GS-MR PRO: LOAD AUTOMATES LISEC FLEXIBLE SPACER INSULATED GLASS LINES
GS-MR Robotics explore how their patented PRO: Load robotic glass loading system is automating the industry leading IGU manufacturing lines which continue to come with manual loading as standard.
Most of us have IGU double glazing at home but are we aware of the manufacturing techniques employed to make our windows? We can leave the manufacturing details to the experts because glass is a dangerous commodity, right?
Is it a revelation to discover with the level of technology available throughout the manufacturing world, the glass processing machinery manufacturers latest automated high specification IGU production lines still utilise manual loading and unloading as standard? Operators set to load glass panes of all sizes and weights, including patio door sized, through their shift for‘ Living Wage’?
And it’ s the same at the end of the‘ automated’ processing line, although unfortunately the IGU is now 2 or 3 times heavier than at the loading end.
A fully automated manufacturing IGU line dependent upon manual labour in two key production areas is indicative of where the glass processing industry is placed regarding meaningful automation.
It should be no surprise then the glass industry has labour issues – loading tonnes of glass every day for the living wage and not much more.
Only long standing IGU machinery manufacturers can explain why they have failed to produce a proactive automated IG loading system within reach of SMEs budgets. The continuing reliance on a manual handling process which contributes to producing significant amounts of waste is questionable, although having been adopted in excess of 50 years ago, you will struggle to find a video demonstrating the process to any degree.
Manufacturers maintaining their insistence that modern IG processing lines continue to rely on manual loading enables the industry acceptance of that creation of waste, with social media posts
8 AUTOMATION, CONTROL & ENGINEERING