Enhancing Automotive Manufacturing with Robots

By Kevin Kozuszek

November 27, 2006

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Automotive supplier Decoma GmbH of Sulzbach, Germany was preparing to install two new production lines for handling its Chrysler PT Cruiser and Audi A4 convertible vehicles. Previously the company employed linear units for production of other bumpers which utilized much valued floor space.

"We needed a more flexible handling solution that would provide higher repeatability, shorter cycle times and continuous operation as we were running three shifts, six days a week," said Dietmar Hurth, Industrial Engineer for Decoma GmbH. "We needed a solution that would cover handling the car bumpers and sill covers after the injection molding process was complete as well as removing the film gates from the sill covers."

The company decided it needed the space saving flexibility offered only by shelf-mounted jointed-arm robots, a configuration supplied only by KUKA Robotics. Decoma invested in two KUKA KR 150 KS robots they mounted on top of the injection molding machine with a PC-based KUKA robot controller. The robots carry out their tasks from above, saving extremely valuable floor space.

ne robot takes the bumper, which weighs almost four kilograms, from the injection molding machine and places it with its side pieces down on a form-fitted fixture. There the robot removes the film gates using a blade attached to its gripper. The gates drop into a refuse bin. The robot then transfers the bumper to a conveyor belt which takes the part out of the safeguarded zone.

When Decoma is producing sill covers, the robot takes a pair of covers out of the injection molding machine and sets it down on a table. While the robot holds the sill covers in position, the table, which is equipped with 14 blades, carries out its operation, cutting off all 14 gates at the same time. Meanwhile the KR 150 K also holds the gates using pincers. The robot then sets the sill covers down on the same conveyor and drops the gates into a container. During handling of the bumpers and sill covers, the robot controller uses a vacuum system integrated into the grippers to monitor whether the KR 150 K robot has gripped the part in question.

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