mission impossible - abb group · mission impossible becomes possible at huizhong > 22–23 ten...

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Five days shorter Engine overhaul in Singapore > 16–18

Mission impossible becomes possible at Huizhong> 22–23

ten times faster robots get the job done at Roadtec> 19–20

innovation key to staying alive for Ogihara America> 8–9

A MAGAZINE FROM aBB roBotiCs dEcEMbER 2008

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www.abb.com/robotics

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sand Casting Sweden’s Ostnor doubles its production of brass fixtures using robots.

die Casting Wärtislä’s plant in the Netherlands makes good with robots.

arC welding Leading fuel rail producer in China, Winkelmann Longchuan, goes for automation, aiming to increase productivity by 50 percent.

spot welding, arC welding Turkish motor vehicle manufacturers are barreling along the fast lane, and Beyçelik Gestamp is keeping pace with them.

trends With a less-defined line between East and West, the trend is an individual approach to production philosophy and method.

teChpages ABB has joined forces with ESAB and Abicor-Binzel to offer customers a comprehensive robotics arc welding package.

Material handling, arC welding Robotic process creates a uniform, better-refined product at the highway resurfacing company Roadtec.

arC welding Small family-owned company Allt i Plåt meets increased demand for mining machine cabs with a welding system from ABB.

arC welding The biggest car module supplier in China, Shanghai Huizhong Automotive Manufacturing, reinforces its competencies with support of robots.


calendar

2009Mar 10-13 Industrie 2009 Lyon, France

Mar 10-14 Maquitec, Barcelona, Spain

May Saldat, Verona, Italy

Jun 2-5 Beijing Essen Welding & Cutting, Shanghai, China

sep 14-18 MSV International Engineering Fair, Brno, Czech Rep

sep 14-19 Schweißen und Schneiden, Essen, Germany

nov 15-18 FABTECH, Chicago IL, USA

Good enough?> The concept of “good enough” crops up in a wide number of fields, automation among them. In manufacturing in Asia, for example, the use of simple production methods that involve minimal automation has long been described as “good enough,” even as in the West manufacturers take a more comprehen-sive approach to automation.

Now these two approaches are becoming geographically less defined as in each region comprehensive automation and simplified pro-duction are beginning to coexist side by side. Increasingly companies are coming to under-stand that each country or region, each busi-ness or time period requires a unique automa-tion strategy.

Today there are about 1 million robots in-stalled throughout the world. The largest ex-pansion is happening in China. IFR (the International Federation of Robotics) expects that by 2010 the number of robots in operation in China will have increased by 400 percent over what were in use in 2005. This of course reflects the fact that China has had a very low level of automation, compared with North America and Germany, so there is plenty of room for growth.

One obstacle for emerging markets has been the lack of skilled staff. This has held back the expansion of robotics in China as well, but now more and more people are gain-ing the requisite education and skills, allowing automation to move forward.

Lars DahlénSegment Manager, Metal FabricationABB Robotics

> In the past 20 years Netherlands-based AWL-Techniek has sold more than 500 ABB robots for various automation projects, and more orders are under way.

“Working with ABB has always given us the re-assurance that we can provide reliable technology that integrates well with the other components we use within our solutions,” says Ralf Daggers, mar-keting manager for AWL-Techniek. “We always of-fer our clients a choice, and 90 percent of the ro-bots we sell are ABB.

One of AWL-Techniek’s own developments is the expansion of different types of basic modules, whereby only the underlying philosophy is fixed in advance, namely that the robot and the operator must be able to work simultaneously, reducing cy-cle time to a minimum. Using ABB’s robots, AWL-Techniek’s developments include arc welding, spot welding and laser welding.

“AWL-Techniek is well established within the metal-fabrication sector,” says Haayo Terpstra, business development manager for ABB’s Robotics division in Benelux. “And by working with AWL-Techniek we have been able to ensure that

its customers get the most suitable robotic solu-tions for their needs, while giving the company op-portunities to develop and expand its own brand. We congratulate AWL for its success in placing more than 500 robots in different applications and look forward to the future opportunities resulting from this partnership.”

AWL-Techniek is one of the latest companies to benefit from the tools and information provided by ABB’s Global Partner Program to succeed in an ex-panding market for robot-based automation, includ-ing sales, marketing, technical and service support as well as software training for all employees.

