WMZ creates set-up-free automation concept with rbc Robotics

As part of a capacity increase, Volkswa-gen has decided to take a new path for cardan shaft production. Due to the ever-increasing number of variants in this segment, the new equipment was to be designed so flexible enough that the 43-part component range could be manufactured almost without any setup and with a line cycle that was 30% faster overall. At the same time, the footprint had to be significantly reduced.

In the area of soft turning, the task was to perform the free turning of the cardan shafts in the middle within 32 seconds. The planners quickly realized that the cur-rent machine concept, consisting of 2 ma-chines incl. gantry loader, was not suitable to meet the requirements. The decision was therefore made to opt for the H200 horizontal machine concept already estab-lished in the factory, which can be ideally integrated into production lines.With the modular system of the H200, we succeeded in equipping the machine with 2 mobile spindles, 2 turrets and a steady rest so that the required range of parts (length from 300-800mm diameter 24.5-34mm) could be covered and the machining time could be achieved with one machine.

The required freedom of set-up in com-bination with the given range of compo-nents presented us with major challeng-es, so that we included our newest DVS group member RBC Robotics already in the offer phase. RBC’s know-how enabled us to offer the customer a completely set-up-free automation system. To set up the system, only a collet chuck change and a program selection are necessary (setup time ≤10min.). The automation is divided into two cells. The first cell is equipped with a robot with a magnetic gripper. There the workpieces, peeled in diameter and sawn, arrive in raw part containers. They are roughly sortet in length and the workpieces lie directly on top of each oth-er. The workpieces are removed from the raw container in the “Bin Picking Process” and then deposited on the shaft stage sep-arator. There the workpieces are centered, separated and measured in length with a device in order to avoid the introduction of missing parts. The second robotic cell then takes over the work.

drawn loading hatch of the machine. This ensures a very short distance to the work-piece change position in the machine. After machining, the robot carries out a quick change of raw finished parts within 12 seconds with the aid of a double grip-per. Due to the clamping concept of the machine, the positioning accuracy of the robot of 0.1 mm is sufficient.The finished parts are then placed on the prism conveyor belt. From this point on, the first robot cell takes over the work again by placing the arriving finished parts pre-defined in the finished parts container with the magnetic gripper.

By combining the automation know-how of RBC and the mechanical engineering know-how of WMZ, a very efficient, flexible and require-ment-compliant DVS complete solu-tion could be realized:

• 30% more efficient than existing equipment
• Fully automated with “Bin Pick-ing” process and setup-free, for 43 component variants
• Minimal setup effort (≤10min.)
• Fully integrated into the existing line cycle
• Prepared for future 4.0 applications