Tech Briefs Magazine - August 2024 - MD-14

Reducing Plasma Cutting Cycle Time with a
Cobot Cutter
T
ank Technologies, a company producing
porcelain-lined water heaters,
faced significant challenges with
their manual cutting processes.
Challenges in the cutting process are
detrimental in an industrial landscape
where speed requirements and cost
pressures are high. The introduction of
Hirebotics' Cobot Cutter significantly
improved their operations, drastically
reducing rework, improving cycle times,
and elevating overall efficiency.
Tank Technologies has a robust reputation
for delivering high-quality, customizable
water heating solutions. Yet,
they
grappled with the high volatility and inconsistency
inherent in manual cutting processes.
These challenges were magnified by
the fact that a quarter of their products
required customization. This case study
explores their transition from a primarily
manual process to an automated one,
driven by the integration of the Cobot
Cutter into their manufacturing line.
Before automating, Tank Technologies
relied on hand cutting to shape their
products, a process fraught with inconsistency
and inaccuracy. " 25 percent of
our products are customizable, so we
were getting a lot of volatility and inconsistency
when cutting our heads and
bases by hand, " said Dan Church, Senior
Manufacturing Engineer.
Tank Technologies'
products
are
highly customizable. They have various
offerings that differ in volume, tank diameter,
and application. The customizability
they support result in a significant
amount of variability in size and structure
of their products. Curved surfaces
and custom fittings also introduce geometric
complexity inherent with building
custom tanks. Any solution would
need to handle the variability in size and
structure. The CNC machines at their
disposal could not accommodate the
complex geometries required for their
products, leading to a high rate of rework
and scrap.
The adoption of the Cobot Cutter
provided the needed precision and flexibility.
" The Cobot offered us all the axes
we need to [accomodate] the geometry, "
said Church.
After
thorough
Technologies
research,
Tank
partnered with
The transition to the cobot was smooth with installation and initial operation commencing within just four
hours. (Image: Hirebotics)
Hirebotics for the implementation, in
part because of their robust support
system. The transition to the cobot was
smooth, with installation and initial
operation commencing within just
four hours, thanks in no small part to
the Beacon app. Beacon enables users
with real-time access to their system for
setup, monitoring, and control from a
phone or tablet.
Training was straightforward, as staff
members found the Beacon app interface
intuitive. Eric Parmenter, ASME
Production Lead, said that " in the span
of a week, [we] were programming and
cutting [our] own parts. "
The cobot's impact was profound.
Rework due to cutting errors plummeted from 25 percent to nearly zero, and cycle times saw a dramatic reduction,
from three minutes to 11 seconds on most heads. (Image: Hirebotics)
14
Rework due to cutting errors plummeted
from 25 percent to nearly zero, and cycle
times saw a dramatic reduction, from three
minutes to an astounding 11 seconds on
most heads, Church highlighted. This shift
not only improved the immediate producMotion
Design, August 2024

Tech Briefs Magazine - August 2024

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