Production Systems
PlayStation is one of the manufacturers that utilizes a nearly 100% robotic factory to create
its product. One of its internal stakeholders, Hiroyuki Kusakabe, general architect at SGMO. “There's probably no other site that can manipulate robots in this manner," said an engineer. Every process -- to final packaging -- is automated. The blend of robotic and human labor is painstakingly optimized with a priority on return on investment. "I created profitable production lines “Just a few humans were present to deal with a handful of tasks -- two to feed bare motherboards to the line, and two to package the finished consoles. But the actual assembly is done entirely by articulated robots, supplied by Mitsubishi Electric. The 31.4-meter line, completed in 2018, can churn out a new console every 30 seconds. One of the plant's crowning achievements is using robots to attach wires, tape, and other flexible parts to the consoles. Twenty-six out of 32 robots at the Kisarazu plant are dedicated to the task, deftly handling materials most robots would find too finicky. For example, attaching the flexible flat cable -- a tape-like electrical cord -- requires one robot arm to hold up the cable and another to twist it. The
cable then needs to be attached in a specific direction using just the right pressure, which may seem simple for a human but is an extremely complex maneuver for a robot.” (Writer, 2020b). Recently, though, PlayStation’s reliance on computer chips produced mainly in South Korea proved to be problematic due to chip manufacturing experiencing a major slump. The PlayStation uses specially designed chips as its CPU, which runs the console. “The scarcity of semiconductors has resulted in production bottlenecks and reduced manufacturing capacity for Sony, the company behind the PS5. As a result, the supply of PS5 units has not been able to keep
up with the high demand from consumers.” (Gregory, 2023) After 3 years, the chip issue was resolved and it was back to business as usual.
