Product category:
Sawing and cutting-off machines and automation systems
News Release from: Friedrich Remmert | Subject: Integrated warehouse and sawing
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 December 2005
Integrated warehouse and sawing optimise
output
Production managers need to be able to guarantee efficient production processes, reduced unit costs and short delivery times, usually while at the same time increasing volumes.
The demands on metal processing companies are growing all the time: production managers need to be able to guarantee efficient production processes, reduced unit costs and short delivery times, usually while at the same time increasing volumes This can generally only be achieved with the aid of highly automated process flows
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 24 Nov 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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In this context, fully integrated warehouse and sawing technology offer vast potential for optimisation.
To optimally link warehouses and processing equipment, Remmert developed a portal grabber, known as the picking system.
Used in combination with powerful production software, the innovative system allows for fully-automatic saw cuts, reduced materials handling and optimum processing machine capacity utilisation.
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In the outgoing goods section of the warehouse, the picking system removes material from a cassette and feeds it into the CNC machines for further processing.
Since there are two swap stations per machine, the system can remove new material from a second cassette immediately after the return transfer and feed it into the machine.
This facilitates very rapid bar changes and thus minimises machine idle time to practically zero.
Stock transfers using shelf storage and retrieval equipment are no longer necessary, since the picking system and the warehouse work completely independently of each other.
Decoupling the two functions of stock withdrawal and picking also guarantees a significantly lower susceptibility to failure of the system as a whole.
After processing, the portal grabber allows residual material to be returned to storage in the original cassette.
* Areas of application of the picking system - the picking system is primarily used in sawing cells where there is a need for fully integrated warehouse and sawing technology.
The prerequisites for integration are an automatic warehousing system and fully automatic CNC machines.
Four high-performance components work in tandem in the modularly designed Remmert sawing cells.
Besides the innovative picking system these include a fully automatic warehousing system, powerful sawing technology and the flexible production software PRO FMS, which is responsible for the complete job management within the productive cell.
The software forms the intelligent link between the warehouse and the sawing technology.
Based on computer managed customer orders and production parts lists and taking into consideration a variety of optimisation criteria, PRO FMS supplies the connected machines with materials and productions orders.
In addition, after cutting, the software system also generates a label as an accompanying document that details the order number, the article number, the type number as well as the parts number of the sawed sections.
* Using optimisation potential to the full - used at a speed of over 100 metres per minute and lifting and grabbing axles set at maximum, the picking system can perform up to 50 barchanges per hour.
This makes it twice as fast as a conventional sawing centre.
This is possible thanks to the integration of two swap stations per machine saw.
Due to the rapid material change, it is also worth using the picking system for orders with smaller lot sizes.
Here too, the optimal capacity utilisation of the saws is also guaranteed at all times.
Furthermore, the time saved using the portal grabber increases when more saws are connected.
Incidentally, it poses no problem whatsoever to integrate up to three saws into the system at a later date.
In addition to reduced materials handling and significantly short machine idle times, the picking system also makes fully automated operation possible, for instance during night shifts or at weekends.
* Successful Integration - Oberkochen, Germany, steel merchants Guenther + Schramm have already been working successfully with the Remmert saw cell for one and a half years.
After only a very short time, the company was able to achieve significant improvements using this powerful solution: The picking system guarantees fully automated operation in the areas of materials supply and cutting.
This enabled the steel merchant to halve its payroll costs whilst doubling the volume of goods processed.
The entire volume of work is now handled by only three members of staff in two shifts instead of six in the past.
Prior to integrating the new saw cells, processing the large number of orders with frequently recurring, small lots of articles resulted in long handling times in terms of materials.
For this reason, optimisation of materials handling time was an important prerequisite for awarding the contract.
The picking system is also ideal whenever Guenther + Schramm have to work with a large number of different pipe materials of varying sizes and qualities.
For example, to avoid damaging expensive materials while transferring them back to storage, it is possible to precisely adjust the pressure exerted by the grippers.
Furthermore, the investment in the new saw cell is future-proof: Further saws can be integrated into the cellular technology via PC workstations at a later date without any problem.
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