Robotics permits this automotive supplier to deal with batch runs of different frame configurations.
Working with to of it's integrators, Citation Tool Inc. and Custom Machines Inc., UPF designed and built a robotic automation system.
That incorporated two robotic laser-cutting cells and two heavy-payload material handling articulated gantries.
The laser -cutting robots use a patented, shape-generation software package.
Both articulated gantries employ a patent-pending approach where a single robot controller drives two independent robot arms to function as a giant reconfigurable gripper.
Two parallel lines make up the automation system, converging into a single manual frame-assembly line.
The parallel automation lines provide UPF with the flexibility to manufacture completely different frame rails on each line, or to increase throughput by building the same type of rail on both lines.
Both automation lines begin with large CNC punch presses fed by servodriven pullers.
Our company's ShapeGen software is used to program the ARCMate 120iB to cut predetermined holes or shapes through the vertical sides of the rail using a CO2 laser.
A Fanuc dual-arm Toploader (articulated gantry) robot, consisting of two R-2000iA/200T robot arms mounted on the to the same overhead linear track.
Under control of a PLC, the servopuller positions the rail within the work envelope of the ARC Mate 120iB laser-cutting robot, and the PLC sends a signal to the robot controller to begin the cutting process.
Once the laser cutting is complete, the servopuller releases the rail onto a conveyor for delivery to the Toploader dual-arm robots.
New rail designs can be processed via simple reprogramming of the CNC punch press, servopuller, laser cutting robot, and the dual arm robots.
