electronics
important is that you trust your supplier to teach you about the technology and materials, share all the available options with you and recommend the best course of action for your business.
Improvements that add up By working with your adhesives and dispensing equipment supplier on a step-by- step incremental plan, you can also add to your equipment in the future with little to no redundancy. Regular contact provides additional touchpoints to review your process, as often once you change one thing, by adding more equipment and increasing efficiency, it exposes other areas of the process you can improve. For example, speeding up the curing process with a UV or Born2Bond adhesive may overwhelm the next step in the process — a step by step approach means you can identify and explore opportunities as they arise. Consider this example. A manufacturer is
manually dispensing a cyanoacrylate adhesive and would like to improve accuracy. The first step might be to introduce a dispense controller, such as a time/pressure dispenser and a dispensing valve. This would replace the manual process of metering by eye, reduce the potential for repetitive strain injury and improve accuracy and repeatability. If the manufacturer wanted to improve this
further, it could then opt for a pressure pot. Purchasing material in a larger container can offer a cost advantage compared with purchasing a small bottle, as well as a time saving as the operator will no longer have to regularly change the syringe. To achieve high levels of accuracy and repeatability, the manufacturer could integrate this set up onto a robot. The skilled operator can then be relocated to another area of the production line or the business that adds more value. Depending on the objective, the steps could be completed in a different order — automation isn’t always the end game. An alternative example comes from the
preeflow range and Dymax UV curing lamps. These ranges have a breadth of modular options to meet your current and future needs, without necessarily purchasing a full
the cutting edge
system straight away. For example, you could start with just a lamp, before adding a shutter and/or a light shield. There is no obligation to purchase everything all in one go.
step by step The Archytas series of robotic integrations is a great example of how manufacturers can benefit from the incremental approach using automation. We take appropriate surface treatment, dispensing and curing equipment, with a suitable robot, and combine them into a safe working cell designed around the customer’s individual requirements. The systems are designed and built in such a way that they can be easily adapted, enabling additional or alternative equipment and capabilities to be added in future. For example, you could add sensors or cameras to assess part location. One customer Intertronics worked with
recently was attaching up to 500 ABS plastic widgets to stainless-steel sheets. This labour- intensive process involved several different sizes and layouts. The first step was to automate the cyanoacrylate adhesive dispensing using a single dispensing valve and a robot. The customer then asked if we could speed up the process, so we added two further valves and the required robot hardware. However, this relied on having the right programs for each jig/configuration. Rather than working with 100 programs, we suggested adding sensors that detect which configuration is present, so that the correct valve is triggered. Intertronics takes the time to understand
every customer’s process in detail, so we can recommend the equipment and materials to help you achieve your goals. Our approach is to only sell you what you need, taking small steps until you are happy with your process. We can also carry out trials in our
Technology Centre in Kidlington, to demonstrate how our proposed solution could work on your line.
Intertronics
www.intertronics.co.uk
UKManufacturing Summer 2021
renowned safety knives, while continuing to maintain the highest standards of safety and quality. Festo automation sits at the heart of a new
F
rotary assembly cell designed and supplied by PCE Automation. The new production cell also contains Festo mini slides, axes, cylinders, valves and grippers – all of which contribute to the high precision alignment required for STANLEY knife assembly. The nerve centre of the new rotary
assembly cell is the Festo CPX-AP-I, which acts as a single control network and facilitates the use of a single cable for all communications and power. It also allows flexible positioning of valve terminals and other components around the assembly cell – all of which simplifies installation and lowers overall cost. Festo DGST precision mini slides and grippers are used for accuracy and repeatability in presenting the plastic components for assembly. These are complemented by DFM guided actuators and air preparation units from Festo’s core Blue Star range.
putting knife production at
esto automation technology is being used to help STANLEY Tools in the UK to meet continued demand for its
Josh Roberts, Festo business development
consultant, says: “The STANLEY knife rotary assembly cell presents a great example of how automation can be applied to replace manual repetitive tasks and deliver benefits, such as improved productivity and quality. “PCE involved Festo at the earliest possible
stage, which meant we could work in partnership and combine our respective specialist knowledge as system builders and automation specialists to deliver the optimum solution for Stanley Black & Decker.”
www.festo.com/cms/en-gb_gb/
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