FOCUS ON SURFACE FINISHING quality tower cranes that are used worldwide . This includes fast-erecting , top-slewing , luffing jibs and special-purpose cranes as well as mobile construction cranes . Liebherr also offers a wide range of services that complete the company ’ s portfolio : Tower Crane Solutions , the Tower Crane Centre and Tower Crane Customer Service .
Liebherr ’ s 172 EC-B crane and a Liebherr fast-erecting crane ( background ) over the all-weather zoo in Münster , Germany .
Opting for automation
The new deburring line plays a key part in the production of high-quality tower cranes and mobile construction cranes .
“ Removing slag , descaling , deburring and rounding edges : the new system does it all . This means that metal parts weighing up to 200kg can be optimally prepared for subsequent production steps . The parts are then turned into components for crane jibs and tower sections . Robots with the latest camera technology position the parts , which are up to 1,250mm wide and 100mm thick , and remove them again after processing ,” surface finishing specialist , Liebherr , told ISMR .
“ Until now , our edge-rounding work has always been done manually ,” explained Robert Piesche , Production Technology Engineer , Liebherr-Werk Biberach GmbH . Despite high safety standards being in place , there was still a certain risk of accidents happening with this job and its use of angle grinders .
“ Automating processes means that we can free employees from monotonous and physically demanding work . They are also therefore exposed to less dirt and noise and we have been able to significantly increase occupational safety ,” he continued .
Liebherr brought together three experienced partners in metal processing and robot technology , ARKU Maschinenbau GmbH , Rösler Oberflächentechnik GmbH and Teqram B . V ., with a view to fully automating the work processes .
“ This set-up , as it exists at our plant , is the first to bring together components from this trio of companies ,” explained Dominic Kreutle , Head of Production Technology , Liebherr- Werk Biberach GmbH . One of the greatest challenges was smoothly integrating the various system interfaces .
The robot systems with various grippers are supplied by Dutch specialist , Teqram B . V . Equipped with intelligent cameras , the ‘ EasyBots ’ can recognise parts in their work area independently and regardless of their position on the pallet . This means that the usual time-consuming teaching or programming of each robot is no longer necessary . The robots also have the option of automated processing for parts that are too large for the line . With access to various tools , such as chisels and angle grinders as well as advanced camera and sensor technology , they are designed to finish parts with precision .
Overhead view of the new automated deburring line : the system takes over the work steps of removing slag , descaling , deburring and rounding edges of the positioned metal parts .
ISMR September 2024 | ismr . net | 101