Product category:
Special purpose presses and equipment
News Release from: Kasto | Subject: AMI sheetmetalworking and assembly lines
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 10 October 2002
Ladder line can be changed in a few
minutes
The leading manufacturer of domestic aluminium stepladders has replaced two production lines that had been operating since the 1970s with one new facility and achieved a 60% labour reduction.
The leading manufacturer of domestic aluminium stepladders with 50 per cent of the UK market, ABRU, has replaced two production lines that had been operating since the 1970s with one new facility supplied in part by the Italian company, AMI, through UK agent, Rivers Machinery One of the benefits has been a 60 per cent reduction in labour which will result in a payback time of two-and-a-half years, based on current production levels of more than 2,000 ladders per 24 hour day, five days a week
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 23 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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One of the key reasons for the investment last September (2001) was the existence of the European standard for stepladders, due to come into force in the UK within the next couple of years.
It will introduce geometric changes and stipulate the use of a minimum of 1.2mm rather than 1.0mm thick aluminium in all products irrespective of the application.
Both factors meant that the new ladder designs were unsuitable for manufacture on the old lines.
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Sequential sawing, drilling and notching of aluminium extrusions on separate machines have been replaced by multiple machining in a single clamping in a Dubus cell at Coram (UK).
The need to upgrade the production equipment has resulted in several other advantages.
The new line combines the manufacture of standard and deluxe stepladder models, line changeover being just a couple of minutes, so economical batch size is small to match accurately the demand patterns from supermarkets and DIY chains.
In addition, the flexibility of the line will allow for a degree of customisation to take place automatically.
This was not previously possible and the innovation, which is just coming on stream, is expected to result in increased business.
A further benefit is that ABRU will be in a stronger position to fend off foreign competition, particularly from Europe, owing to the compatibility of its new products with EC regulations.
It may even give the company export possibilities which it does not currently enjoy, subject to an analysis of the transport costs.
Said operations director, Richard Board, "We realised in 1999 that we would need to invest in a new production line, and while researching tube bending and manipulation at the MACH 2000 exhibition, we saw examples of components produced on AMI lines while visiting the Rivers stand.
"Many of the production operations we needed had already been implemented by the Italian company, so we decided to base our new line on that manufacturer's equipment while buying in various elements from other sources that we felt provided stronger solutions.'' ABRU has ended up with a bespoke line that contains a sequence of best-of-breed cells, three of which were produced in house.
Of the latter, two are at the start of the line.
One makes the back legs by bending, crimping and forming rectangular section tube, while another machine swages cross rods for the legs.
The output of both these machines feed into the first AMI cell where two back legs and a two cross tubes, plus a wire link for opening and closing the ladder, are all assembled to produce the rear support leg of the stepladder.
In a second AMI cell, 4 metre lengths of aluminium extrusion with a special profile are cut to length and notched to form the tread of the particular ladder model.
The deluxe ladder's tread, which is wider and made from thicker (1.4 mm) material, is handled through the cell by two dedicated gantry-mounted grippers; while two others grippers are responsible for handling the tread of the standard model.
A similar cell had been designed before by AMI, but an innovation at the request of Richard Board was to insert plastic caps into the ends automatically at this stage, as the treads are held in a known position and so their exact location can be made available to the insertion station.
The plastic caps are fed in the correct orientation by two sets of twin vibratory bowl feeders stocked with either deluxe or standard ends.
The next cell is again of UK manufacture and is responsible for bending and drilling the front frame.
These are handled manually into the final cell which is of hybrid build, partly supplied by AMI and partly by another Italian firm.
The latter's element of the machine accepts the front frame and attaches the top platform and treads.
That sub assembly then moves across automatically to the AMI element where the rear support leg from the first AMI cell is introduced and the front and rear parts of the stepladder are rivetted together.
For the same reason as previously described, the plastic feet on all four legs are inserted, again fully automatically.
From here the finished ladders are taken off by hand and sent by conveyor to a shrink-wrap station and into the stores.
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