One of the West Midlands’s fastest growing manufacturers is dismissing uncertainty surrounding Brexit by investing more than £1m on a new factory extension.
PP Control & Automation has pressed the button on ambitious expansion plans that will see it add 1,000 sq metres of production space to its existing site in Cheslyn Hay, including a new logistics department and clean assembly area.

With consumer buying trends influencing greater product diversification, production and packing facilities throughout the UK and Europe are increasingly leaning towards flexible robots that straddle several lines and perform multiple tasks. As testament, Pacepacker Services reports that enquires for single robots dedicated to the entire end-of-line palletising station has doubled in the last 12 months as customers move away from traditional application-specific palletising work cells.

Addressing the issue of frequent product changeovers, the FANUC M410 series has the payload and multitasking capability of stacking anything, ranging from 25kg potato sacks, to tubs of animal feed and bales of pet bedding. For increased flexibility, this high-speed robot can be fitted with different multi-purpose end effectors to suit the application. What’s more, the robot can be easily moved to other production areas to suit business demands, boosting a packer’s investment even further.

Designed specifically for palletising tasks, the M410 robot family is capable of multiple palletising configurations and features a large vertical work envelope. Pacepacker’s Commercial & Information Systems Manager, Paul Wilkinson, explains: “We are increasingly designing palletising cells with three to four in-feed conveyor lines, often carrying different product sizes, packaging types and weights. Thanks to the maximum 3.1m reach of the M410, one robot can pick up different pack formats from multiple lines simultaneously and stack up to three pallets up to 2.4 metres high.

“Because of the choice of end-effectors available, we can select a multifunctional tooling that automatically adjusts to all of the functions it has to perform: picking pallets and slip sheets before palletising commences, as well as bags and boxes,” continues Paul. Adding to its flexibility, hundreds of pallet patterns can be programmed and stored by the robot. And even if operatives need to change the end-effector for a specific pack format, quick changeovers means this can be done in just a few minutes, minimising production downtime.

Palletising payloads within the M410 family range from 140kg to 700kg, and the robots are capable of completing 1,700 cycles per hour. The robot’s generous payload also opens up possibilities for handling and palletising several heavy items simultaneously, for example two filled keys of beer or several sacks of aggregate.

In order to provide stability and strength, Pacepacker typically recommends integrating a four-axis robot for palletising operations. For maximum flexibility the robot can be floor, angle, wall or ceiling mounted, although typically customers opt for a pedestal base with integral controller or a compact base with remote controller, claims Paul. Pacepacker has even designed a portable palletising cell, mounting an M410 onto a base plate with a conveyor and safety guarding, so it can be transported by a teleporter to another production location.

To extend the life of the gripper, the most recent additions – the M410-iC range – features a hollow upper arm and wrist to prevent snagging, tearing and rubbing of the connecting cables.

For more information please contact: www.pacepacker.com

SKF launches new spring insulating automotive suspension

Advanced chemical and mechanical bonding enables reduced part count, improved durability and lower total suspension cost

SKF are launching a new product designed to offer greater durability, improved comfort and reduced noise and vibration in automotive suspension applications.

The spring insulating suspension bearing takes SKF’s robust, proven main suspension bearing unit (MSBU) technology and incorporates a polymer spring that is mechanically and chemically bonded to the lower bearing washer.

The spring insulator plays a critical role in automotive suspension systems, damping road vibrations that pass from the spring, through the bearing and into the passenger compartment. Conventional spring insulators are installed separately from the MBSU.

This approach creates a potential failure point in the vehicle suspension, since the insulator is susceptible to damage due to the ingress of dirt and contamination between it and the bearing.

The new spring insulating suspension bearing eliminates this point of weakness by building the bearing and spring insulator as a single component, with high strength chemical bonding used to connect the spring to the bearing. Additional optimisation of the bearing geometry ensures a secure mechanical connection between the two elements.

For manufacturers, the spring insulating suspension bearing offers further advantages, reducing the number of components required in the suspension system and simplifying assembly to reduce total suspension cost. The material selected for the spring element can be adapted to suit the precise requirements of the application, and SKF can offer a wide range of material options, all optimised for high volume manufacturing using injection moulding.

