De-mould robots cut costs and improve aesthetics for Pressac and lead to down stream automation

Citation

(1998), "De-mould robots cut costs and improve aesthetics for Pressac and lead to down stream automation", Industrial Robot, Vol. 25 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1998.04925faf.003

De-mould robots cut costs and improve aesthetics for Pressac and lead to down stream automation

De-mould robots cut costs and improve aesthetics for Pressac and lead to down stream automation

Keywords Plastics, Robots

The need to protect the surface and appearance of the mouldings it produces for the telecommunications industry was a primary reason for Pressac Interconnect to introduce automated de-moulding in its moulding department, now awaiting delivery of its second ES1000 robot from ATM Automation.

This first unit, mounted on a 150-tonne Demag, has successfully overcome any possibility of marks or scratches appearing on the mouldings, particularly noticeable where a high gloss finish is demanded.

A second reason for robots on the moulding machines is the increasing amount of post-moulding operations and assembly now being carried out by Pressac, a long established custom moulder in the specialist business of producing items ranging from telephone sockets to larger components for data and voice transmission equipment.

As parts become more complex and assembly itself needs a high level of mechanisation, de-mould robots become the basis for both on-machine and down stream automation. The first of ATM's ES1000 is placing mouldings on to a conveyor which takes them directly to operators for assembly, thereby reducing handling to a minimum.

Pressac operates a large number of moulding tools which, to be automated, would each require its own, dedicated gripper unit. For the next ES1000, mould designers and gripper designers have worked together so that a common gripper can be employed with seven different mould tools. The shapes of the various mouldings ­ produced in multi-cavity tools ­ are largely similar, but the answer was to set the cavities on identical centres. In addition to reducing capital costs, this will also cut down the work involved in mould changing.

Cost reduction in this area, together with carrying out far more added value operations, most of them on or near the moulding machine, combine to offer Pressac's customers complete assemblies at competitive prices.

"This is the level of expertise we were seeking when we carried out that first survey of robot manufacturers", says John Patterson, production engineer, who states that their choice continues to be fully justified. "The first robot was bolted on to the machine, set, and it worked right from the start."

For further information, please contact Robert Hopper, ATM Automation. Tel: +44 (0)116 277 3607.