Modern Plastics Worldwide - October 2007 - dae uptlax

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Robots prove
a big deal for
large parts
By Clare Goldsberry
The benefits of automation for
handling large parts are numerous,
as large-parts processors
increasingly agree. Employee safety
is the critical argument, but other
reasons also figure.
Mack Molding makes its living molding
large parts. At the custom molder’s
Inman, SC facility, either 3- or 6-axis
robots from Kuka see use on all of its
presses. Recent investments in Mack’s
Southern Division included completion
of a 25,000-ft 2 expansion at the Inman
facility to accommodate four molding
machines sized up to 4000 tons. Mack
just added the fourth of these presses—
a 3350-ton unit—rounding out what
already included an offering of 33 large
presses (1000-3350 tons).
TECH TRENDS
Joe Carinci, director of operations for
Mack Molding’s Southern Division, says
there were two things the company
wanted to achieve with automation.
“First, we wanted to minimize the physical
handling of these parts, which can
weigh 25-30 lb. Because these parts are
so large, the weight is obtrusive and the
parts can be unwieldy,” says Carinci.
“Second, we’re trying to improve the
logistics related to the movement of the
part itself, utilizing conveyance from the
press to the next process, the next operation,
whether that be a secondary operation,
assembly, packaging, etc.”
To reach these goals, the firm added
multiple 6-axis shelf-mount robots.
Some are mounted on a molding
machine’s platens, while others are freestanding,
to handle simple parts removal
as well as complex maneuvers such as
relocating a piece of glass to an adhesive
dispensing head, where it spins the glass
while adhesive is applied around the
edges. The robot then moves the glass to
a plastic window frame for a truck sleeper
cab window, and installs the glass.
“The old process using a 3-axis table
wasn’t capable of doing what we needed
A 7-axis Kuka robot removes a top cap
for a residential air conditioner from a
Toshiba 3350-ton press at Mack Molding’s
plant in Inman, S.C. An extra
motion was added to a six-axis robot.
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