Integrated cell improves assembly welding for yellow goods sector

Citation

(1999), "Integrated cell improves assembly welding for yellow goods sector", Industrial Robot, Vol. 26 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1999.04926aaf.007

Integrated cell improves assembly welding for yellow goods sector

Integrated cell improves assembly welding for yellow goods sector

Keywords Robots, Welding

Summit Engineering and Fabrications of Leicester, a leading subcontract fabrication supplier to UK construction and agricultural machinery (yellow goods) manufacturers, has invested in the latest Panasonic three-station modular robot welding cell. Designed to improve welding production facilities at its Glen Parva factory, the new cell has allowed the company to enhance customer service by reducing work in progress and improving quality, efficiency and response times (see Plate 5).

Plate 5 Panasonic Robot cell

The configuration chosen allows the robot welder to maintain production on two of the stations with one operator while the tooling on the third station is changed to meet forthcoming production requirements. Because the three stations are calibrated at 90° to each other around the base of the Panasonic robot, Summit can load any fixture on to any station, enabling a simple robot program shift to minimise reprogramming and maintain maximum uptime.

Panasonic modular cells are built on a steel fabricated base that allows the system to be delivered as a completed single unit. As a result, building, configuration and testing can be performed off-site and production welding can begin only hours after delivery.

The basic Panasonic system comprises a PanaRobo AW006AE six-axis arc welding robot fitted with a PanaStar RF350 inverter control power source, a Panasonic welding torch and collision mount. The three workstations are spaced at 90° increments around the centrally mounted robot arm. Protection is provided by a three station guard system which is mounted as an integral part of the fabricated steel base plate, resulting in a single, modular robot cell in which all items are permanently integrated.

Each individual workstation benefits from its own lathe style door that ensures robot torch orientation is not compromised when the doors are closed and reduces operator fatigue by allowing users to approach the component tooling during loading and unloading. The door design also simplifies crane loading.

For more information contact John Hopper, Panasonic Industrial Europe Ltd. Tel/Fax: + 44 (0)1785 213048; Internet: http://www.panasonicfa.com