ABB Demonstrates development in painting and plastics industry with new partner, Mercia Systems

Citation

(2003), "ABB Demonstrates development in painting and plastics industry with new partner, Mercia Systems", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930dab.001

ABB Demonstrates development in painting and plastics industry with new partner, Mercia Systems

ABB Demonstrates development in painting and plastics industry with new partner, Mercia Systems

Keywords: ABB, Plastics, Painting

ABB, the global power and automation technologies group, announces its new partner for robot-based automation, Mercia Systems, a specialist in the painting and plastics industry (Plate 1).

The ABB/Mercia partnership further enforces ABB's determination to increasingly sell robot-based solutions via channel suppliers with substantial industrial sector and process knowledge whilst building a strong presence in the plastics industry. Mercia Systems designs, supplies and installs both robot-based and manual paint systems predominantly to the plastics industry and by working with ABB, Mercia will be able to offer the ABB six-axis paint robot range to its customers.

Plate 1 ABB teams-up with Mercia Systems to supply robot-based paint systems to industry

David Marshall, Business Manager, ABB Robotics, comments, "The plastics industry is a growing market for robot-based automation as manufacturers increasingly have to deal with complex processes and high-volumes. Our new partnership will allow Mercia Systems the opportunity to offer the ABB six-axis paint robot range as a solution to customer requirements for paint-application flexibility and consistency in high-volume production."

Chris Lines, Managing Director, Mercier Systems, says, "ABB is an innovative company offering high-performance, market-leading products. Automated paint-application solutions need to become more sophisticated as plastics manufacturers are placed under increasing pressure to increase paint quality and deal with a multitude of finishes on high-volume products, such as automotive components and consumer technology products. A few years back, product life cycles are also much shorter than the typical product run down now to as little as a few months. This heavily increases the manufacturers' requirements for flexible robot-based automation solutions that can respond quickly and easily to change."

ABB has the capacity to produce more than 12,000 six-axis robots a year, which means that Mercia Systems can confidently and easily integrate six-axis paint robots into customer's paint systems. The ABB six-axis paint robot range offers application consistency, paint-saving efficiency, whilst being able to cope with high-speed cycle times. Six-axis robots can be quickly adapted for different applications and product design variants.

For more information, please contact: Chris Lines, Mercia Systems, P.O. Box 9593, Tamworth, Staffordshire B78 3NU. Tel: +44 (0) 1827 284244; Fax: +44 (0) 1827 286311; E-mail: chris@merciasystems.co.uk