Machine tools at Mahlo automated by a RILE mobile cell in combination with a Yaskawa Motoman handling robot
Welcome to the world of robotics
The automation of machine tools offers tremendous (but previously unexploited) potential for boosting efficiency, particularly for smaller, highly-specialised manufacturers in the mechanical engineering and supply industries. Against this background, Mahlo – expert for measuring, control and automation systems – has ventured into the world of robotics with a mobile loading and unloading cell from RILE Roboter und Anlagentechnik (Robotics and Plant Engineering) in conjunction with a Yaskawa Motoman handling robot.
Blanks are deposited in an aligning station or buffer pallet, then inserted into the main spindle of the lathe. After turning, they are removed from the counter spindle, dipped into the sink and drawn through a blowdown tank. Finally, the finished workpieces are set down clean and dry. This process is repeated many hundreds of times a day.
What takes place on this CNC lathe, a Quick Turn 250 MSY from Mazak, is a critical operation for the final product. At Mahlo GmbH + Co. KG they are well aware of this. The company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of measurement, control and automation systems for the textile and finishing industry, as well as the coating, foil and paper sector. The Mazak machining centre at its headquarters in Saal an der Donau in Lower Bavaria has been in use for some considerable time for component production.
At the beginning, loading and unloading were performed manually. But although this appears to be a monotonous task, from a technical point of view it was a complex process that was difficult to automate. Robert Schottenhammer, responsible for the mechanical parts manufacture at Mahlo, willingly admits: “Up until then we hadn’t had much to do with robots”. But in 2021 the traditional company went in search of a suitable solution that would boost efficiency in loading the lathe. Not far away they found exactly what they were looking for, at special-purpose machine manufacturer RILE Roboter und Anlagentechnik (Robotics and Plant Engineering) in Deggendorf, only 100 kilometres from the Mahlo company headquarters.