How Robotic Automation Helps a CNC Shop Produce 47% More Part-Per-Hour

Don Barth, owner of Dimension Machine Company in Cincinnati, Ohio had long considered using robots to increase productivity in his 12-person shop.

Always interested in applying technology to better serve customers, Dimension runs thousands of parts on 20 Okuma CNC machines. This enables the company to provide fast turnaround of quality parts to a wide variety of industries including transportation, OEM special machinery and forestry products.

After investigating robotic automation at IMTS and visiting another plant to see it in a real-world situation, Don looked for opportunities to apply the technology to Dimension Machine. According to daughter Ruthie Brockman who holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and helps manage production for Dimension, Dave consulted with Greg Feix from Gosiger Automation who came up with an initial plan that he and Dave concluded might not be the best solution for our needs.

Dave then strategized with our team, including one of our key people, Dan Hutchinson, about what we really wanted to accomplish. Dan suggested we may need to automate two lathes instead of one which led to a different approach that would improve production even more.

This involved adding two Okuma Genos lathes, each being serviced by a Fanuc robot. Since this was a big step for our size company, we asked for proposals for both approaches. Once we understood the advantages of the two machine setup, we realized it was the best solution.

The arrangement Dimension selected utilizes two Okuma Genos lathes, facing each other, with a Fanuc M-710iC/50 robot positioned between the two machines.

The Fanuc robot uses two, three-jaw gripper units to load and unload two parts at a time. The robot has a payload capacity or 50kg (including parts and end-of-arm tooling) and a reach of 2050mm.

The design also includes a dynamic part turnover device that flips parts between operations.

This device has a pneumatic gripper mounted onto a pneumatic cylinder. During the turnover process the pneumatic cylinder extends, and the robot “hands” the part off to the turnover device. The pneumatic cylinder lowers the gripper and sets down the part. Then the robot picks up the part and repositions it in front of the machine for loading.

Two fixture-less, powered flat belt conveyors transport raw parts to the robot for processing, and move completed parts to a manual unloading station. The system uses Fanuc’s iRvision function to eliminate the need for a fixtured conveyor and reduce system changeover time. The robot operation area is enclosed with perimeter guards for worker safety.

The cycle times were about a minute and a half, so it was a lot of repetitious and tiring work. I know, because it was one of the tasks I did myself when I first started working here. Obviously this is a gross underutilization of the kind of person we want working here. That’s why our first thought was to simply add the robot to the LT-300 lathe.”

“However, with the new setup the operator’s time is spent on more important tasks, including managing the flow of raw and finished parts. Plus, using just one part we make as an example, previously we were making 90 parts in 9 hours. The new cell makes 150 of these spacers in just 8 hours. That means we’re making 19 – 20 parts per hour instead of 10 – and with no overtime. Also, because of the efficiency of the robot, we can now justify using a more expensive material that is far easier to machine.”

“Something I learned as we went through this process is that automating production of families of parts makes a lot of sense. In this case we’re making several spacers with O.D.s from 3” to 3.5” and seal rings from 3.5” to 7.75”. We also run small bearing housings that weigh 20 lbs., jam nuts and tapped bushings on this cell. We’re now in the process of adding some additional parts including a 9.5” part and a 3.5” part that is 5” long. With all of these diverse parts to make, having the easy-to-program robot and the Okuma control makes it faster and easier to changeover jobs.”

“Frankly, I was more than a little concerned when we began the process with Gosiger. We’re not a big company with lots of resources, so this was a major step for us. They were very confident of their proposals and I needed some assurances and maybe some handholding to get us through it. Once Gosiger realized this they worked closely to help build our confidence as we went along. This was especially true of the training I received from Dave Flora. I would tell any company that is considering doing this to have Gosiger train their people. In one day I got over my concerns about operating the robot and decided it was the greatest thing on Earth. So much so that my husband is tired of my talking about it when I’m home. There were some bumps in the road, but Gosiger took care of everything and worked with us all along the way to make sure we had what we needed.

“I’m very pleased with the final result, and I have to admit I love the robot so much I almost hate to train anybody else on it. Recently we had a group of high-school kids come to see our facility for National Manufacturing Day.

“Recently we had a group of high-school kids come to see our facility for National Manufacturing Day, so they could learn about careers in manufacturing. I showed them how the system works and actually let them use the control to see how easy it is to make parts with the robot. They loved it!”

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How Robotic Automation Helps A CNC Machine Shop Produce 47% More Parts-Per-Hour

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