AUTOMATION AUTOMATION AUTOMATION AUTOMATION FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION ebook
Atlas Technologies has delivered top quality automation equipment and services for Sheet Metal Handling and Metal Forming & Fabrication for over 60 years. Our comprehensive product lineup spans turnkey stamping and fabricating systems, heavy plate and bar steel processing equipment, system and robotic integration, die change solutions, automatic storage and retrieval systems, in press transfer systems and tooling, along with both conventional and robotic stacking and destacking systems. Built for long term performance, Atlas equipment is engineered to
last for decades. With unmatched experience, continuous innovation, and industry leading service and spare parts support, Atlas Technologies stands as your best choice for pressroom automation.
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
INTRODUCTION For more than 2000 yr., humanity has sought better ways to manufacture through automation. Historians generally agree that water wheels represented the first attempts to automate and ease mechanical processes. Such quests have never ceased. Today, we have at our disposal a dizzying array of manufacturing-automation technology—hardware and software—to produce higher-quality products at greater speed and with higher efficiency than ever thought possible. Read on for MetalForming’s take on the continuing automation evolution, encompassing controls, material handling, quality control, die and part handling, robotics, and software. MetalForming’s Automation ebook, through insightful articles, audio, video and more, details how the automation tools available today can be best exploited to serve forward-thinking metal formers and fabricators. Enjoy, and Happy Automating!
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Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................ 3 CHAPTER ONE Press and Line Controls............................6 Capable controls can synchronize and manage stamping presses and all related line components, and ensure that all presets, processes and monitoring functions are correct for each and every run. Such control capability greatly improves setup time and line performance. CHAPTER TWO Material Feeding.....................................11 Automating material feeding decreases setup time while en- suring that material enters machinery ready for processing without delay and at the correct speed. This also frees per- sonnel from monotonous and potentially injurious tasks. CHAPTER THREE Stamped-Part Transfer...........................19 Automating part transfer results in proper placement of ma- terial—at the right time and in the right orientation. It also speeds part production and frees personnel for other tasks.
CHAPTER FOUR Die Handling...........................................34 Automated die handling provides precise and quick die changeovers, while offering efficiencies for press lines that deal with high part mixes, and for lines that run heavy, un- wieldy tooling packages. CHAPTER FIVE Material Handling for Press Operations...40 Bottlenecks develop where parts and scrap accumulate. Au- tomated material handling provides an ideal answer. CHAPTER SIX Quality Control........................................50 Technology advances have delivered rapid and reliable part inspection—inline or off. CHAPTER SEVEN Industry 4.0 and Fabricating Software.....58 Artificial intelligence and other Industry 4.0 technologies pro - vide all manner of advantages in modern metal forming and fabricating operations, and help power fabricating software.
CHAPTER EIGHT Material Handling for Fabrication............74 Automated material storage, retrieval and offloading, as well process tending bring big benefits in fabricating operations. CHAPTER NINE Robotics................................................. 88 Robots and cobots anchor all manner of automated pro- cesses in fabricating operations. CHAPTER TEN Workforce Development.........................98 Anyone can buy automation, but the true manufacturing win- ners have well-trained workforces that best take advantage of such investment.
CHAPTER ELEVEN Advertisers Index................................. 102
For all the latest automation news and developments, please visit the Pressroom Automation section of metalformingmagazine.com
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CHAPTER ONE PRESS AND LINE CONTROLS
What’s Happening on Your Shop Floor? S tep into any welders; dashboards tracking output; and data driving decisions. This momentum is reshaping operations to be smarter, faster and more connected. metal forming shop and you’ll see change everywhere: Robots working alongside
VIDEO COURTESY OF GUDEL This press-automation video highlights the power of modern press-line control systems, which can direct front-of-line, in-press and end-of-line operations
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Here are some of the biggest impacts:
• Smarter machines, smarter results Stamping and fabrication technologies are moving beyond automation to true intelligence. Sensors, robot- ics and analytics now oper- ate in concert, closing the loop between detection and correction. Early adopters al- ready have seen big gains in uptime and throughput.
• Turn your data into a game-changer Connected systems turn data into a strategic asset. Real-time visibility and predictive analytics help prevent downtime, improve costing and boost responsiveness. The payoff? Fewer surprises and faster decisions. • Your people make technology work Technology doesn’t transform a shop—people do. Leading man- ufacturers invest in training and change management, using tools like digital twins and AI copilots to build confidence and capability. When teams see how technology eliminates repetitive work, they become champions of change. • Ready to put AI to work? Every successful transformation starts with strategy. Ask: What problems can AI solve? Where will data have the biggest im - pact? Start small, scale fast and align technology with business goals. Invest in people as much as systems to turn innovation into lasting value. • Looking Ahead Digital transformation in metal forming will be a long-term evolu- tion. From automation to AI, every advancement moves manufac - turers closer to operations that function quickly and intelligently, while becoming more resilient. The tools are available, and the opportunities are clear. Manufacturers who act now will set the pace for the industry’s next era.
