Cambridge Precision has installed its first collaborative robot to create a flexible, autonomous and high-productivity manufacturing cell.
Supplied by the recently created automation division of Mills CNC, the M0617 cobot, equipped with ONRobot electrically driven two finger parallel grippers and Schunk vices, was installed in the company’s 24,000 square foot facility in St Neots in July 2019 where it has been integrated with a Doosan DNM 6700 vertical machining centre.
The cobot performs machine tool tending operations such as loading workpiece billets from a loading table into the DNM 6700 and, after the machining operations have been completed, unloading the finished machined components and positioning them back on the table.
The company manufactures complex parts and undertakes mechanical and electrical assembly for a number of customers operating in specialist markets. Quality and lead time fulfilment are critical, and Cambridge Precision constantly looks for ways to improve performance, support its workforce and delight its customers.
Says General Manager Nick Raven: “The cobot helps to free-up skilled labour by handling repetitive and less profitable tasks. Robbie (the cobot) has been welcomed by the team and has enabled team members to focus on other manufacturing and assembly demands.”
The milling cobot cell is able to operate 24/7. Since installation it has been digitally programmed to handle more than 20 different projects and the company estimates that, from a standing start two months ago, over 5000 prismatic parts have been manufactured in the cell.
The cell, supported by a number of Cambridge Precision’s partners, including tooling specialists MA Ford, Guhring and Alpha-CAM, and metalworking fluid experts Q8Oils, is the company’s first investment in advanced robot technology.
Prior to investing in its first cobot Cambridge Precision undertook a comprehensive feasibility study and cost justification exercise.
A recent example illustrates the productivity gains that CPL is experiencing with its cobot investment: 65 small aluminium blanks are positioned on a peg table next to the cobot and adjacent to the DNM 6700 machining centre. The cobot is programmed to pick up each blank in turn and load it into the machining centre where it is machined to completion. (Cycle time for each part is 8 minutes 20 seconds).
Once machining operations have been completed the cobot takes the finished component from the machine and places it back on the peg board, and then loads a new blank into the machine.
By starting the machining operations at 5.00pm the entire batch is machined, overnight, in 9 hours - without any manual intervention.
Says Nick Raven: “It’s still early days but we are delighted with the cell’s performance, and the decision to invest in collaborative robot technology has been justified.
“As with any investment in new technology there is a definite learning curve involved but, thanks to Mills, it wasn’t that long or steep. We are appreciative of the relationship we have with Mills and, I believe, we are both benefitting from the learning this journey provides.
“Such has been the positive impact of our first cobot that we are considering investing in a second in the near future and further developing our use and application of digital automation and artificial intelligence.”