Automated polishing operations to compensate labor shortage

THE ISSUE An aerospace manufacturing company is experiencing a significant growth in the form of new contracts, leading to a major increase in its production volume. The current situation of labor shortage, affecting the entire manufacturing industry, has prompted the company to seek technological solutions to automate its production. Manufacturing titanium parts, the company wanted to automate the polishing operations, more precisely the scallop line removal on complex surfaces, both inside and outside the part.

INITIAL SITUATION:

1. New contracts leading to a significant increase in production.
2. 2 operators who perform manual polishing process during one shift.
3. Around 1,500 to 2,000 working hours per year per operator
4. Bottleneck in production at 16,000 parts per year
5. Large and complex parts to manipulate
6. Complex fixturing for manual process.

THE SOLUTION

Robotic system "tool in hand" TF-X 1200 POLISHING

1. Robot ?Fanuc - LR Mate 200iD?
2. "Backup pad" and abrasive disks "Hook and Loop" ?3M
3. Part loading system (4 at a time)
4. Programming and operating software "BrainWave"

THE RESULTS

Thanks to a robotic system with a cycle time of 5 minutes, the company is able to produce approximately 24,000 parts per year. The system allows for the loading of 4 parts at a time, thereby reducing the need for human intervention by the operator and releasing resources for other stages of production. With a quick training on the BrainWave software, the company can easily operate and maintain the robotic system. This addition of automated polishing hours allows for increased and optimized production.

1. Constant quality thanks to the robotic system
2. Increased production capacity 24,000 parts per year
3. Flexibility and autonomy of the customer to program new parts if the production needs to evolve