Customer Requirement
Our automobile parts manufacturer customer needed a solution to automate the tending of their cast housings that went to their milling and lathe machines. Their current tending process of handling the heavy parts were inefficient and dangerous to the employees.
MESH Solution
The MESH solution consisted of a turnkey dual robotic machine tending system designed to automate the key aspects of the process. This system included quick change grippers capable of handling a variety of casting sizes and 33 different part types.
The system was designed for quick toolless changeovers, allowing for a seamless, no-operator-needed switch between part types. The robots were inversely mounted to maximize the reach envelope of each robot while also allowing each robot to tend to two machines each. This maximized the functionality of the system and kept the footprint within the customer’s limits. A quality audit feature was also incorporated to allow an operator to call for a part, inspect the part outside the cell, and then reintroduce the part once the inspection was complete.
The MESH team coordinated with the customer’s team and the CNC machine vendor and managed the multi-phase installation process. The new system was seamlessly integrated with the company’s new equipment, and the transition to the automated solution had minimal downtime and disruption. The result was a quick adaptation by operators, with the system quickly becoming an integral part of the manufacturing workflow.
Automation Equipment
- Two IRB5720-155/2.6, 2.6-meter reach robots
- Schunk Quick Changeover Tooling Gripper
- Cognex Vision – Insight D900 Series