feature “Rosie” is the name the aluminum extruder, conveyor and machine (and Rosie) busy. Capacity machining and fabricating company picked for its and CNC Robotics Manager Todd Carlson admits fi rst machine-tending robot. Installed in one of its that this strategy did not work so well. When one Alexandria, Minnesota facilities in 2001, the cell machine was down for a new-job setup for main- this robot was to anchor was designed for a family tenance or other reasons, the robot and second of parts for the telecommunications industry. The machine also had to be shut down because shop cell included two CNC machine tools; two con- fl oor employees needed to enter the cell to safely veyors that would feed Rosie fresh workpieces to perform their tasks. With this confi guration, the load into the machines; a camera to enable her to cell never delivered the production e ciencies the locate workpieces on the conveyors to pick, elimi- company hoped for. nating the need and cost for hard fi xturing; and an “We thought we’d never try our hand at robotic area where she would deliver completed parts to automation for CNC machining again,” Mr. Carlson awaiting pallets. says. However, a downturn in the telecommunica- After struggling with it for a couple of years, tions industry caused the company to lose the Alexandria Industries decided to simplify the cell. workfor which the machining cell was created It removed one of the machines and dedicated before production ensued. As a result, there was a the cell to the family of oxygen-delivery system signifi cant need to redeploy the cell, one thatwas housings. In making this change, spindle uptime no small investment. Eventually, the company and production output for the cell’s sole machine came up with a strategy it hoped would help the increased by more than 30 percent. Mr. Carlson cell investment return: it identifi ed an existing says it was at that point that the company real- repeating job – extruded aluminum housings for ized simplifying and standardizing its approach to oxygen delivery systems – that also featured a automation could help it realize more of unat- family of like parts. The idea was to dedicate that tended machining’s potential benefi ts. Alexandria job to one of the cell’s conveyors and machines, Industries has since applied that thinking to the and then work in other jobs to keep the remaining design of various robot-tended machining cells. Meet Rosie, Alexandria Industries’ fi rst robot is now retired. The cell of this FANUC S-430iF robot has two sets of light cur- tains to create two safety zones. When it is time to swap a full part pallet with a new one, the operator enters the cell, breaking the outer curtain. The cell continues to run again after that (unless the operator breaks the other light curtain closer to the robot). However, instead of attempting to place completed parts on a pallet, the robot places them in a sta- Découvrez la suite ging area. Once the pallet swap is completed, the operator resets the outer light curtain and the robot then moves the de l’article dans l’édition parts it has placed in the staging area to the new pallet and continues its normal operation. Source: Alexandria Industriescomplète d’engine. 9