Sanding and polishing by robots

Citation

(2000), "Sanding and polishing by robots", Industrial Robot, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2000.04927faf.006

Sanding and polishing by robots

Keywords: Robots, Polishing

Brannock Device Co., of Syracuse, New York, once considered robots to be a luxury only large companies could afford. The company, which has been producing cast aluminium foot measurement devices since 1927, had long relied on outside vendors, who used manual methods, for its sanding and polishing operations. The Brannock Device is found in most retail shoe stores to measure shoe size. The main competitor of this company has its manufacturing operations in Taiwan which has allowed them to make a cheaper measurement device, but their quality has suffered. Brannock decided to capitalise on this by making an effort to produce the highest quality products in the industry. However, the company began to realise that its traditional methods of sanding and polishing were not cost-effective and they also failed to produce the quality it needed. Also associated with manual sanding and polishing were employee fatigue, inconsistent throughput rates, high labour rates and operator error. The company's vendors were continually increasing their prices, yet the quality of their work varied from fair to poor. It began to become clear that the company needed to improve manufacturing methods, but it was not certain what types of equipment would work for a company of its size. Staff discussed a robotic system for sanding and polishing early in their equipment search. However, they initially thought robotic technology would be too difficult to install, program and use, and too costly for this ten-employee company. Brannook sought the advice of Automated Cells and Equipment Inc. (ACE), a systems integrator in Painted Post, New York. Through discussion with ACE president Jim Morris, it was learned that a robotic sanding and polishing system would not only fall within the company's price range, but it would be a lot simpler to use than they had anticipated. Working with ACE, Brannock Device developed a robotic sanding and polishing solution that includes a Fanuc Robotics material handling robot and application specific handling tool software, as well as four backstands and end-of-arm tooling. The six-axis robot, features a large work envelope and 26.4lb. payload capacity. It is engineered for a wide range of high speed, medium payload applications, including material removal and parts transfer. In operation, a Brannock employee loads a quick-change pallet with unfinished parts. The pallet is moved on to a receiver station in the robot cell. After receiving a signal from the operator, the robot picks up a part using a vacuum gripper and moves it to the first backstand. After sanding, the robot moves the part to two additional sanding stations. Finished pieces are returned to the tray and a new piece is processed. The sequence can repeat at a rate of up to 24 parts per hour. Since Brannock Device adopted the robotic system, the company has realised a significant increase in productivity, as well as quality and consistency improvements. The system runs unattended. The project has been so successful Brannock Device has added two additional parts to the cell.