• Automation where it counts Robotics now takes on the dull, dirty and dangerous jobs that inhibit productivity. Cobots and artificial-intelligence (AI)-driven vision systems make automation flexible for high-mix low-vol - ume work. Even smaller shops are starting small by automating repetitive tasks and scaling as ROI proves out. • Why resilience starts with sustainability Supply-chain shocks have taught us one thing: Resiliency mat- ters. Forward-thinking fabricators diversify their markets, opti- mize material use and adopt closed-loop recycling to cut costs and environmental impact. Sustainability isn’t just compliance— it’s a competitive edge.
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Full Speed Ahead on Servo Presses
Picking Press Controls for a New Press or Retrofit
Resolver-based controls provide a solid foundation for a die-protection program.
Five Factors in Selecting a Resolver-Based Die-Protection Controller
Increasingly, press controls double as process controls. This new press was factory-equipped with control upgrades such as integral PLS, die protection and load monitoring, packaged in a remote master operator station on a hinged arm to free floor space.
Both the press and feed system in this line are controlled from a single operator interface, easing programming and operation.
The most important decision metal formers make when starting a die-protection program is their choice of controller. Five important considerations when selecting a resolver-based die-protection controller are capacity, accuracy, speed, available monitoring logic, and ease of setup and use.
… for A.L. Hansen, a 126-yr.-old manufacturer that has newly experienced the advantages of this technology over traditional mechanical presses, including easier programming and setup, more-economical operation, and the ability to produce quality parts even if material causes issues.
Many options exist to improve press efficiency with modern controls. Points to ponder when outfitting a new or existing press with an updated press control hinge on the desire to maintain standard functions or to maximize the opportunity to control the process as well.
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Press-Control Retrofit Streamlines Robot Integration
Press-Line Controls Under One Umbrella—An Ideal Solution
10 Questions: How to Determine
PMI’s relentless drive to innovate has led to numerous stamping-equipment upgrades, including the replacement of aging press controls with newer units with built-in ability to manage robot retrofits. When PMI sought to retrofit robotic automation to its presses, “the robot supplier was pleasantly surprised to find that the existing press control already had all of the capability required to seamlessly interface to the robots,” says plant manager Eric Lewis. “It also has a special operating mode called ‘Automatic Single Stroke’ that allows the automation to trigger a single stroke of the press between part-handling tasks.”
“Using one control for the entire line brings many advantages,” Toledo Integrated Systems' John Eby tells MetalForming . “And, it doesn’t matter if the press is from one manufacturer and the feed line is from another, for example. A single control system can marry all of that.”
Which Type of Control to Outfit to Your Press A stamping press’s basic function and methodology have not changed much over the years, but the way that the press is driven and controlled has.
Besides ensuring communication and control over all press- line controls, a single solution prevents having to source a variety of control replacement components; frees operators from having to run back and forth to ensure proper feed, part- out and other functions; and eases operator training.
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Press-Control Upgrades Elevate Die Protection, Press Automation
AR, VR and AI—New Trends in Press Control Augmented and virtual reality, and
Celebrating its 100th year in 2022, General Stamping & Metalworks has enjoyed great success serving primarily the agricultural and solar-power industries with stamped and fabricated parts and assemblies. Here we shine the light on its most recent success story.
artificial intelligence promise to transform pressrooms, with the technology already advancing in welding, assembly and stamping operations. CLICK FOR
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Virtual reality provides real value in stamping operations, especially in the planning stages. For example, as shown here, the technology allows evaluation of human-centric processes and the work environment to optimize tooling engineering, production-process planning and maintenance planning. For a planned stamping line, VR use enables an ergonomic review of the proposed end-of-line layout and automation setup; evaluation of tooling layout and blocking for ease of maintenance and repair; and validation of machine maintenance during press commissioning. Photo copyrighted by ESI Group courtesy of AP&T
Along with the new press controls at GSM came the ability to employ tonnage monitoring. “Prior to installing the new controls, we periodically would experience tonnage-related quality issues,” says Brent Ortman, GSM stamping lead and certified machine skills instructor, “especially on thicker work requiring higher press tonnage. Now, any imperfection in the tool or the process and the press will stop before damaging the tooling or the parts.”
Controls Deliver Smooth Movement in Robotic Press Cell Coordinating three stamping presses and three robots along with the feed line, a new control package ensures efficient movement.
