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MOTOMAN ROBOTICS (UK) LTD |
Press Release
ROBOTIC WELDING HELPS AUTOMOTIVE PRESSWORKER TO PROSPER
Pressworking companies are going out of business all the time in the UK, but West Bromwich Tool & Engineering (www.pressworks.co.uk) is bucking the trend, regularly winning multi million pound projects and repeat orders from first and second tier suppliers to the automotive industry. Increasingly, the company is being asked to supply welded sub-assemblies such as airbag lids and radio brackets, in addition to single pressings.
There
are few automotive OEMs in the UK whose vehicles do not include a component from
this supplier, predominantly on or behind the dash or inside the doors but also
in ‘cosmetic’ positions, such as tread plates for covering the rear load space
sill. Project manager, Tony Scougall,
puts the firm’s competitive edge partly down to its ability and willingness to
assist in component design to optimise manufacture, and partly down to
continual investment
in new processes to improve quality and reduce
costs, such as Motoman
robotic welding equipment.
The £6 million turnover company, which employs nearly 100 staff, installed its first arc welding cell in 2002. Supplied by integrator, Bauromat (UK), it comprised a Motoman robot, turntable and fixtures for welding airbag assemblies. As it is a safety-critical component, the OEM wanted guaranteed weld quality and repeatability as well as ± 0.5 mm tolerance on dimensions. While the latter was achievable by manual welding using good quality jigs and fixtures, the consistency of weld was difficult to maintain by hand so the process had to be automated, including the addition of sensors within the fixtures for quality control. A second component is about to be produced in the cell, namely a rear seat assembly for the same OEM, and will be run concurrently until the first contract ends in mid 2005.
It was a customer requirement for competitive prices on sub-assemblies for a cross beam, the structure supporting the vehicle facia, that prompted the purchase of a second welding cell, this time a turnkey project handled by Motoman itself, including robot, manipulator, fixtures and programs. Called ArcSystem 6000, the essentially standard cell is equipped with a Miller power source and robotic interface from ITW Welding Products, and was installed at the end of 2004 in just two days. It produces half of the 16 components that go to make up the cross beam, which is made in left- and right-hand drive versions by the second tier supplier company.
Full production of 69,000 welded sets per year will be reached by mid 2006, by which time the cell will be operating 10 hours a day every weekday. So there is plenty of spare capacity to handle anticipated production volumes, which are eventually expected to be at least double.
Commented Mr Scougall, “We were happy with our first Motoman experience, as the cell proved reliable and after-sales support was good. So it made sense to go down a similar route for the second cell, especially as our team leader, Rob Godwin, had become familiar with editing the programs and operating the equipment. “As this latest project was driven by a customer’s cost-down requirement, we evaluated how long it would take an operator to weld each cross beam sub-assembly by hand. We found that 30 parts per hour was possible, whereas the robot cell produces 60 per hour with one operator loading and unloading the parts.”
On this basis, payback will be around three years at the anticipated higher production levels. An additional benefit is that parts are more consistent in terms of weld bead quality and there is no risk of unfinished sub-assemblies being delivered to the customer; unlike humans, robots do not make mistakes.
For More Information Contact:
Motoman Robotics (UK) Ltd
Johnson Park, Wildmere Road, Banbury, Oxon OX16 3JU
Tel: 01295 272755
FAX: 01295 267127
E-mail:
information@motoman.co.uk