GoinG with a winnercontents 4 Robots help

Singapore Aero Engine Services

cut turn-time of engine overhaul to five days below industry standard.

16 Integrated hose package key feature

of robot system at hoist manufacturer STROS.

8 Innovation keeps Ogihara America strong and alive with

robots playing a big role. A new measuring device increases efficiency 100 percent.

d E c E m B E R 2 0 0 8

> ABB’s FlexArc Global Application Center in Ostrava, Czech Republic, is part of a new global concept to provide a central lo-cation for services and support related to ABB arc welding robot cells.

FlexArc arc welding robot cells are one of ABB’s flagship products, used by major manufacturers.

The Ostrava plant will serve customers in Europe while similar, newly established centers in China and Mexico will serve the Asian and American markets. Vladan Hlaváč, ABB’s arc welding operations man-ager in the Czech Republic, says this geo-graphical concentration of resources will allow the company to react more flexibly to customers’ needs within each region.

The Czech Republic is a natural hub for ABB’s European FlexArc operations, he says, because the country is a leader in robotics in Central and Eastern Europe. “Our team here are highly experienced and competent in this area,” says Hlaváč.

“Thus we are well placed to offer service and support to other countries.”

In addition to its catalog of standard cells, the Czech FlexArc center can pro-duce customized robot cells with a wide range of options. “We can conduct an eval-

uation of a client’s specific needs and offer them a tailor-made solution,” says Hlaváč.

In mid-October, the company invited 40 existing and potential clients to an open house at the Ostrava plant to learn firsthand about the center.

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December 2008 • International customer magazine from ABB for metal fabrication industries • copyright 2008 • reg. no. ROB0117EN_A marketing manager metal Fabrication: Maria Blomberg • tel: +46 21 325 000 E-mail: [email protected] • Publisher: ABB Robotics AB,

721 68 Västerås, Sweden • content and design: Appelberg Publishing Group • Printer: Edita, Västerås • Any use of text or photo requires the written consent of the publisher.metal

aBB – power and productivity for a better worldwww.abb.com/robotics

Czech center part of new global concept for FlexArc


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5m A c h i N E t E N d i N g , c u t t i N g , P l A s m A c O A t i N g A N d P i c k i N g

By Tony SitathanPhotos Munshi Ahmed

in Singapore, robots help cut the turn-times of engine overhaul by more than five days below the industry standard. not only do the robots save money, they also improve the safety for workers.

m A c h i N E t E N d i N g , c u t t i N g , P l A s m A c O A t i N g A N d P i c k i N g

For Sean Ho of Singapore Aero Engine Services Private Limited (saesl), achieving the Rolls Royce Component Overhaul Centre of Excellence Gold Award in recognition of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (mro) of the 500 Rolls Royce Trent engine 18 months ahead of schedule was seen as a satisfying personal achievement.

“It took dedication, solid team effort and rec-ognizing the need for early automation during the inception of saesl that has made a world of differ-ence,” says Ho, the operations section head of the 8.5 million u.s. dollar compressor blade facility at saesl. Compared to other Rolls Royce Component Overhaul Centres in other parts of the world which relied on manual processes, saesl realized the impor-tance for automation and became one of the first to implement abb robotics in its mro roadmap making it the first automated compressor cell repairing center globally, he says.

SaeSL from the start realized the importance of delivering shorter engine turn-times – the time required to fully overhaul and process an engine – by under 60 days, quicker than the industry benchmark of 65 days. Currently it plans to further reduce turn-times to 55 days.

Ang Boon Hua, formerly the service engineer who was responsible for setting up abb robots in the compressor blade repair facility back in 2004 and cur-rently the senior sales engineer, says the implementa-

a better-made blade

tion process was done in stages. He recalls that the configuration had been modified several times due to the complexity. “There were six stages of compressor blades that needed to be commissioned,” Ang Boon Hua says. “And each stage of tuning the blade would lead to the configuration of over 200 robotic positions. In total there were more than a thousand robotic posi-tions that needed to be configured. Another challenge was the need to customize the gripper, which acts to grip the compressor blade. It is designed to cater to multiple stages of blades as it cannot be designed spe-cifically for one single stage of blade. They have to be adaptive enough to grip the blades in multiple stages.”

> Fa c t S

Service key to successWhen the first Service Level Agreement (SLA) was signed in late 2007, Sean Ho was pleased with the technical response time and quick delivery of spare parts.