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VIDEO COURTESY OF USA PAN Hundreds of machines dot the production floor of USA Pan in Crescent, PA, including gap-frame and straightside mechanical presses to 600-ton capacities, as well as press brakes and CNC machines for tool and die build and repair. Other operations include shearing to create blanks as well as welding and assembly.
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CHAPTER TWO MATERIAL FEEDING
2.1 Coil.............................................................12 2.2 Sheet..........................................................15
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It’s the new feed line, and the need to ensure precise synchronization between feed and press, that added extra motivation to upgrade our press controls " "
2.1: Coil Feed
Better Diagnostics, Easier Troubleshooting ... R to higher-volume production.
esult from press-control retrofits at the new Haley Tool division of Kloeckner Metals Corp. Its upgraded press lines allow the division to provide value-added stamping to service-center customers, particularly those transitioning from lower-volume soft-tooled jobs
sure precise synchronization between feed and press, that added extra motivation to upgrade our press controls,” says Haley Tool operations manager Scott White. “And, with the upgraded controls we also wanted to ele- vate our ability to add and use sensors to our tools, for die protection and to help optimize press run times. And, of course, the new con- trols provide optimum operator safety, very important to us at Kloeckner Metals.”
After acquiring Haley Tool division of Kloeckner Metals Corp., fabricator Kloeck- ner developed a capex program to upgrade press controls as well as install two additional presses and feed lines. This included upgrading an existing 250- ton Stamtec mechanical press with a new state-of-the-art Coiltech feed line (15-in. width capacity), new controls and light curtains; and the addition of a 440-ton Seyi mechanical press (120-in. bed). In addition, the capex pro- gram included the purchase of a refurbished 275-ton Stamtec 144-in.-bed press, with up- graded light curtains; and a new control sys- tem and light curtains added to an existing 400-ton Niagara press, along with a new Dy- namatic digital controller. “It’s the new feed line, and the need to en-
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Press-control retrofit projects performed at Haley Tool early in 2025 included adding new operator terminals and Link Systems Black Max light curtains. Control features include intelligent diagnostics, storage and quick recall of as many as 100 jobs, a dual-limit stopping-time- performance (brake) monitor, and a clutch-engagement-time monitor. Page 12
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M anufacturing in an industry segment— the building industry—with a Press Feed Strong
Simpson Strong-Tie’s 60 staff engineers continually research and develop innovative structural-connector designs, resulting in new and complex stamped and formed metal parts, such as these hurricane ties, hip-beam-to-ridge beam connectors, truss hinges and rafter hinges.
peeler station, thread- ing tables, uncoiler and coil car. With this control, an operator can thread a coil in 5 min. and set up the entire feed line in less than 1 min. “The new features have helped Simpson Strong-Tie eliminate safety issues that were previously experienced. Also, having all of the jobs programmed into the system has helped quicken setup times. Although the installation has increased production, speeding through- put was not the main goal. “We were not looking into accelerating production as much as we were looking to eliminate security risks and ease setups,” a company spokesperson comments.
H2W 200-H (high-speed) servo presses. Each feed line com- prises a 20,000-lb.-capacity un- coiler with accompanying coil car, a powered straightener with
Simpson Strong-Tie upgraded its press-feed lines with three Formtek-Maine 36-in.-wide coil-feed systems and one 72-in-wide coil-feed system. The lines pair with new Komatsu two-point H2W 200-H (high-speed) servo presses. Each feed line comprises a 20,000-lb.-capacity uncoiler with accompanying coil car, a powered straightener with a holddown peeler station on the entry end to facilitate hands-free threadup, and a Unist stock-lubrication system.
heightened awareness of safety and security, Simpson Strong-Tie upgraded its outdated press feed equipment with safer, more secure machinery. Simpson Strong-Tie runs multiple press- feed lines in its Stockton, CA, plant. Though operational, the lines had aged to the point that obsolescence became an issue. Manu- facturing in an industry segment—the build- ing industry—with a heightened awareness of safety and security, Simpson Strong-Tie
a hold-down peeler station on the entry end to facilitate hands-free threading
needed to upgrade its outdated press feed equipment with safer, more secure machinery, as well as its software. The operations team scrutinized the feed lines to glean opportuni- ties for improvement. The team sought to install equipment equal in quality to its existing lines but with as much automation as possible. The company decided to install three nearly identical, CWP 36-in.-wide servo-driven press- feed lines, paired with Komatsu two-point
and a Unist stock-lubrication system. The two-roll servo feed lines were engi- neered for maximum automation with Al- len-Bradley Kinetix controls and Compact Logix PLC—a “total system control,” according to Formtek-Maine officials. The system posi - tions a color touchscreen HMI at the feeder control console and a second touchscreen at the straightener control panel to control the back of the line: the straightener, holddown
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Feed-Release Timing— What Every Press Technician Should Know H likelihood of tool breakage or premature wear. Note also that pilots can be worked beyond their original design intent due to an improperly set feed. ighly accurate feed systems practically eliminate the need for pilots in a die. Press technicians should properly adjust or program the feed to avoid inconsistencies in product quality and the
Growth, Diverse Clientele Drive Need for Flexible Feed Line T his stamping and fabrication manufacturer installed its largest mechanical
press yet to process everything from soup to nuts, and needed a coil-feed line flexible enough to parallel those capabilities.
