Innovative product design coupled with robot-based automation keeps Rittal ahead of the competition

Citation

(2003), "Innovative product design coupled with robot-based automation keeps Rittal ahead of the competition", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930caf.004

Innovative product design coupled with robot-based automation keeps Rittal ahead of the competition

Innovative product design coupled with robot-based automation keeps Rittal ahead of the competition:

Keywords: Welding, Enclosures, Robots

Ten-fold increase in productivity achieved with ABB robots

Innovative product design, combined with a flexible automation initiative spearheaded by ABB welding robots, has helped IT and electronic enclosure manufacturer, Rittal, maintain the competitive edge across its UK operations. On some operations the use of ABB welding robots has resulted in a ten-fold increase in productivity.

Based near Plymouth, the UK manufacturing arm of Rittal-CSM Limited, part of the global Friedhelm Loh Group, mainly supply the IT and data-communications market, providing a range of state-of-the-art enclosure systems for some of the world’s most prestigious manufacturers such as Dell and Hewlett Packard.

sRittal-CSM has integrated robot-based automation across its welding cells at regular time intervals and now employs ABB six-axis robots in a wide range of applications. These include MIG, TIG, spot, stud and plasma welding, as well as linishing operations, glue application and brake-press tending (Plates 4 and 5).

Additionally, the machine park in Plymouth hosts two automated paint plants, CNC piercing and folding centres, high speed power presses and roll-form facilities. These are supported by a highly flexible, multi-skilled workforce.

Plate 4 IRB 4400 manipulating and welding a cabinet base

Plate 5 Multiple IRB 1400 industrial robots welding a Rittal cabinet frame

“The decision to automate was initially driven by a requirement for improved throughput at lower cost,” says Technical Director Stephen Hobbs. “Robot manufacturers who were already customers of Rittal were invited to tender for the development of an initial cell. A short list was drawn up, and, against stiff competition, ABB was finally selected because they satisfied our requirements in a number of critical areas. We selected ABB because it had a strong application-led background upon which Rittal could lean on and ABB also guaranteed that it could respond within 4h to a service request – an important and impressive claim when one considers the geographical location of our site. Another deciding factor was that ABB’s robot technology is very sound and it was important to us that our investment was safeguarded by using a company with extensive resources, and in this area, obviously ABB satisfied our requirements.”

An ABB robot-based MIG welding cell manufacturing wall-mounted enclosures was introduced to a somewhat sceptical workforce in 1993 and immediately achieved increased output compared with previous manual welding operations. An added bonus was that it was possible to reassign personnel to other duties negating the necessity to enforce redundancies.

Dr Hobbs adds, “A further benefit of using robotic welding was the repeatability of weld quality. The ABB robots are configured with some innovative tooling, which enables access to confined spaces more efficiently than for manual welding techniques, producing a cleaner, neater weld. The improved weld quality and surface finish has helped to reduce the post weld dressing operations.”

As the benefits of the original MIG cell became apparent, the system was extended with the addition of a further MIG welding robot, and ABB robot-based cells have been progressively added over the past 8 years.

Dr Hobbs comments, “As our investment has evolved, the earlier requirement of lowering costs and increasing productivity have changed. Funding for the robotic stud welding cell was justified because it was compact and more accurate than manual stud welding methods, having the benefit of load/unload handling and flexibility – eliminating the necessity for a vast number of fixtures which would have needed regular calibration and spacious storage. The robotic linishing system, however, was introduced to enhance health and safety by removing certain manual operations.”

Rittal’s current complement of ABB robots totals 13 and of the original installations, Rittal has recycled five cells to produce different products demonstrating the flexibility of the robot cells. Rittal employs a manufacturing strategy in which products are assembled in stages at progressive build levels or “platforms”. Basic subassemblies are fabricated on the initial build platform; the main structure and framework follow on the next platform, and chassis and stiffeners are added on the final platform. All the ABB robots are specially configured to operate on a specific build platform.

The most recent automation acquisition is the plant’s “TS8” cell, which incorporates four ABB welding robots, fabricating one of Rittal’s flagship products, the TS8 enclosure system. ABB simultaneously supplied identical systems to both the UK and for Rittal’s USA manufacturing plant at Urbana, Ohio. The TS8 cell typifies the Rittal concept of successfully integrating innovative product design and flexible automated manufacturing, to produce a versatile and elegant enclosure system that is leading edge and extremely competitive on price.

The efficiency of the TS8 design – achieved through CAD/finite element calculations – uses fewer parts and less material than comparable products, and is complemented by the strength and rigidity of the product’s welded joint structure, which is fabricated using plasma arc and MIG robot welding techniques. An added bonus is that the weld seams are of such high quality that no post-welding dressing operations are required.

Working 24h a day, 5days a week, the reliability of Rittal’s ABB robots is described by Dr Hobbs as “very good” and expansion of robot-based technology within the plant is being actively discussed. Rittal is also considering to use two ABB Industrial software packages to increase productivity. ABB’s RobotStudio off-line editing program, and WebWare are just two future possibilities.

WebWare™ is a comprehensive software platform enabling local and remote monitoring of plant-wide production data, statistics and diagnostic information using a standard Internet browser. Using WebWare™, Managers within Rittal could be able to view live manufacturing data from other plants around the world and, if necessary, use the information to “fine-tune” their own operation to obtain optimum efficiency and output.

Priority at the moment, however, is a major retooling programme with innovative tool design to fully realise the flexibility of ABB robots and delivering payback on investment in terms of even higher levels of productivity and manufacturing efficiency.

Eight years on and Rittal’s flexible automation initiative appears to be an unqualified success. Stephen Hobbs sums up, “On some MIG welding operations, our productivity has risen ten-fold, so undoubtedly flexible robot-based automation, coupled to our innovative product design and development, has given us major competitive advantages in the market place.”

For further information, contact: David Marshall, ABB, Auriga House, Precedent Drive, Rooksley, Milton Keynes MK13 8PQ. Tel: +44 (0) 1908 350300; Fax: +44 (0) 1908 350301; E-mail: david.marshall@gb.abb.com