With an increase in customer traffic and more en-gines being serviced and overhauled, Ho says that SAESL is starting to see more engine parts coming in from overseas customers and not only from its predominant base of customers in Asia.

“We are seeing more external customers coming to us for their MRO solution. Almost 50 percent of business is from external customers and that trend is expected to grow in the future,” he says. That, ac-cording to Ho, is seen as the silver lining in a highly competitive and fast-evolving MRO market where air-lines, including Singapore-based aerospace compa-nies, are starting to emulate the success of SAESL.


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right from the start of the automation process, there was a prerogative to use only the state-of-the-art robotics from abb. A careful selection of abb robots was deployed over time, before the system went live. The irb 2400l is used for material han-dling, picking and placing of compressor blades around different stations for welding and grinding of blade tips, including the irb 140 that is used for blade tips lubrication material coating. The irb 2400 in particular was selected for the picking and placing of compressor blade to and from the shot peening machine. The shot peening process is considered the most effective way to enhance the fatigue strength of components that are subject to extreme stress. The irb 1400 was chosen for machine tending and to pick and place compressor blades to and from cmm for dimension inspection while the irb 2400 is used for plasma coating and spraying of metal powder onto the engine components of build-up materials.

The benefits from deploying the robotic arms were almost immediate. According to Sean Ho, they reduce both man hours and the risks of humans working on transferring the blades from one production cycle to the next. “There is a higher degree of safety and fewer risks as compared to humans handling these aircraft parts and components in the most economical and diligent manner. Although the total return on investment can-not be easily measured since we have been using abb

robots from the start, there is a clear indication that using abb robots has accelerated our workflow processes and our completion time,” he says.

“Now it was possible to run operations 24 hours, seven days a week, slashing operational costs and downtime. This has contributed to higher costs sav-ings,” he says. He reveals that saesl has spent almost 5 percent of its machinery and gear budget on abb robots, which translates to less than usd 1 million in capital investments. There was ultimately a reduction of man hours by almost 10 percent and an improve-ment in the overall cycle time.

Due to the improvements in the workflow processes, Ho is proud of reducing the compressor blade repair cycle time by an additional four days. Instead of repairing the compressor blades within 21 days, Ho is now able to complete the process by 17 days. “We are able to analyze the data and the production processes more closely while scrutiniz-ing the workflow more accurately therefore elimi-nating time wastage,” he says. “It is possible now to calculate accurately the cycle and production time.” By using saesl’s proprietary system developed in-house, as well as sap r/3 as its benchmark enter-prise resource planning and production software, he is able to rely more on outsourcing the overall maintenance of the repair facility by using oem contractors and their agents.

m A c h i N E t E N d i N g , c u t t i N g , P l A s m A c O A t i N g A N d P i c k i N g

advantages with robotsReduction in man-hours of almost 10 percent, which •ultimately led to lowering the costs of operations while improving productivity and lowering cycle downtime.capable of delivering shorter engine turn-times of under •60 days, quicker than the industry benchmark of 65 days.Enhancement of the safety of workers and lower risks •associated with movement of materials in the workflow processes. Lowered cycle time for repairing compressor blades •from 21 down to 17 days.

SaeSL in shortSAESL was first incorporated in 1999 and is jointly owned •by SIA Engineering company (50 percent), Rolls-Royce (30 percent) and Hong Kong Aero Engine Services Lim-ited (20 percent). It undertakes the repair and overhaul of Rolls-Royce Trent aero engines around the world and forms an integral part of the Rolls-Royce aftermarket service.current clients include Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Vir-•gin Atlantic, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, South Afri-can Airways, Garuda Indonesia and Air canada.The company employs close to 600 employees with plans •to further recruit 150 more employees within two years. Sales was around USd 400 million in 2006 and is expect-•ed to increase above the industry average for 2007.

Improvements in the work-flow processes reduce cycle time by four days.


7A R c w E l d i N g

By Zhang KunPhoto Liang Liang

In China, the rapid growth of Shanghai Winkel-mann Longchuan swl Motorcomponents Co. Ltd. has surprised even the boss himself.

“We provide fuel rails to automobile makers,” says chief engineer Guo Feng. “In 1997, when the company was founded, we produced 1,000 rails a month. Today our monthly output is 280,000.”