strip could pull out of position from the weight of
Setting the feed-re-
Manitowoc Tool & Mfg. installed a Dallas Industries heavy- duty conventional coil feed line with multiple efficiency features that boost its flexibility. The line is laden with safety features that the manufacturer considers essential.
lease function can be challenging
Manitowoc Tool and Mfg. stamps and fabricates metal products in high volumes to industry segments as varied as agriculture, appliance, home standby-power generation, office furniture and on-highway trucking. Supplying such diverse industries means that flexibility is paramount. The manufacturer’s 28 presses can produce 100 to 1100 tons of force and their bed sizes can accommodate parts as long as 181 in., providing ample flexibility in press capacity. Of equal need is having flexible press-feed lines. “We face some challenges sup-
the material in the slack loop be- tween the feed and straightener
but its accu- racy is critical for success- ful progres- sive-die stamp- ing. The feed release, also called pilot release, allows the pilots in the
feed lines, to prevent cross contam- ination and the potential for steel- scrap fines and fragments to pit aluminum and appearance parts. Recently the company sought an additional feed line capable of han- dling both heavy-gauge steel parts and large aluminum or cosmetic parts.
plying an array of diverse indus- tries, and honestly, it lands right in the feed lines,” says Nick Wunsch, production supervisor for the Man- itowoc, WI, manufacturer. “We run everything from prepainted material for cosmetic parts to heavy-gauge, 3/8-in.-thick Grade 50 steel. Doing both in the same facility can be difficult.” To some extent, the manufacturer handles those challenges by rout- ing specific jobs to dedicated work centers with devoted presses and
or uncoiler.
Feed roll lift (a) and closure (b) timing.
die to position and register the strip accurately in the die. For the pilots to position the strip, the upper feed roll must open (lift) just after the tip of the pilot enters the strip. If the feed roll opens too early, the
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2.2: Sheet
This large front-of-line blank feeder features a gantry pick-and-place loader to perform blank destacking, along with an integrated blank cleaner/lubricator, a vision system to capture blank orientation, and robots to properly position each blank onto the load table.
Blank Feeding—Why & When? B lank feeding certainly can complicate things and require increased capital investment, yet improved material utilization and the ability to cost- effectively produce complex parts can lead to a quick return on investment. And, feeding blanks allows stampers to continuously run their presses, optimizing overall equipment effectiveness. MetalForming wanted to better understand why and when some metal stamping facilities may opt to feed their presses with blanks (whether cut inline or offline) rather than coil, so we posed the question to Paul Stirrett, vice president of sales at Linear Transfer Automation. “We hear this question all the time,” Stirrett says. “Blank feeding certainly can complicate things and require increased capital investment. Often, the bottom line in the decision to feed blanks rather than coil comes down to material utilization and scrap costs. And certainly, in automotive and even appliance, some large class-A parts typically are blank-fed simply due to their size.”
Decision Depends on Speed, Flexibility Placing destackers at the entry side of a press—or “front-of- line automation” as automotive OEMs call it, says Stirrett—re- quires stampers to select one of two methods for moving the blanks into the press: a gantry setup with overhead magnetic or vacuum tooling, or robots. The decision usually comes down to blank geometry, available real estate and material type, and the required amount of speed and flexibility, Stirrett says, adding that, “with robots taking blanks from the destacker to the press, the stacks don’t need to be as precise as with a gantry setup. We adapt vision technology to the robot to check blank position and signal the required adjustments to ensure that the blanks precisely enter the press, as needed. However, with robots we
can typically only run a transfer press at 15 to 20 strokes/min.” Want to run faster? That’s where gantry setups shine. “These simple two-axis gantry motion systems can allow a transfer press to top out at 30 strokes/min. or more,” Stirrett says, not- ing that instead of a vision system to orient the blanks coming from the stack, “we either ensure that the blank stack is set up as required on the handling system, or use vision and other dedicated equipment to identify and adjust each blank to pres- ent it to the transfer tooling. These setups include a physical mechanism able to stop the blank as it feeds on a conveyor and crowd it into position using a series of independently ad- justable pins.”
