Six-axis arms add robotic flexibility
- 'Our intention is to automate any production process that returns a benefit to our customers and Shimizu'.
- A clear statement given by Trevor Gaughan, Technical Director of Shimizu Industry UK, as he recently described its three six-axis robot installations.
- By the end of January a further two robot systems will be installed at the Telford Site.
- Shimizu is a moulding and assembly company supplying automotive tier one companies.
- The decision to move to six-axis robots was based on being able to reduce manual intervention and reduce work in progress bottlenecks.
- Fanuc Robotics was chosen as Hi-Tech's partner for the project and the ARCMate 120iBE robot arm was selected for each system.
- Its reach, speed and in particular its ability to 'flip' over backwards made the arm the most cost effective solution to achieve the target cycle time.
- In cell one the Fanuc ARCMate robot locates the shroud when the press tool opens after the moulding process.
- During the welding cycle the robot picks up another seven inserts ready for the next cycle.
- The flexible design of the Fanuc Robotics ARCMate allows the cell to be compact saving on floorspace.
- Recycling the sprue using the robot arm's 1.37m reach allowed the granulator shoot to be positioned well above the cell.
