Room for Better Robots
GF Wavin
GF Wavin belongs to the GF group and is part of its biggest business unit Piping Systems. At its plant in Subingen, Switzerland, the company employs around 100 people and focusses on injection moulding of electrical fittings as well as the production of pipe components and connecting elements.
Georg Fischer Wavin is Backing "Swiss Made"
To meet the increased demand, GF Wavin decided to expand capacity by installing an additional injection moulding machine automated with FANUC robots. The design of the robots themselves was simple, as an existing system was duplicated, but this time with FANUC robots.
The new cell consists mainly of two Engel injection moulding machines, a winding machine, two large R-2000𝑖 robots and a small M-20𝑖A handling robot. One of the two large robots unloads the first injection moulding machine and places the blank in front of the winding machine. The M-20𝑖A handles the winding machine and fits another connector after winding. This connector directly provides the power for the subsequent welding of the components on the site.
The second large robot, a R-2000𝑖B/185L model, unloads the other injection moulding machine making use of its special reach of more than 3 metres. Only smaller quantities or complex packaging are still processed manually. Otherwise, the production process is fully automated. At the very end of the line an employee inspects and handles parts, which are already packed in a bag and labelled with a barcode.
The cell is controlled by a master PLC. A simple panel which is usually limited to switching on and off enables the operator to input important data. However, the cell integrator Paro has also carried out an update here and improved screen clarity and menu navigation.
Andreas Pauli
Head of Georg Fischer Production Facility in Subingen
Even the operation of the old robot cell benefits from all the improvements of the new system. Plant manager Andreas Pauli says: "The fact that we have fewer problems overall is part of the ongoing improvement process.”
When it comes to cycle times, GF Wavin takes a proactive stance, as Thomas Ettlin, Head of BMP, explains: "We prefer to work a bit more slowly and spend two seconds on a cycle, which doubles our MTBF (mean time between failure)."
As the cell was planned as a capacity expansion, certain key data and design criteria were defined from the outset. For example, the same tools were to be used in cells 1 and 2. As process reliability was decisive, the cell layout was retained as far as possible.
In the ten years since the first robot cell for electrical fittings came on stream, performance has improved by 40%. "The better your command of the process, the more ‘control possibilities’ you have and the better the results", says Pauli. He adds: "Without automation, this site would no longer exist."
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