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A key component of every blank-feed setup is a place to drop a double blank, should one be detected. " "
FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
Blank Feeding 2.0 Asked to comment on what’s new regarding destacking and blank-feed technology, Stirrett turns to the 2.0 version of destackers: the use of servo drives. With an eye to the retrofit market, Stirrett sees huge opportunities for metal formers to implement servo technology and upgrade existing equipment, for a fraction of the cost of all-new destacking and blank-feeding systems. Double Blanks Need a Home A key component of every blank-feed setup is a place to drop a double blank, should one be detected. “When using an inline blank-feed system, we typically design the pick-and-place device long enough so that it can retract backward if needed, as well as forward,” Stirrett explains, “so that it can deposit the rejected blank into a reject station. Or we can deposit the extra blank into a station located between the blank stacks and the idle nest. What About Tailor-Welded Blanks? Finally, how can stampers handle stacks of tailor-welded blanks that inevitably become tilted, sometimes by a great deal? “In these cases, we divide the pallet into four separately controlled quadrants,” Stirrett explains, “and use servo-driven height adjustments in each quadrant to level the stack. This ensures that the top of the stack remains flat for the feeder mechanism. And, we can program the servos at different locations in the stack, necessary because as the stack diminishes there’s less tilt, and the servos ensure that the overall stack height levels out.”
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WATCH: Double Blank Detection in the Transfer Stamping Process
Reliable Double-Sheet Detection
FULL ARTICLE Consider how much it costs to repair a die, replace the tooling or schedule a part sort, and then consider all of the related downtime. " " CLICK FOR Press-Line Part Sensing— Sooner is Better T he ability to detect blank and part presence, double sheets and more, prior to stamping, is a reliable money and time saver. That’s Brett Vance, business development manager of general metal forming industries for Prime Controls, Ket- tering, OH.
R eliable double-sheet detection prevents stamping-press-line mishaps that not only stymie productivity, but cause costly damage to tooling and equipment. Here’s how it works, along with some sensing and integration options for metal formers.
T he "oil suction effect" on metal sheets in a stack, be a troublesome issue. New long-range analog inductive proximity sensing technologies, with very dependable linearity, can reliably determine if more than one blank is present, which may be an option for many metal forming companies. whereby remnants of die lube can allow multiple blanks to stick together and potentially allow more than one blank to be picked up and inserted into a press, can
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
CHAPTER THREE: STAMPED-PARTS TRANSFER
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3.1: Press-Tending Robots..............................20 3.2: Transfer Systems......................................24 3.3: End-of-Line Part-Handling Automation...29
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3.1: Press-Tending Robots Robotic Press Tending: Easier Integration D eciding to bring robots into stamping and related workcell operations? Advancements bring huge reductions in time and money spent planning, installing and programming.
press-line assets,” he says. “Robots can adapt easily to a range of production variations such as double, triple or quadruple picks-and-drops, increased dis- tance between parts during press-to-press transfer, or the extraction of semifinished parts prior to the last press in a line.” Robots also provide an ideal solution for handling of smaller parts―traditionally not associated with press automation. “Applications include back covers for flat-panel televisions, air-conditioner components and other parts often produced on smaller press lines,” says Roda. “Instead of larger automotive panels produced at line speeds of 10 to 14 strokes/min., these parts move at 18 to 20 strokes/min. or faster, and robots readily handle those types of parts and line speeds.”
Long the purview of automotive OEMs and Tier Ones, robotic press tending has filtered to lower-tier suppliers not only in au - tomotive, but across sectors including appliance and general industrial. Why? As Toni Roda, global product manager-press automation for ABB points out, the flexible robots of today bet - ter interact with presses and other machinery, offer reliability in harsh environments, and can be designed, integrated, pro- grammed and operated more quickly and at lower cost. We’ll detail all of that, but deciding when and where to incorporate ro- bots for tending presses and workcells deserves an initial look. The following cases, according to Roda, call for consideration of robotic machine tending: • An existing press line operating in manual mode, with oper- ators loading and unloading presses. “Switching to automated press tending,” Roda says, “greatly impacts not only productivity, but operator safety as well. When faced with stringent surface requirements, robots can provide gentler handling that protects part finishes.”
Today’s software programs and graphical interfaces more quickly and easily integrate robots into press-line and related workcell applications, and also help answer skilled-labor challenges.
• Aging automation on an existing press line. • A new press line.
