Centurion Systems, the Johannesburg-based manufacturer of gate motors and access automation products, has recently introduced robotics into its CNC lathe production facility.
The new Arcmate 120iB from Fanuc Robotics was a welcome addition to the factory bringing with it the ability to increase production capacity and free up manpower for use in other critical areas of the factory. Its inclusion into the production plant was warmly welcomed and it was soon given the nickname Umabutho (which means 'the warrior who never sleeps') by the production staff.
The Arcmate was designed by Fanuc Robotics primarily for use as a production welding robot, but at Centurion it is utilised for the loading and unloading of shafts used in sliding gate operators. It has six axes, a reach of 1,88 m, weighs 225 kg (excluding ancillaries) and has a payload of 10 kg, which is the maximum weight the robot arm can carry.
Brian de Souza, mechanical engineer at Centurion, was very complimentary when referring to the Arcmate, “It has fantastic repeatability at high speeds. The robot arm can move at two metres per second, and once it has been programmed to perform a series of tasks it can repeat these over and over to within one tenth of a millimetre. Since the lathes that it interfaces with have Fanuc controllers too, getting them to communicate to the Arcmate was comparatively easy. Robots are accurate, fast, repeatable and very easy to program and manipulate.”
To complement the Arcmate, Centurion has also introduced an automated measuring station which interfaces with the robot. Through a control interface, it provides feedback information to the lathes to ensure the shafts are machined to tolerance by automatically correcting tool wear offset as the tool tips wear. The measuring station is capable of measuring tolerances of as little as ,005 mm (5/1000th of one mm). Any variation outside of the predetermined tolerances will cause immediate corrective action to be taken.
Widmark Wilke, production foreman CNC stated, “The demand on the CNC cell is very high due to the sales forecast and stock build-up for December’s annual shutdown, so adopting this highly automated manufacturing process has given us additional capacity and it has freed up operators for use in other strategic areas. It also allows me to train these operators in other disciplines.”
Centurion has since enjoyed an average of approximately 30 to 40% increase in efficiency, as well as adding another eight hours of production per day without the requirement for additional staffing.
For more information contact Adam Butchart, marketing manager, Centurion Systems, +27 (0)11 699 2467, adam.butchart@centurionsystems.co.za
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