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CASE STUDY
MACHINE TENDING 24/7
END USER
DISTRIBUTOR
INTEGRATION
Robot programming: Customer
MES intergration: Gibson Engineering
SCOPE OF PROJECT
Momentum Manufacturing Group wants to automate some of their CNC-related manufacturing workflows in order to keep up with demands and run a fully automated lights out manufacturing process. As a proof of concept they chose a manufacturing workflow where a metal part is picked from a CNC lathe machine, cleaned from grates in an air cleaner, then inserted in a Coordinate Measuring Machine to control for tolerances and potential tool wear on the lathe. Lastly the accepted parts should be nicely packed into pigeon hole boxes.
SOLUTION
In order to run a 24/7 workflow the robot must be able to charge while working. With smart placement of the machines in the production layout the robot is able to serve three workstations from the same location, which means that the robot can charge while operating. This smart detail allows for the robot to run continuously day and night.
The whole workflow is controlled and coordinated by the ER-ABILITY software coupled with an MES-system prompting the robot and the machines when to start and stop operating. The robot communicates directly with the lathe machine to open the door.
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The first phase of the implementation was succesful. Phase 2 will be adding three more lathe machines to the workflow cycle to maximize utilization of the operating time of the robot.
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The programming of the robot's routes and movements was managed entirely by engineers at Momentum Manufacturing Group. The integration with the MES-system was managed by Gibson Engineering.
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The expectation for the future is to scale the setup to other manufacturing sites in the MMG and have the workers and daily operators work alongside the robot to reschedule the machine to run new batches of metal parts.
AUTOMATED WORKFLOW
By using the ER FLEX, we can use the cobot to serve the coordinate measurement machine, the part cleaner and multiple lathes in one cycle which is much more efficient than fixed robots on every machine or work station
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Jon Freeman, Project Integration Engineer,
Momentum Manufacturing Group