Typical layout restrictions when automating existing lines relate to long interpress distances or narrow die clearances, according to Roda. “In such cases, the use of external linear or rotational ad- ditional-axis robots and the selection of the right end-of-arm tooling play key roles in obtaining top performance of installed
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Robotic Destacking and Press Tending a Huge Time and Labor Saver ...
inhouse patented sheet metal flooring support, Sukup Manu - facturing again reached out to Yaskawa Motoman to help with a manufacturing solution. Robot Slashes Cycle Time The result: A Yaskawa Model GP180 robot for automated press tending (the company also boasts metal stamping profi - ciency), replacing manual blank and part loading and unloading. Specifically, the robot destacks 20-gauge steel blanks, using an embedded thickness gauge to confirm single-piece pickup, and places a blank in a 300-ton mechanical press housing a forming die. Following the press stroke, the robot removes the workpiece, now a tube section, and places it in a hydraulic press to produce a 12-in. bend. The 13.25-in.-long finished part is manually unloaded and pallet-stacked while the robot begins the cycle anew with blank destacking. “This automates what had been three manual operations,” Sukup says, noting again that such automation frees personnel for other duties. “Cycle time saw a 30% improvement, but the real payback was going from three operators to one, allowing us to use the other two operators in other departments.”
for grain-storage and-handling systems and equipment. That’s good news for suppliers in this sector, including Sukup Manu- facturing Co. However, rising steel prices and a dearth of skilled labor have proved chal- lenging—a common refrain in the metal forming and fabricat- ing world. Helping to meet such challenges, and specifically to fulfill increasing customer de - mand, have driven the company to increasingly explore and im- plement automation. One of the latest automation additions at
This press-tending robot at Sukup Manufacturing automates what had been three manual operations, according to Steve Sukup, company president and CEO. “Cycle time saw a 30% improvement,” he says, “but the real payback was going from three operators to one, allowing us to use the other two operators in other departments.”
F or Sukup Manufacturing, an Iowa- Robotic destacking and press tending is a huge time and labor saver for Sukup Manufacturing, an Iowa-based agricultural supplier that adds automation to free shop-floor personnel for other duties. Good, stable pricing of agricultural commodities such as grains over the past few years has meant steady demand based agricultural supplier that adds automation to free shop-floor personnel for other duties.
the Sheffield, IA-based manufacturer, to meet said demand: a Yaskawa Motoman robot that destacks blanks and tends two stamping presses to produce flooring supports for use in grain-storage operations. “Here’s a fun stat,” Steve Sukup, company president and chief executive officer, tells MetalForming : “Since we brought in our first robot in the 1990s, we've more than tripled our employment. It’s not a case where robots take jobs away, they just allow peo- ple to better utilize their skills.” In the spring of 2021, needing high-quantity production of an
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A heavily automated line, featuring five gap-frame presses, allows this Canadian manufacturer to bring stamping of complex stair treads back home from China. OEM Reshores Production with Robotic Tandem Line
This heavily automated line, featuring five gap-frame presses, allowed Canway Corp. to bring stamping of complex stair treads back home from China.
A new coil-fed stamping line, developed by Linear Automation and featuring five gap-frame presses integrated with five six-axis robots, in - cluding an end-of-line racking system, enabled Hamilton, Ontario-based Canway Equipment Mfg. to reshore production of its most important product line: stair treads for its line of rolling, mobile ladder stands. FULL ARTICLE CLICK FOR
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Robot-Tended Press at Work in Monterrey T his 27-yr.-old metal former, with five facilities throughout Northern Mexico, while nurturing a rapidly expanding fabrication business now eyes metal stamping as a key to continued growth. At the core of its stamping business is a 440-ton mechanical press, tended by a robot to handle large, heavy blanks and stamped parts.
MetalForming LIVE On the Shop Floor 2023: Pressroom Automation
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M etalForming LIVE On the Shop Floor includes interviews with metal forming executives discussing their company’s use of automation technology as well as videos from their shops featuring automation technology in action.
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
3.2:Transfer Systems Transfer-System Considerations C onsider transfer dies as basically line dies, with some minor but important differences. Die stations are timed together and spaced evenly apart, usually in a single press. Rails with fingers or grippers transport and position stampings. The rails can mount inside of the die, to the outside of the die or to the outside of the press. Trans- fer dies also can mount in individual presses. During a press cycle, each rail travels inward, picks up the stampings with special fingers or grippers, and transports them to the next die station or press.
Stampers can install transfer systems in a variety of ways: mounted through the press window, mounted to the front and rear of the press, mounted to a transfer plate, or mounted externally between presses. Transferring the Workpiece The two basic types of transfer systems, two- axis and three-axis (or tri-axis), can perform nu- merous motions. Two-axis systems, usually sim- pler and more economical than their three-axis counterparts, are limited in their application.
