While the case for automation in a high-volume production shop might be obvious, low-volume manufacturers like moldmaking shops can also benefit tremendously when automating their tooling and workpiece setups. In fact, palletized, automated tooling in the low-volume moldmaking environment significantly boosts output and is essential to move shops from manned operation to 24-hour, lights-out production.
Typical mold shops often incorporate both wire and sinker EDMs along with five-axis milling machines to perform the majority of their work. Historically, these shops also spent an excessive amount of time setting up workpieces on this variety of machines, which is why automation suppliers have targeted set-up times as a way to increase productivity.
Setup and machine idle time reductions are usually easier to achieve for production increases than striving to shave seconds off machining cycle times. With the advent of zero-point type reference tooling, operators can quickly position and secure workpieces in a machine tool with a fixed reference point that ensures precise, repeatable positioning as a part moves from one machine to the next throughout the shop.
Fitting machine tools with the same reference system allows – in the case of EDMs, for instance – electrodes and workpieces to be moved between machines without subsequent alignment and confirmation. More important, with a palletized reference tooling system such as System3R’s Macro system, part size and quantity no longer dictate the need for numerous setups. Once palletized, parts move quickly and seamlessly through the production process, regardless of machine or process.
In a linear cell, for example, a part may move first through a milling operation then immediately go to the next operation within the cell without being removed from a pallet, secured to a new fixture and re-referenced. By eliminating the need to re-fixture and re-reference parts shops reduce the chance of errors and speed production.
Initially designed for EDM processing where high-mix production is common, automated palletized tooling is now used in a variety of operations. Shops can set-up a part on palletized tooling then use a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) to measure and verify the part’s dimensions and reference its location. The entire pallet is then ready to move from machine to machine. For wire EDMs, System3R’s automation also includes levelling heads at a preset station to align the part, both square and parallel, outside the machine to reduce set-up time further.
In addition to zero-point referencing that significantly reduces set-up times through the entire manufacturing process, these palletized tooling systems also incorporate specialized features that improve accuracy and production. System3R Vibration Damped Palletization (VDP), for example, uses special chucks that reduce vibration during the machining process. Ideal for EDM, this type of technology reduces vibrations and resonance for more controlled cutting, improved precision and longer tool life. The technology also results in better surface finishes, which minimizes the need for secondary processes.
As automation technology advances, mold shops push to automate multiple machines for continuous production with tooling storage platforms that provide for automatically loading and unloading preset pallets of workpieces. System3R’s WorkPartner system, for example, allows shops to optimize production on various CNC machines by serving one or multiple machines in a production cell thanks to the flexibility of storage magazine capacities and variants (light, heavy, or a rotary), along with fully integrated pneumatic control for gripping devices and table chucks. Large magazine doors allow for fast and easy loading and unloading to help shorten changeover cycle times for low-volume applications.
Integrated robotics, such as six-axis scalable, speed loading and unloading for 24/7 production. As a result, one operator can run multiple machines continuously to boost production, or the system is configured for totally lights-out manufacturing.
Complementing palletized workholding, stations and automated machine tending, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are gaining significant traction in mold shop automation. Whether deployed as an individual unit or fleet, AMRs transfer palletized workpieces between machines or to completely different cells or inspection rooms – again, without the need for additional setup or referencing. Smart AMRs equipped with vision and navigation systems can learn to navigate their environments and integrate into comprehensive workshop-management software for managing all processes on the shop floor. As a result, truly automated, lights-out production is achieved while human error and inefficiencies are eliminated.
With all the automation pieces in play, parts are set up and referenced for production on all machines, and pallets are loaded/unloaded using automated magazines that serve one or multiple machines without an operator. Then the pallets move to various locations throughout the shop via AMRs, and shops can control, monitor and modify the entire process with workshop management software.
Referenced tooling solutions, AMRs, automated pallet changers and comprehensive shop management software are all elements of a universal strategy to improve output in low-volume moldmaking shops. By eliminating multiple workpiece setups these technologies can additionally reduce operator reliance and make the transition to fully automated, lights-out production for even greater efficiencies.