ROBOTS AND AUTOMATION | TECHNOLOGY
synchronise their movements with the movements within the mould, such as those of core pulls or ejectors. Engel Easix robots are currently the only ones on the market that do not require any additional, expensive hardware for this. Especially in large systems, this typically results in a significant reduction of cycle times and investment costs.” Wittmann, another company making injection machines and robots, says minimisation of unpro- ductive downtimes is the only way to have the investment in the machine amortised in the shortest possible time. Its W8 and WX robot generations come with a function called SmartRem- oval as standard; this automatically shortens the time required for parts removal from the mould area without any operator intervention. The R8 and R9 robot control systems automati- cally calculate from the first cycle how long the mould opening movement will take. Then, in all subsequent parts removal processes, the system no longer waits for the complete opening of the moving mould half, but instead already starts to move the vertical axis of the robot beforehand. “At the moment when the mould is fully opened, the axis is already moving at an optimal speed and can be accelerated still further for the actual removal process inside the open mould area,” says Witt- mann. The synchronisation with the ejectors functions in a similar way. Wittmann claims that in a program sequence
with, say, a parts removal time of 1.0s, 0.2s can be saved by using a small robot from the W818 series. With larger models, a reduction of almost 30% in part removal time is possible. The Arcelik Group, the third biggest manufac-
turer of major appliances in Europe, operates its most important washing machine production in Cayirova near Istanbul, Turkey. It makes 3.75 million appliances per year. Large components like two-part housings for the steel drums are made in filled polypropylene on MX injection moulding machines from KraussMaffei. A pick and place linear handler inserts metal bushes in the mould, which are initially insert moulded and to which a weight is subsequently screwed. Arcelik manufactures 100 various housing types. KM says this rich variety as well as the necessary flexibility are one of several reasons for the company’s interest in smart production; overall automation in the plant is 96%. Advanced Plastics in the UK moulds a diverse
range of products, from gas boiler front panels, to automotive interior, exterior and air filtration components. With customers including numerous blue-chip companies, and an impressive growth record, it says it owes a good part of its success to the adoption of the latest automated systems and robots – most of them from Fanuc; they include the M-10iA, M-20iC, M-6iB and R-2000 series. Ad- vanced Plastics also uses Fanuc Roboshot injection moulding machines.
Advanced Plastics moulds more than 1,000
products on a single site. Each has its own robot programme, which Fanuc says are all easy to understand and maintain, with one employee operating up to six moulding machines at a time.
Above: At Arcelik Group, even the function check of the manufactured washing machine is largely automated. Only the control knobs are tested by people because machines may have difficulty assessing their haptics
www.injectionworld.com
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
www.cbwautomation.com �
www.muller-iml.com �
www.engelglobal.com �
www.new.abb.com/products/robotics �
www.fanuc.eu/uk �
www.sepro-group.com �
www.wittmann-group.com �
www.kraussmaffei.com
April 2019 | INJECTION WORLD 49
Above: Fanuc robot at work at Advanced Plastics
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