Customer Requirement
Our automotive manufacturing customer needed a robotic solution to tend a large CNC machine. This machine ran lights out for three days and provided remote monitoring and data collection. Additionally, the machine had two types of castings for the infeed that would become one of the six final parts after machining.
Project Challenges
- Each casting had to be identified as it was loaded into the cell
- Raw and finished goods need to be stored for three days of production
- Remote monitoring of the system while running lights out
The MESH Solution
The MESH solution included a FANUC R-2000iC/125L robot to load/unload a large CNC machine with a dual fixture for 1st and 2nd operations. The infeed was manually loaded by an operator with assistance from a jib crane. As the cast parts entered the system, a Keyence Vision Inspection System read the casting number which was used to track the part while in the rack system. During lights out operation, the rack was filled with raw castings and the orders for machined parts were queued up. As the parts were completed, they were put back into the rack to be unloaded when the operators returned to work.
An Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Automation software/hardware solution allowed MESH to provide real-time monitoring of the entire system from within the plant and outside the plant. Any faults and alarms were sent to the maintenance group via text and emails and were quickly diagnosed with remote access to the system.