Completed Project: How We Modernized an Existing Automation System

Last fall, a crate arrived from a local customer containing a well-used piece of automation that assembled small plastic valves used in the medical field. It was outdated, inefficient, and a considerable headache for maintenance techs. But we had a plan in place and spent the next 20 weeks disassembling the system, salvaging what we could, and rebuilding it. To our surprise, we managed to beat our original cycle time projections by about 16%.

Here's how Xigent modernized this automation system, reduced part damage, and cut bottom-line costs for the customer.

1. Replaced GE Proficy PLC with a modern Rockwell Studio 5000 PLC. We also replaced their machine code with our standard machine control base code.
2. Added a touchscreen HMI to replace an array of selector switches, greatly increasing the number of features and options available.
3. Added "in position" sensors to both sides of cylinder motion. The old system only detected when the cylinder was at the "home" position. It used timers to approximate when the cylinder was in the "work" position. Replacing timers with sensors reduced cycle time.
4. Replaced the pneumatic press with a servo press. The pneumatic press would occasionally damage the part if it were moving too fast or adjusted incorrectly. By switching to a servo press, constant speed can be maintained, eliminating part damage.
5. Replaced pneumatic motion with servo motion and a Kistler force graph to judge good/bad parts. Having the Kistler force graph to perform overall judgment eliminated the need for a downstream process to check for good/bad parts, again reducing cycle time.
6. Replaced the vibratory bowl feeder with an Epson Intelliflex parts feeding system which included a vision-guided robot. The customer runs a wide variety of part configurations and the changeover process with the old vibratory bowl feeder created excessive downtime. There were times when the maintenance technician was experiencing 10 hours of downtime a week, per machine, to perform changeover and "tweak" the bowls. They have seven of these machines. The vibratory Intelliflex system eliminated that downtime. Product selection is now handled through the HMI and the vision system handles all part types and variants with ease.
7. Cycle Time Goal: The target cycle time we projected when quoting this project was 2.5 seconds per part.
8. Actual Cycle Time: With the combined changes listed above, Xigent assembly technicians and the software programmer achieved a cycle time of 2.1 seconds per part AND eliminated the extensive downtime due to changeover.

Last month, a crate left our building with a smart, robust, and easy-care assembly system. The customer has seven of these machines and we can only hope to get our hands on the other six.

Thank you! We appreciate the time you've taken to read this article. We are always happy to talk with you about your upcoming projects. Feel free to contact Mike directly to get started.

Mike Meiring | VP of Business Development

PH: 740-548-3716 | E:[email protected]