AUTOMATION TRENDS
Bridging Islands of Automation Mazak Corp. (Florence, KY) has led the way with suc- cessful and robust automation with its Palletech systems and gantry loaders for the better part of 30 years. “The Palletech
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system is designed to bring high levels of efficiency to high- mix, low-volume production as well as high-volume operation,” said Paul Robinson, engineering manager for Mazak Sales Engineering and Automation Systems. “Palletech is compat- ible with our range of horizontal machin- ing centers, Multi-Tasking machines and Orbitec 20 machining center for large- part machining. Because of its modular, pre-engineered construction, Palletech easily expands to accommodate up to 16 machines, 6–240 pallets and up to eight loading stations,
“A basic Palletech, for example,
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | March 2016
offers one load station and six stock- ers for one machine tool and is easily expanded with additional stockers and load stations handling multiple ma- chines of different types in one cell. Ma- chines might include a five-axis e-VER Integrex, a four-axis horizontal machin- ing center, and even an Orbitec turning center that is built on a HMC platform, similar to the cell we have operating in our Florence HQ and manufacturing plant,” said Robinson. “We are definitely seeing more re- quests for automation in all forms and industries including medical device manufacturing and aerospace, as well as job shops. In medical manufactur- ing, one reason is the cost of material that medical device manufacturers are working with. PEEK [polyether ether ketone] is so expensive, for example, that remnant control is extremely important. We have an advantage with the advanced communication barfeeder interface we developed with LNS America. This interface allows us to continually track and monitor the amount of stock that is left, minimiz- ing as much waste as possible,” said Robinson. “Similarly, these customers want to use as standard as a solution as possible, but with the necessary modifications required to protect a
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