Case Study: Automated press line for sheet metal forming
Fully automated press line for sheet metal forming - 60 grippers for maximum flexibilitys
As a major automotive manufacturing hub in Asia, Thailand offers significant investment potential. As a leading automotive parts manufacturer in Thailand, the Thai Summit Group plays a key role in the development of Thailand as a center for automotive manufacturing and exports. The Thai Summit Group is a leader in the sheet metal forming industry and offers its customers first-class stamping capabilities. The company places great emphasis on improving the quality of its products and services by utilizing state-of-the-art technologies in the production process to ensure that the delivered products are precisely tailored to the needs and requirements of its customers.
Thai Summit Automotive Co., Ltd. operates a sheet metal forming press line at its headquarters using FIPA gripper systems for fully automated production. Six presses are linked in series, enabling a continuous material flow from infeed to finished part while reducing handling and increasing productivity. Robots handle loading and unloading, transferring parts from one press to the next. The entire process runs without manual intervention. Due to the high operating speed, selecting the right vacuum cups is critical for overall process reliability.
SM-B series bellows vacuum cups made of a highly wear-resistant and oil-resistant NBR material were specially optimized for highly dynamic gripping processes. Robust anti-slip cleats give the vacuum cups for sheet metal handling extraordinarily high slip resistance – even when the metal sheets are oily. Vacuum and gripper components and the robots’ repeat accuracy ensure that the workpieces are fed and removed with the highest precision.
Full flexibility ahead
We equipped each of the six robot cells with an automatic tool changer to reduce set-up times: perfect for flexible, cross-tool applications. The grippers can be changed automatically, quickly and easily to process five different car body parts in the same cell or machine. The new fully automated press line allows Thai Summit to process 900 metal sheets per hour compared to only 600 previously.
In the words of Dr. Chatkaew Hart-Rawung, Managing Director of Thai Summit Automotive Co., Ltd.: “FIPA has exceeded our expectations. Thanks to an intensive dialogue between FIPA and ourselves, the project has been both a smooth and collaborative experience.”
