Intier Automotive in Redditch selected UPM Conveyors Ltd to automate the product handling from a bank of seven large tonnage Injection moulding machines which offered a pay back time of only eight months against an investment of £150k by improving efficiency and reducing labour.
Originally an operator was employed on each machine to visually check and carry out secondary operations on the moulded parts which would then be stacked in a stillage ready to be taken to the assembly area via a pallet truck or fork lift.
The UPM solution allowed a robot on each machine to feed the moulding onto a belt conveyor located at high level which traversed for transporting to a main conveyor some 60 meters long for transporting to a central area where a vastly reduced number of operators would perform the same task that was previously carried out at each machine as per the above photograph.
The UPM central PLC touch screen control programme was written in house by UPM Conveyors Ltd to ensure the system was user friendly and interfaced each machine robot cycle time for the complete range of mouldings produced and eliminated any possibility of a collision on the main conveyor.
Due to the success of this project UPM have since installed additional belt conveyors to further extend the system.
All aspects of manufacture are carried out in house at UPM including fabrication; programming and control build allowing complete control of quality / inspection and maintaining delivery promises.
UPM Conveyors Ltd
Roy Fowler
Tel:00 44 1753 548801
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