling machine.

Ket-Met

Tuomas Kalanen

Managing Director