English - Nooteboom Giants on the Road Magazine English - Nr. 6 - 2019 | Page 48

GIANTS ON THE ROAD
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The welding robot is suspended from a rail-mounted frame which allows easy access to all welds
FULLY AUTOMATIC ROBOT FOR THE FIRST TIME CAN THE WELDING ROBOT WELD HIGH STRENGTH STEEL?
Raymond: “Yes, this is the first one, but in the coming years several
robots will be used in our production. Our welding robot is equipped
with two stations. At station 1 the welding of the next component is
prepared and at station 2 the welding takes place. The robot is suspended
from a rail-mounted frame which allows easy access to all welds. The
robot is equipped with a system for changing the welding torches. By
changing the torches automatically the wire and position of the torch can
be adjusted to suit different materials and applications. All machines are
connected to a network so that operators are automatically informed if
there is a malfunction.” Raymond: “For some kinds of steel it is important to first heat the
material. In order to ensure the steel has the right temperature we are
going to install a heating furnace. We can also change the welding wire
automatically when we weld components made of high strength steel.”
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE PLANNING?
Raymond: “Traditional production companies work with strategic
planning, with lead times of at least six to eight weeks. In the coming
years Nooteboom will use dynamic planning, enabling us to constantly
adjust the production process. In order to take that step we put a few
process engineers to work in 2017. We also discussed with the engineers
all the possibilities available to us with the new machinery. For some
of them it was inspiring to realise the potential of a modern milling
machine.”
WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF THE PROCESS?
Raymond: “In 2018 we started to put our newly acquired knowledge into
practice. Many components went back to the drawing board. The result:
they are less complicated to produce, lighter, but often stronger too. We
are making excellent progress but after all we are only in the pilot phase
for our final process optimisation. The plans for the next steps to take
will follow after the evaluation.”
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WHAT ADVANTAGES OFFERS THE AUTOMATED PRODUCTION TO
THE ENGINEERS?
Raymond: “With the new software the engineers can see much more
during the design process. It’s quite simple to check whether the entire
component can actually be made with the robot. We can also design
different versions of a component and check the pricing. When the
engineer is finished, the software automatically makes a list for the
various processing procedures. Previously it was not always clear
whether a good-looking design by an engineer could be produced
efficiently. This new software still leaves room for creativity, but at
the same time checks are made to make sure the design meets the
conditions within the production process.”
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT?
Raymond: “We are trying out Cobots, which stands for Collaborative
Robot. A Cobot is a flexible, smaller robot that can make the work that
people do easier and less demanding. With a Cobot the repetitive tasks
in the production can be programmed. This physically lightens the
workload of the employees. It is easy to programme a Cobot. In most
cases you have to show them the work instructions only once. Because
a Cobot is much cheaper than a robot it is of interest to include Cobots
in the production.”