¿Automatizo con un cobot? Cinco preguntas antes de decidir

A 20-minute, 4-round Express simulation on the decision to automate a task with a collaborative robot (cobot) in a manufacturing SME, built on the five questions a plant asks before deciding: do I need to automate, what are my options, can I afford it, which tasks can I automate, and is a cobot right for me.

The learner is Laia Serra, operations director of Muntatges Tordera, a fictional 64-person plastic moulding and assembly plant in Granollers (Barcelona), in 2027: seven lost-time injuries, 2,400 ppm, nine customer claims, 38% operator turnover, a temp agency that cannot fill the palletizing jobs and a full shop floor.

Round by round the learner chooses the first task to automate among five with different fit (palletizing, machine tending, screwdriving, visual inspection, wire harness assembly) and the numbers of the business case; the solution (cobot, fenced industrial robot, more temps or outsourcing), how safety is handled (application risk assessment, relying on the built-in functions, or fencing) and the working speed; the scope of the investment against a 250,000 EUR limit, who learns to program it and what happens to the people it frees (redeploy, end temp contracts, dismiss or keep); and how to answer a fourth-quarter order of 30% more volume with four new variants.

Each round projects the whole year on six areas that mirror the reasons plants automate: health and safety (the largest weight), quality and its consistency, profitability and payback, turnover and talent, flexibility to demand, and floor space and scrap; two numeric predictions are scored against the outcome. Consequences arrive with delay.

The debrief names the turning point, explains the year in run-specific insights and applies the five questions to the run. Spanish primary, English parity.

An intermediate simulation for participants who already know the core concepts of the subject, designed for master's and MBA programmes.