Lifting and Transferring the Workpiece Lifting the workpiece in a die requires motion in the X-Y-Z planes. This three-axis movement allows the lifting of stampings sufficiently high off of the die, and placed within the perime- ter-gauge boundaries in the next station.
designed to allow sufficient clearance for the fingers’ return path to the original start posi - tion while avoiding interference with lower-die steels, cams and die-guiding components. Designers also must consider the timing of die closure relative to the incoming fingers.
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Three-axis systems are commonly plate- or press-mounted, with tooling components
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
No Choice but to Automate A increases without adding people.
utomation has become the only option for stampers in a growing number of cases. The value of the parts a company can stamp, assemble and ship by adding automation to a line often and easily will exceed the automation investment. Factory output
Let’s roll the clock back to a time when high-volume metal formers drove the implementation of pressroom automation, rushing to replace hand-transfer operations with coil-fed pro- gressive dies and transfer dies with mechanical transfers. Often, however, stampers running lower production volumes could not justify the investment in automated lines, and so they leveraged manual labor to move parts along line dies or from press to press. Now, however, as we all know too well, with fewer people in the workplace it’s becoming more urgent to automate lower-vol - ume production. Fortunately, where in the past the math didn’t work, modern automation has become less costly and more flexible, and easier to justify for lower-volume jobs. So says Todd Wenzel, owner/president of TCR Integrated Stamping Systems, Wisconsin Rapids, WI, a turnkey provider and systems integrator—whether a metal former needs to improve existing equipment or requires an entirely new production system. Case Study—Automating Hand-Transfer “One of our clients,” Wenzel continues, “an OEM manufacturer
of consumer goods, recently reported significant gains from automating a hand-trans- fer line where multiple oper- ators moved parts through multiple presses. First, a great deal of work in process (WIP) accumulated between each tool/press. The first stage was coil-fed, the remaining all hand-transfer, and output aver- aged 200 parts/hr. We added a
Contract metal stamper and fabricator Tenere employ this automated three-press tandem line to run what traditionally would have been hand-transfer production. The line features three Aida straightside presses, and an AP&T blank-destacking system and its Speed Feeder press automation used to transfer parts from press to press. Tenere can run one or multiple tools per press, and has the option to run all three presses with automation together, or run just one or two of the presses along with the automation, leaving the remaining press(es) available for hand-transfer work.
larger-bed press and automation to the line, while continuing to coil-feed the first die station. The automation eliminated WIP and output doubled to 400 parts/hr. And, when stamping smaller parts, the company retooled the line to stamp two out per stroke, so that output rose from 200 to 800 parts/hr. “In addition, he continues, “while the reduction in manual labor due to the automation varies by job, on average we helped this customer reduce the amount of labor related to material han-
dling by 80 percent. We also eliminated lost production caused by the scrapping of cosmetically sensitive parts that experi- enced scratches and dents during hand feeding. This allows the
manufacturer to now sell—for profit— thousands of parts per year that oth- erwise would have been scrapped.”
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
MetalForming LIVE: Optimizing Press-Stroke Rate
P ete Ulintz, leads the leverage opportunities to improve productivity and efficiency without investing a lot of money in new capital equipment. Then, our expert panel will share their tips. During this session, learn: discussion on this topic. He’ll detail ways that metal stampers can DURING THIS SESSION, LEARN: • How to better understand, and take advantage of, actual transfer-system and press capacity • How to optimize your transfer system motion curves • How to optimize progressive-die
performance through coil-line synchronization/feed timing, pilot-release timing, etc.
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
Motor Town Supplier Adds Servo Transfer Press to Sustain its Rhythm
A nd sets them down like transfer system to a 2600-ton press. Results are impressivepress speed and OEE have doubled. Transfer System "Picks Up Parts Like a Baby ... snowflakes." That's how one engineer describes his company's recent retrofit of a three-axis servo
N ew servo transfer capabilities.
press adds capacity,
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The difference between a progressive die and a transfer die press is primarily how the part is moved from station to station. Instead of having carrier tabs that carry the part all the way to the end of the progressive die and then are cut off at the end, the blank is formed as it goes through the tools. Finger tools pick it up and move it.
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Optimizing Transfer-System Motion—The Money is in SPM S imulation of transfer-press motion only to verify interference-free processing isn’t good enough. Stampers should aim to optimize motion curves, following the advice offered here, to eke out additional strokes/min. (SPM) from their transfer presses.
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Visit jrautomation.com to learn more.
FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
3.3: End-of-Line Part Handling Press-Line Automation: The Future of Stamping Manufacturing T railblazing through the last frontier of pressroom automation with end- of-line auto racking, part stacking, bin picking, auto threading and hyper- sensoring to expedite productivity, improve quality, enhance safety and go where no stamping operation has gone before.
Paul Stirret, VP sales and marketing, Linear Automation, a Nidec Press & Automation company, says that the trend in press-line automation is to advance into areas of the pressroom that have not been automated in the past, and that end-of-line and bin picking are the last frontier for pressroom automation. “We’ve discovered that most companies are investigating au- to-racking and auto-part-stacking,” he says. “With the new vision systems in the field today, we can pick parts and properly place them into racks. A robot can go into a random bin of parts, lo- cate a part, pick it and place it into a secondary downstream process or another tote.” Kevin VanDenBrouck, COO, HMS Products, an Aida-America company, agrees that end-of-line is where it’s at. “We see chal- lenges at the end of the line where customers need to automate the process to eliminate issues with poor-quality parts getting through and ending up at their customers’ plants,” he says. “We see the need to automate the part-out process—racking parts and placing parts in bins, eliminating the need for multiple em- ployees at the end of line.” John Walas, manager, product and solutions group, Komatsu, points to how automation, specifically cobots, allow stampers to perform some processes in a stamping press that cannot be done with human operators. Case in point: perforating a solid tubular part while holding it in proper position as work is performed.
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We see the need to automate the part-out process— racking parts and placing parts in bins, eliminating the need for multiple employees at the end of line. " " CLICK FOR
FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
“Stampers can form features on parts that we never thought were pos- sible, such as going from a blank die to a spline part in a stamping press rather than in a machining center,” Walas says. Stuart Cordrey, vice president of sales, Colt Automation, says that stampers have been asking the com- pany to automate more of the feed- line components and processes, including coil threading. Feed-line processes include loading of the coil from the car into the correct loca- tion on the uncoiler and centering it; feeder and straightener material guiding; straightener entry guiding, pinch-roll adjustment and roll adjust- ment; threading-table adjustment and
With today’s vision systems, a robot can locate a part off of a conveyor or a random bin of parts, pick it up and place it into a secondary downstream process or rack.
pass-line height adjustment on the feeder. “We’ve noticed recent trends specifically around automating the feed line for increased efficiency—without taking our eyes off of safety,” Cordrey says. Tim Wilson, engineering/operations manager at Greenerd Press and Machine, says that metal formers are adding more sensors and more capabilities to their automation systems to enhance their ability to troubleshoot pressroom problems. “A lot of that need occurs when our customers have senior
maintenance personnel retiring or have a single-point individual who is the only one who knows how to maintain the equipment,” Wilson says. “By adding more sensors, more feedback and more diagnostics to the equipment, we can alert operators to problem trends such as tool wear. Jim Finnerty, product manager, Wintriss Controls, says that the company’s new automation-development efforts—its WPC Apex press control and Shadow 10 safety light curtain—focus on safety. The Apex bridges the gap between a basic clutch/
brake control and a full-blown SmartPac Pro integration. The Apex clutch/brake control incorporates automation-friendly features such as programmable-limit inputs, setup memory, and a large, color touchscreen interface while also being OSHA/ ANSI-compliant.
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
Assessing Cobot & Robot Solutions for End-of-Line Stamping Automation
Electrically powered end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) for cobots, such as this parallel gripper, offers the ability to monitor and acquire data on part handling and transfer. This allows metal formers to optimize EOAT operation and add productivity to end-of-line processes. A walk through FABTECH revealed the extent to which collaborative robots (cobots) have penetrated metal forming and fabricating environments. Here, MetalForming explores end-of-line automation via co- bots and robots, and what these advancements mean, with Kristian Hulgard, general manager for the Americas at OnRobot, a provider of cobot automation systems.
VIDEO: Simulation of End-of-Line Automation System Today, with vision systems and high-speed robotics, manu- facturers increasingly are exploring end-of-line automation, as simulated here with picking and placing of these parts. Note that for illustrative purposes only two robots are running in this sim- ulation. In an actual stamping scenario, all four robots would be
running. (Simulation courtesy of Linear Automation Inc.)
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FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION WATCH: MetalForming LIVE: Session 1—End-of-Line Automation
Part-Handling Choices for Advancing Automation
W hen it's time to step up your automation efforts, don't overlook material selection for tooling. When talking of automation advancements in manufacturing circles, software, controls and robotics often take center stage. However, how about the tooling necessary for transferring parts to and from forming presses? Shown here: carbon-fiber end effectors that can reduce cycle time while lengthening the lives of robots.
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