Space-saving storage systems and high-performance saws are crucial for metal-working companies to store and cut sheet metal and metal bar stock. When processes need to run seamlessly and without operator intervention, robots come into play, to ensure automated handling and undertake the entire prefabrication of the cut sections.
Intralogistics focuses on speed and flexibility. High-cost pressures and international competition make digitalised production necessary.
KASTO, the storage, sawing and handling technology specialist, understands the potential of smart logistics more than most. The company, headquartered in Achern, is renowned for its technologies in all storage system processes, as well as the logistics and processing steps before and after.
As such, many metal-working companies rely on bandsaws such as the KASTOtec series or KASTOvariospeed circular saws for their day-to-day work.
"Nowadays, sawing comprises far more than simply cutting a piece of metal. It is an important step that typically takes place at the beginning of a process chain," explained Sönke Krebber, executive board member at KASTO.
Automated palletising and order picking
More often than not, the saw by itself no longer meets the needs of metal-working companies. They need to produce small batch sizes; the prefabrication, including all downstream processes, should be integrated into the package, while simultaneously ensuring personnel costs do not increase.
Companies are reassessing their processes and considering either integrating a robot directly into the saw or retrofitting it later.
KASTO is prepared for automated production and assists its customers in fully automated discharging, reworking, and palletising using a robotic handling system.
"KASTOsort is an elegant and efficient solution in our product range that offers users a comprehensive concept,” said Robotics Team Leader and expert in automated metal-cutting machines, Volker Bühler.
The robotic handling system loads and unloads machines and operator-free transport systems while also integrating deburring, chamfering, weighing, length measurement, marking, labelling, extraction, and chip removal.
The KASTOsort system utilises industrial robots from ABB and is based on a decentral self-organising program logic. Thanks to this system, no teach-in or programming is required by the user. The diligent colleague acquires all necessary information by communicating with the company's ERP system or the upstream and downstream machines. This ensures a high degree of flexibility and enables the handling of any required dimensions.
"We cover a wide range – our robots can handle items as small as a coin or as heavy as large bars without operator assistance," Bühler said.
Individual concepts
An ideal stacking pattern is calculated based on the order to achieve the highest packing density in the storage containers. The robot is capable of automatically adjusting this stack neatly and orderly to the item to be stored. Grippers and gripper concepts also enhance packing density and process reliability.
KASTO custom designs these gripping assistants to meet its customers' specific needs – these may include vacuum suction devices, mechanical or magnetic grippers. The engineers from Achern also develop the software and electrical design.
The team, led by Bühler, is responsible for selecting changing stations, pallet receivers, and chip removal systems to best meet the application's requirements.
The benefits of using KASTOsort for robotic handling are impressive: Intelligent program sequences enable the user to work more efficiently while increasing their machine utilisation and extending tool service life.
If changes are made in the machining centre, it can react flexibly, which enhances competitiveness and enables employees to concentrate on more challenging tasks.
“Companies that invest in automation can significantly reduce their operating costs," Bühler added. "A KASTOsort system can pay for itself after only nine months compared to a manual system in three-shift operation."
Successful in operation
Already over 100 users work with the KASTOsort robotic handling system.
In one particular case, a customers wished to automate several saws. An industrial robot now moves between the two saws on a linear axis. This robot is equipped with several exchangeable magnetic grippers to pick-up various workpieces from the material disposal of the sawing machine, and can easily lift up to 350 kilos.
Along the linear axis, there are 18 storage locations for pallets and containers. The robot's control system stores the positions of the various load carriers, enabling precise and careful placement of each part in its designated location, before employees transport the cut sections to the next station via forklifts or lift trucks.
At another user station, an industrial robot is linked to the saw. The robot removes the finished sections automatically from the machine's work area, using various grippers then deburrs and sorts them according to the order. The parts are stored in cardboard and plastic boxes of various sizes as specified by the customer, which are also provided by the machine.
KASTO developed a unique solution in this case: a container carousel with eight pallet spaces on which the robot can independently place and fill the respective boxes.
The cardboard and plastic boxes, each in six different sizes, enter the robot's work area via inclined roller conveyors. The control system of the sawing centre uses order data to select the appropriate container for the respective workpieces.
The robot then uses a suction device to place them on the provided pallet. While the sections are being cut and stacked, a printer creates a shipping label for the current order in parallel. The robot also places this in the respective box using a suction device.
Once a pallet is filled, the carousel rotates one space further, making a new load carrier available. The employees then use the lift truck or forklift to transport the pallets with the prefabricated goods to the shipping department.
Everything from a single source
Both users are greatly impressed by the positive changes which are clearly evident in their production, KASTO said. In particular, the employees are excited about the significant assistance provided by their new mechanical colleague.
The KASTOsort robotic handling system is an excellent demonstration of KASTO engineers' high level of automation and prefabrication expertise. Thanks to the integrated KASTOsort tower sorting solution, significantly more storage space is available in a smaller footprint, and the fully automated system enables 24/7 operator-free operation.
"Our individual products can be combined to form a complete system,” Krebber concluded. “As a result, we are able to assist customers throughout their entire process chain and provide them with a solution from a single source for processing everything from the steel bar to the cut-piece, ready for collection in the box."
