Heavy Lifting for Truck Construction
NTM
NTM is an important player in the refuse collection business. The company offers hundreds of build specifications to cater for the growing trend of recycling diverse waste products and has seen a year on year sales increase of 10-15% in recent times.
Automating the Night-Shift
To increase production capacity NTM called on FANUC’s Finnish service partner MTC Flextek. The plan was to automate much of the heavy lifting and some of the welding. “When we announced we were going ahead with automation, staff weren’t thrilled, but once they learnt that the robots would be a compliment to their jobs and work the nightshift – so they wouldn’t have to – they became positive to the introduction of new robots,” says Simon Grönqvist at NTM.
“There were several reasons why we decided to go with FANUC,” says Grönqvist. “Firstly, MTC provided the best holistic solution for our needs. Secondly, the FANUC M-2000𝑖A/2300 is the only robot that can handle the heavy payloads, which can weigh up to two tonnes. And thirdly with this solution we can easily create new welding programs for the FANUC ARC Mate to work on through the night. The solution is also compact, safety focused, and fits into our existing manufacturing plant. And finally, as we already have a FANUC robot in the factory, our team are familiar with the operating system.”
During the day, the robots are prepped for the nightshift. This involves placing the heavy payloads around the safety pit and setting up the operating system with the lifting and welding requirements. “We also experiment and test the capabilities of the robots during the daytime,” continues Grönqvist. “This is done in real-time with a control panel. The software logs the simulations, which we can run at night, if we choose to do so.” During an unattended night-shift the robots complete about ten full sections. The FANUC M-2000𝑖A/2300 lifts a section from its base plate into a ringed secure zone and rotates into the right position for the FANUC ARC Mate to expertly weld all the contours of the section. When the first shift arrives in the morning the welds are checked by hand, and the sections are moved to the next stage of assembly. “If there is an error during the night, an alarm is generated by the operating system, the robots automatically shut-down and we receive an alert,” says Grönqvist.
“However, since the robots were installed, everything has run smoothly, and we haven’t received many alerts.” The robots can also be put to work on weekends should it be required. “The collaboration with FANUC and MTC Flextek has been a great success. We’re now looking at other ways that automation can assist our staff and help meet the growing demand for our products,” concludes Grönqvist.
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M-2000𝑖A/2300
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