Automation-ebook-2026

FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION

Streamlined Part Separating, Picking and Sorting Minimizes Laser-Cut Part Costs W attention to what happens after the cut. “Profitability comes when shops optimize how operators spend their time,” Trumpf TruLaser product manager Salay Quaranta tells MetalForming , “by using technology that will re- duce the time spent removing parts from nests and picking and sorting them, and minimizing the amount of rework needed to clean up cut edges.” Described is a Trumpf Smart Solution focal point: new na- no-joint technology that impressively promises to slash the time needed to separate parts from nests by as much as 90 percent, Quaranta says, compared to more commonly used micro joints. “These nano joints,” Thompson continues, “typically only are about 15 percent of the sheet thickness and around 3 mm long. Compared to through-thickness micro joints, they allow an oper- ator to break parts free from the nest in a fraction of the time.” hen it comes to laser cutting, the focus not only is on laser power and cutting speed; we’re talking minimizing part costs by paying

Part Sorting/Stacking Highlights New Automated Laser Line E nd-of-line part sorting and stacking automation has spurred an increase in laser cutting productivity at Jan-Air, a manufacturer of industrial fans and blowers. As a result, the firm has reduced direct-labor input at the cutting

machine and instead created skilled-labor opportunities at downstream operations. Jan-Air, operating out of a 52,000-sq.-ft. facility in Richmond, IL, in 2019 became the proud new owner of a 4-kW fiber-la - ser cutting machine (a Bystronic By- Star 3015 with 5 by 10-ft. worktable), equipped with state-of-the-art end-of-line part sorting and stacking automation.

line automation, we’d be struggling to keep up with part sorting and stacking. So, rather than hire and train workers for relatively low-skill sorting and stacking tasks, we’re now hiring and train- ing workers for higher-skill downstream work such as welding, assembly and painting.” Jan-Air relies on a Bystronic part-sorting and stacking system to group parts removed from the skeleton by job number and stack them for delivery to downstream operations. It also can program the system to stack parts based on where and when they’re needed. For example, if a nest contains 100 like parts but only 20 are needed for immediate assembly with the rest earmarked for storage, the system will create two separate stacks.

“During day shifts, we typically schedule our shorter produc- tion runs through the sheet metal department,” shares com- pany president Mark Sattersten, “and overnight we’ll schedule longer production runs to process on the laser-cutting machine unattended. We can load up a 3000-lb. skid of material on the laser and leave for the night. It will run unattended, lights out, and in the morning when our shift starts there will be sorted and stacked parts, maybe as many as 1000 parts, ready for operators to move over to secondary operations—press brake bending, welding, painting or assembly. “The laser is so fast,” he continues, “that without the end-of-

CLICK FOR

FULL ARTICLE

Page 86