KLEINIG engineering develops assembly cell with two MOTOMAN robots
Complex handling task as entry point to robotics
When smaller companies decide to automate individual assembly steps for the first time, they usually tend to choose standard tasks for this. A highly specialised automotive supplier from the customer base of the Saxon plant manufacturer KLEINIG engineering has now successfully taken a different route – and entered the world of robotics with a complex handling task. Two Motoman robots now assemble rubber-metal bearings for different chassis components.
Be it in the automotive and supplier industry, in mechanical engineering, electronics production, hardware manufacturing, precision mechanics or the watch-making industry – assembly and automation technology from the Saxon special machine manufacturer KLEINIG engineering GmbH & Co. KG is used in many industries. One reason for this market success is that the company, which has been based in Großpösna near Leipzig since 1998, covers the entire spectrum of plant engineering and combines development, design, electrical planning, programming, production and service under one roof.
Complex task
The experts at KLEINIG engineering were thus well prepared when they received an enquiry from an automotive industry customer. An existing assembly process was to be automated in order to increase quantities and throughputs on the one hand and to reduce the number of workers required on the other.
Specifically, this involved assembling rubber-metal bearings for wishbones and swivel bearings. This is a very demanding automation task, because these chassis components are forged parts and sometimes have large manufacturing tolerances. Due to the way they are designed, these tolerances are only closed in the course of the manufacturing process and require highly flexible handling until that time. In addition, the gripping position is located on unmachined surfaces, which places additional demands on the effectors.
Various concepts were discussed on how to implement this very special task. The KLEINIG engineering designers favoured a robot-based solution. "However, the customer initially had “reservations” regarding robotics," as authorised signatory and sales manager Tobias Franz recalls. This scepticism was not only due to the complexity of the assembly process, but also to the fact that the company had not used robots before and accordingly could not draw on its own expertise and experience in this area.
The fact that the customer ultimately opted for the robot-based option after all – and thus for entering into robotics altogether – was due to the convincing, PLC-based system concept with which KLEINIG engineering convinced him. In the meantime, this has proven itself as a flexible assembly solution for batch size 1 manufacturing without tool-up effort.