BAXI GROUP, manufacturers of domestic central heating boilers operated out of two sites in the North West, Bamber Bridge and Padiham. A decision to concentrate all activities on a single site at Bamber Bridge gave the production engineers an opportunity to rethink their current method of boiler assembly that used overhead chain conveyor. Experience on other sites had identified the benefits of assembling and testing boilers on roller track in small cells and the decision was taken to abandon the single common assembly line approach.
CI Logistics were a long standing supplier to BAXI GROUP and they were approached along side other conveyor suppliers to consider the use of powered/gravity roller conveyor for 6 x Assembly/Test cells.
Several schemes were advocated using gravity rollers and powered roller conveyor with conventional chain transfer mechanisms. However they did not meet the criteria of being both labour efficient and cost effective.
Given the brief to offer alternative schemes, the CI Logistic design engineers submitted a proposal that offered the simplicity of gravity roller for the main Assembly areas combined with an automated shuttle car system that fed boilers to and from the test cells.
Each Test cell was provided with pneumatically tilting conveyor beds that allows the test operator to access the boiler in the most ergonomic attitude.
The system control enabled the shuttle car to deliver a boiler from the Assembly area to any available Test cell, whilst also collecting the tested boiler and delivering it directly to the final Packing area.
Six of these automated Assembly/Test cells have now been successfully installed by CI Logistics and they have fulfilled the initial BAXI GROUP brief of providing a compact and cost effective automated assembly cell.
Jon Williams of BAXI GROUP (North West Engineering Manager) said that ‘CI Logistics conveyor solution facilitated the capability of flexible & agile manufacturing, enabling product change overs in minutes.
With having product specific line boards and the simple standard layout on all lines, we have the ability to manufacture virtually any product on any line.
The use of CI Logistics gravity and powered conveyors has also given us the greatest flexibility for ”future proofing” the assembly lines against any future products’.
CI Logistics
Tel: 0116 276 1691
www.conveyors.co.uk
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