Automotive case study
Challenge:
A major OEM car manufacturer were producing exhaust heat shield parts by unloading them from a press robotically but then dropping them randomly onto a conveyor where an operator would manually off load them and fit plastic clips around the profile so the parts can be fitted to the car body with screw fixings.
Solution:
Our design was to produce pallets for each part variant that travel on a high speed shuttle conveyor to and from the press that transport the parts in an accurately controlled fashion to robots waiting at the off load end. The large robot picked the part from the pallet and positioned it in front of two smaller robots that fit the clips. The large robot had various end effectors to suit each variation of component. To improve speed each small robot had a carousel end effector that could be loaded with up to 5 clips from a bowl feeder with dual escapements. Once the clips had been fitted the large robot placed the completed part on an out feed conveyor for manual off load and packing.
Result:
In a highly time pressured industry, our automation solution provided an improvement in productivity and quality