ABB and Geku to inject plastics industry with faster, more flexible automated solutions

Citation

(2003), "ABB and Geku to inject plastics industry with faster, more flexible automated solutions", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930cab.001

ABB and Geku to inject plastics industry with faster, more flexible automated solutions

ABB and Geku to inject plastics industry with faster, more flexible automated solutions

Keywords: Plastics, Injection moulding, Robots

ABB, the global power and automation technologies group, has appointed the automation and robotics supplier, Geku, to develop the integration of its world-class, six-axis robots into UK manufacturing industries (Plate 1).

Geku is a turnkey solutions expert with substantial process knowledge and over 15-years experience in the plastics industry and is set to become a perfect ally as ABB increasingly moves towards selling robot solutions via preferred partners. ABB produces more than 12,000, six-axis robots each year and believes that the robots will become increasingly familiar in injection moulding processes as cycle times are reduced and post-moulding processes need to be performed more efficiently than ever before.

Plate 1 ABB’s Colin Jakes (centre) with Geku’s Joint Managing Directors Nigel Richardson and John Hudson (left)

Colin Jakes, ABB Account Manager for Plastics Industries, comments: “Six-axis robots, which are fast and flexible and can be quickly adapted for different applications and product design variants, are perfect for manufacturers dealing with complex injection moulding jobs. They can be used for a wide range of valueadded tasks from insert loading through to assembly and packaging. This flexibility makes them ideal for the varied and fast-paced plastics industry.”

Geku has recently secured an order as a result of its new partnership with ABB. The customer, an established plastic moulder supplying the building tool industry, required a significant reduction in post-mould deflashing cycle times with consistency in quality to be considerably improved, and looked to six-axis, robot-based automation for the answer.

Traditionally the company had employed manual deflashing but this required between five to six people per shift with each person taking between 3 and 4min to manually remove flash from just one item, and this was creating a bottleneck in the manufacturing system. The company turned to Geku to provide a turnkey solution which would replace manual deflashing and improve quality.

The Geku system incorporating the ABB six-axis robot has reduced the customer’s deflashing cycle time for one item to just 15-20 s. An important feature of the system is its ability to identify many different product variants. Geku was presented with the challenge of designing a vision system for the robot which could identify up to 40 different product variants presented randomly.

For example, on a typical production run for product “A”, approximately 14 different tools would be required, so not only would the robotic system have to identify the product it was working on, it would need to recognise all that product’s variants and change tools and programmes accordingly. Geku introduced a low-cost vision system that was integrated with the robot while also working with the customer to introduce a unique, yet unobtrusive, indent on each product that could be instantly recognised by the robot.

Nigel Richardson, Geku, comments: “Smart plastic injection moulders are moving away from traditional approaches to automation, and six-axis robots, which offer the benefit of enhanced flexibility and have an ability to adapt quickly to additional operations, are increasingly being offered and used within our applications. As a systems integrator, Geku is finding that the six-axis robot is more frequently becoming a valuable asset in finding the best solution to our customer’s requirements.”

For further information contact: David Marshall, ABB, Auriga House, Precedent Drive, Rooksley, Milton Keynes MK13 8PQ, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1908 350300; Fax: +44 (0) 1908 350301; E-mail: david.marshall@gb.abb.com