Fully Automated Production of Parts, From Cassette to Cassette

Every workshop dreams of fully vertical, automated and integrated parts production, ensuring maximum reliability and flexibility, together with the potential for remote supervision and control of the entire process. Thanks to the skill and experience of Gnutti Transfer the dream has become reality.  

The project was highly complex, as Gnutti Transfer's Sales Area Manager, Giovanni Gualco explains: “The customer’s objective was to begin with raw parts in a cassette and end with finished parts back in the cassette in a single cycle.”  

At the start of the process, loading is via the automatic recognition, division and control of cassette parts, before each component passes through a control station for laser marking. The transfer machine then performs machining operations prior to extraction for washing. After washing to remove any residue, the system returns parts to the cassette.  

Robots are present at all stages: a robot equipped with a vision system removes raw parts from the cassette and places them on a conveyor belt that feeds the laser machine for marking; a second robot then loads the components into the transfer machine before a third robot unloads the machine and places the parts in an intermediate station. A fourth robot loads the components into the washer; and finally, a fifth robot takes the parts from the washer and places them back in the cassette, ready for automatic relay to assembly. 

The transfer machine is part of Gnutti Transfer's GR-MR flexible transfer range. It consists of 10 stations with 11 operating units mounted on a crossbar and comprises 45 axes controlled in a single process, with a cycle time of barely 8 seconds. All 33 linear axes and 10 rotating axes are equipped with FANUC motorisation featuring digital drives and fibre optic connections.  

The complexity of the project and high number of controlled axes required a huge investment in time and human resource. Involving a strategic partner like FANUC has essentially been the key to a winning technological contribution. “Strategic because FANUC is the only company able to support us in project as complex as this; winning because FANUC's technology delivers perfect system functionality,” states Giovanni Gualco.