JOKAB SAFETY is Now Part of ABB Inc.

JOKAB SAFETY was acquired by ABB in March 2010. This gives Jokab extra strength, plus a sales network in 120 countries.  Our goal is to become even better at supporting you as a customer through coop­eration within JOKAB SAFETY, A MEMBER OF THE ABB GROUP globally and locally.  

Since its inception in 1988, JOKAB SAFETY has been ad­hering to the business concept of developing innovative products and solutions for machine safety.  The company has supplied everything from individual safety components to fully installed protection systems for entire production lines and works on a daily basis with the practical applica­tion of safety requirements in combination with produc­tion requirements.  JOKAB SAFETY is also represented on a variety of international standards committees concerned with the safety of machinery which means that we have now added this very valuable experience and knowledge to our offering.  Similarly, ABB has always been a pioneer and a representative for its business areas and a power­ful voice in professional organizations and committees.  All in all, this creates an enormous bank of knowledge and experience that we look forward to sharing with our customers.

The fact that the leading power and automation technol­ogy company, ABB, and a leader in machine safety, JOKAB SAFETY, are joining forces means a lot more than just a new organizational chart.  ABB has a huge footprint in indus­try - from power supply to the control of each individual mo­tor - and has been delivering reliable solutions for decades that boost productivity. The acquisition of JOKAB SAFETY now means that an additional building block is in place.  JOKAB SAFETY can now offer our customers tailored, turnkey solutions where machine safety is an integral and value-enhancing component.

Productivity and safety are not contradictory terms.  On the contrary, JOKAB SAFETY knows safety solutions that are properly executed and adapted from the beginning will increase productivity.  A partner that can deliver integrated and well thought out turnkey solutions enables a production-friendly safety en­vironment.  By building up and upgrading safety solutions in existing environments in a smart way, the mode of pro­duction will not need to be adapted to meet the require­ments that safety sets.  Instead, this allows a system that is manufacturing-friendly and that takes into account the business and its productivity objectives.

 

Safety History

Developments of the 70's

The JOKAB background in safety started in the seventies when there was a significant focus on the safety of manually operated presses, the most dangerous machine in those days. The prob­ability of losing a finger or hand while working with these machines was very high.  New safety solutions for both safety devices as well as for the control systems for presses were developed and introduced on both old and new machines.  JOKAB was directly involved in this work through the design of Two-Hand devices, control systems for presses, making safety inspections for the Health and Safety authorities and writing regulations for safety of these machines.  This work provided an excellent base for our knowledge in machinery safety. The numbers of accidents involving presses decreased sig­nificantly during these years however there is still room for new ideas to enable safety equipment become more practical and ergonomic.

Developments of the 80's

During the eighties, industrial robots (Irb’s) started to become commonplace in manufacturing industry.  This meant that work­ers were outside of the dangerous areas during production, but had at certain times the need to go inside the machine in order to e.g. adjust a product to the correct position, inspect the produc­tion cycle, trouble shoot and to program the Irb.  New risks were introduced and new safety methods required.  It was for example hard to distinguish whether production machines had stopped safely or were simply waiting for the next signal, such as a sensor giving a start signal while a product was being adjust­ed into the correct position.  Mistakes in safety system design resulting in serious accidents were made, such as the omis­sion of safety devices to stop the Irb, unreliable connection of safety devices and unreliable safety inputs on the Irb.

In the mid eighties the standards committee for safety in Industrial Robot Systems EN 775/ISO 775 was started.  This was the first international standard for machine safety.  In order to give the correct inputs to the standard, work around Irb’s was closely studied in order to meet production integrated safety requirements.  The introduction of a production oriented safety stop function was made, using for example, software to stop machines smoothly and then safety relays/contactors to disconnect the power to the machines actuators after the machine had stopped.  This technique allows easy restart of production after a stop situation by the machine safeguards.

There were a lot of discussions as to whether one could have both safety and practical requirements in a standard, such as a safe stop function, which allowed an easy restart of the machine.  Three-position enabling devices were also in­troduced for safety during programming, testing and trouble shooting of Irb’s and other equipment.  In the robot standard the three-position enabling function was first defined by only allowing for hazardous machinery functions in the mid switch position.  Releasing or pressing the three-position push button in panic leading to a stop signal.

Developments of the 90's

In Europe, during the nineties, the machinery directive was the start of a tremendous increase in co-operation across borders to get European standards for safety for machinery and safety devices.  The experience from different European countries has led to a wide range of safety standards and this has made work in safety much easier.  With the integration of Europe it is now only necessary for a safety company such as us to get one approval for our components for all of Europe instead of one per country.

Developments 2000 –

Internationally the work on safety has now been intensified within ISO.  The objective is to have the same structure of safe­ty requirements and standards within ISO as within EN.  JOKAB SAFETY is active both internationally and nationally in dif­ferent standard working groups.  The co-operation between countries is leading to better safety solutions, making it much easier to create safe working environments around the world.

 

3-Position Enabling Devices	Pluto Safety PLC	Vital 1 Safety Controller	Pluto Safety Encoders
Safeball Two-Hand Safety Devices	Eden Non-contact Safety Sensor	Focus Safety Light Curtains and Grids	Emergency Stop Buttons

 

For nearly two decades JOKAB SAFETY has continued to redefine and reinvent machine safety devices to meet international standards and integrate easily into production while protecting machine operators. Today our new safety relays are more flexible then ever and have been engineered to be only 15% of the size of our original relays. Our most current innovations include the Vital, a control unit designed for dynamic signal monitoring to increase and simplify machine safety. Eden non-contact/non-magnetic sensors for interlocking doors operate on dynamic signals with their function continually being checked. Using this technique only one channel is needed to achieve the highest safety level and up to 30 interlocking gates can be supervised and connected in series to one safety controller.

Other new developments include our Pluto Safety PLC, which has a unique I/O interface with inputs/outputs that can configured either for static or dynamic signals, allowing for many new safety system possibilities. Monitoring of Time, Frequency, Speed, Sequence and activated safety devices is also easy. It is also much easier to combine several different machines and systems using our unique "All Supervisor" concept with safe bus communication. In an effort to fulfill JOKABs' ambition to simplify the creation of safe working environments we have also developed our unique Safeball for one and two-hand control devices, Focus Safety Light Curtains & Beams, Quick-Guard® Safety Fencing Systems and design programs such as SafeCAD® Software.

Today our products are on machines and systems throughout the world, and as JOKAB SAFETY, A MEMBER OF THE ABB GROUP we are building on an international network of distribution and technical service.  It is our constant goal to achieve long-term relationships with our customers worldwide and provide them with individual safety solutions and services.