A Korean company hires Portland company to distribute a line of robots

Nick LeBel/Industrial Automation Supply The Doosan Robotic Inc. cobot at work at Dingley Press in Lisbon

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Businesses are having a hard time finding workers. Could robotics be the solution to filling the vacant roles?

Doosan Robotics Inc. selected Industrial Automation Supply in Portland as its distributor for a line of collaborative robots, or "cobots."

According to Nicholas LeBel, Industrial Automation Supply director of marketing and communications, the cobots are produced by Doosan in South Korea and retail for $54,000 or more.

"We found Doosan because our VP of sales was searching for a collaborative robot, and Doosan really stood out as a bleeding-edge product that our engineering team fell in love with from an application and functionality standpoint, and we reached out to develop a relationship with them," said LeBel.

At an upcoming Oktoberfest event to be hosted by Industrial Automation Supply on Oct. 6, a Doosan cobot will be used to pour a pint of Allagash Brewing Co. beer.

In Lisbon, LeBel said, the Dingley Press has used cobots to collect a set amount of catalogs to be placed into a hopper, where they are moved on to the next step in the finishing process, which is binding and adding address labels.

Industrial Automation Supply, which is based on Industrial Way in Portland, was founded in 1993 as an electrical controls and automation components distributor with a focus on serving the original equipment manufacturers market in New England. In the last few years the business expanded to include a panel shop, the Systems Group, and a second location in Scarborough. Industrial Automation Supply has around 20 full-time employees.