SKF has applied for no less than three patents covering innovative features of the new design, including the spring material, insulator design and fixation technology. Prototype units are already undergoing evaluation by leading Automotive OEMS.

For more information please contact: www.skf.com

Technology-shy businesses are being offered the chance to discover the benefits of robots by leading robotics expert Jeremy Hadall.
Hadall, chief technologist for robotics and automation at The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry, will host a two-day course next month – Improving Competitiveness Through Automation – targeting key ‘decision makers’ to understand the benefits of automation and robotics.

In Robotics: manufacturing the future, an article he co-authored for the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Hadall states: “Britain still lags behind its major economic rivals in the uptake of robots. Statistics from the International Federation of Robotics on robot densities reveal the UK has only 33 robots per 10,000 employees compared to Japan (213), Germany (170) and Sweden (154).

“So how do we encourage UK industry to invest in robotics and automation to reap these benefits? Perhaps the first step is as simple as demonstrating that these benefits are truly benefits.”

Hadall, is looking to demonstrate the tangible benefits via the course on March 8th and 9th. Limited to just 20 attendees, it will provide the necessary tools, techniques and processes to evaluate the opportunity, develop the business case and deploy the implementation plan to integrate automation into business.

This two-day course is being supported by ROBOTT-NET, a collaboration between the following leading European research organisations: Danish Technological Institute, Germany’s Fraunhofer IPA and Spain’s Tecnalia.

The price for the course is £600 plus VAT. For more information go to the events section of www.the-mtc.org.

The ever-expanding range of industrial robot applications has led to the development and introduction of new models from the worlds leading six axis robot manufacturers that can handle vast payloads of up to 1,300 kg. Although easily capable of manipulating these impressive weights, the horizontal reach of these robots, generally less than 4.0m, can still be a limiting factor in certain applications.

Güdel Track Motion products have always been recognised as a robust and reliable method of extending the work envelope of robot systems, and the company’s latest TMF-5 linear track has been developed to provide this enhanced functionality to the new generation of heavy-duty robots.

Güdel is the only company dedicated solely to auxiliary linear motion for robots and automation, and adding this new TMF module to its heavy-duty range, further reinforces the company’s reputation as a valued partner to the world’s leading robot integrators.

The TMF-5 is currently the only standard module available on the market that can move an articulated robot weighing over six tonnes, with a payload of 1300Kg, and sustain a static payload of over ten tonnes. Working as a fully integrated seventh axis for robots, the TMF-5 opens up new possibilities in a number of production processes. A range of adaptor plates, designed to suit the increasing number of heavy-duty robots now available, maximises the potential for integration with different manufacturers and their respective robot models.

With the capability to accommodate up to four independently driven carriages, multiple robots are able to share the same track if required, delivering the highest levels of utilisation and flexibility for heavy-duty applications. The carriages used on the TMF track have been designed to handle the often-high dynamic loads of a moving robot, including those associated with emergency stop conditions.

The use of hardened and ground helical racks, coupled with planetary gearboxes, deliver the highest levels of positional repeatability (+/-0.05mm) plus smooth and quiet operation. The TMF-5 is also available as an enclosed version to meet the demands of specific operating environments such as those found within a cleanroom.

Available in lengths from 3m to 100m in 1m increments, the optimum track length can be specified for any particular application. Another feature of the TMF track range is that the length can be extended, should this be required to increase flexibility or to future-proof existing installations.

Güdel’s reputation for quality and engineering excellence is clearly evident in the design, the materials used and build standard of the TMF-5 linear track, ensuring high uptimes and a long service life. From a maintenance perspective, the ability to adjust the guide-way rollers from the outside of the unit and the availability of an automatic lubrication system for the rack & pinion, will keep planned maintenance times to a minimum.

Güdel’s linear track range can be found operating within the automotive, tyre, metal, rail, intra-logistics, pharmaceutical, renewable energy, wood and aerospace industries.

Güdel not only provides sophisticated automation solutions but is a manufacturer of high-precision machine components including linear guide-ways, racks, pinions and drives. These high quality components are at the heart of all Güdel linear axes and gantry robots.

For more information, please contact: www.gudel.com