CN
A Plug & Play Plant for Dash Insulators
THE WELL APPRECIATED MINITANDEM CONCEPT, DEVELOPED BY CANNON 20 Y E A R S A G O, H A S B E E N N O W REDESIGNED FOR A VERY FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING APPROACH: IT CAN BE EASILY EXTENDED TO DOUBLE THE PRODUCTIVITY, OR MOVED TO ANOTHER FACTORY, IF THE LOGISTICS DEMAND IT. MINIMUM DOWNTIME IS GUARANTEED FOR ITS INSTALLATION AND START-UP.
The Cannon MiniTandem was developed at the end of the past century(… it sounds old, does it?) to allow for high-productivity in production of large sound deadening elements made foam-backing an heavy layer( usually a filled EPDM) with a Polyurethane flexible foam. A shuttling double lower platen allows for external loading service on one lower mould half while a similar one is closed in a polymerisation press, curing a part injected few seconds before. Numerous of these plants have been supplied by Cannon in these two decades to the leading manufacturers of sound insulation solutions for the automotive and trucking industries.
Repeat Order of a Satisfied Market Leader One of these clients – a major Tier 1 supplier producing parts worldwide for the most important car makers – after having experienced for many years the benefits of using Cannon wet and dry solutions for its Polyurethane plants, has just committed to Cannon Ergos a revised version of the MiniTandem for a hot forming application: dash insulators of 1,800 by 1,000 mm size. Working from large sheets of EPDM or PVC, picked automatically from palletised stacks, the equipment is pre-heating them at 160 ° C prior to transferring them into the forming press. Here the dispenser unrolls the hot layer of thermoplastic over the mould, following carefully its threedimensional profile with a vertical adjustment of the front part of the dispenser. This movement provides a high precision of deposition, needed to guarantee a crease-free moulded part, especially when it features a very deep draw. Once the heavy layer has been vacuum formed onto the lower mould, the shuttle enters the press for foaming. At the same time a second mould half enters in the forming area from the opposite side, ready to receive the deposition of a new hot sheet and to vacuum – form it. This method provides the highest exploitation of the forming press( the most capital intensive piece of the plant) limiting to one the number of preheating ovens.
Let ' s Move It, Quick! The client ' specifications were quite clear in terms of flexibility: the plant – initially composed by one hot press – had to be easily doubled in case of increase in demand, without perturbing the production. On top of that, the whole equipment had to be easily moved among the various production plants located in different European countries, should the demand of parts suddenly rise there.
A F l e x i b l e E n g i n e e r i n g Approach Cannon Ergos redesigned the MiniTandem according to both these needs, providing their customer w i t h a v e r y f l e x i b l e p l a n t configuration: when needed, a second forming press can be installed on either side of the existing one, according to the factory layout available at the moment. The whole set of interconnections between the various elements of the plant and the central logics and electric control panel, as well as all the mechanical fitting points, have been engineered with a Plug & Play concept, allowing for prompt dismantling and re-installation hundreds of kilometres away, in the shortest time possible and with minimum loss of production.
A revised version of the Cannon MiniTandem is used for the hot forming production of Automotive dash insulators, made with large sheets of EPDM or PVC.
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