Winkelmann Longchuan enjoyed this rapid growth thanks largely to the rapid development of China’s automobile industry, which was, Guo notes, “far beyond our expectations.”

The fuel rail is essentially a pipe delivering fuel to individual fuel injectors on combustion engines. It is an integral part of an automobile engine, and Win-kelmann Longchuan is the largest manufacturer with approx 80 percent of the domestic market, says Guo.

The Winkelmann Longchuan joint venture was launched in 2005 as a way for the company to reach the European market. It remains the only Chinese company to export fuel rails internationally, selling its products to Russia, Italy and Germany.

Guo explains that as automakers develop new concept cars and environmentally friendly vehicles, his company’s products will be in demand. “Our high-pressure fuel rails disseminate the fuel in a fine spray and burn it more completely, which helps to save fuel,” he says.

In the next five years, Winkelmann Longchuan hopes to increase its productivity by 50 percent. “It’s our basic strategy to go for automation and increase production per person,” Guo says. In the past two years, the company has already made strides in this

Text: Zhang KunPhotos: Liang Liang

easy expansion

winkelmann Longchuan has achieved astounding progress over the past decade, becoming the indis-putable leading producer of fuel rails in china.

direction, doubling its productivity without increasing its workforce of 280.

“We have invested from usd 1.18 to 2.2 million a year in new equipment,” he says. “In 2008, we will intro-duce our third abb welding robot to the workshop.”

All three are irb 1410 robots. One of these robots does in a single process what has traditionally taken 10 to 12 procedures, each done by a separate worker on an assembly line.

The robots save not only labor costs but wear and tear on the workers.

He Jianfang, trained to be a robot operator when the first abb robot arrived at Longchuan in 2001. She explains: “With the robot doing the welding, people do not have to be close to the smell of ammonia and the strong lights. This makes my work safer and much eas-ier. abb has also been making improvements for clients, and the new robot will have a Chinese operation board, which will be much easier to operate.”

Guo comments: “An abb robot works 24 hours a day. The product quality is so consistent that no human worker can compare.”

In addition, he says, “a robot greets visitors as soon as they arrive at our workshop, which helps to boost our company image.”

Guo says he is particularly pleased with the atten-tion abb gives his company.

“abb bears our requests in mind, and their prod-ucts keep improving,” he says. For example, the sec-ond robot from abb featured a raised welding table so that workers did not have to bend down to work. In addition, the working process was shortened. “It takes half the time it did before to complete one product,” says Guo. “This means that we can double our productivity without consuming more electricity.

“Other companies produce welding robots and they do have lower prices,” he admits, “but we stick with abb because their product quality is stable and, like us, they continue to make improvements. Plus, their maintenance staff are always ready to help.

“Sometimes we buy automatic equipment from other companies because abb doesn’t offer a simi-lar product, but if it’s available from abb, then that’s where we buy it,” says Guo. “We trust abb, and our cooperation with them has been very pleasant.”

efficiency optimizationAbb robots complete in one welding process •a task that traditionally took 10 to 12 workers.Abb robots free workers from contact with •poisonous ammonia gas and intense lighting during welding.Abb robots ensure consistent product quality.•

about winkel-mann Longchuan

The Winkelmann •Longchuan joint venture was found-ed in 2005; it has 280 employees.The company pro-•duces fuel rails. Its annual revenues •are USd19.1 million.Since its founding, •company output has increased from 1,000 rails a month to 280,000.

> Fa c t S


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9i N s P E c t i O N , s P O t w E l d i N g

A strategy of innovation Located midway between the u.s. auto manufac-

turing centers of Lansing, Flint and Detroit, Michi-gan, the Ogihara America Howell facility stamps and assembles automotive body panels. The plant initially served the u.s. big three: gm, Ford and Chrysler. Over time the fortunes of those manufacturers have declined. Yet Ogihara has continued to thrive and maintain a prosperous business. How is that possible?

To Steve Peca, the executive manager for projects and advanced engineering for Ogihara America Howell, it’s no mystery. “What’s kept us here is innovation,” he says. “We’re very good at inventing things. We’re very creative, and our innovations keep us strong.” The company has even shared a process it developed for tile manufacturing with nasa, which now makes all the space shuttle heat shield tiles using that process.

That confidence can be seen throughout the bustling 800,000-square-foot Michigan factory. Here 260 employees operate a wide array of high-

tech robotic cells, stamping and assembling high-strength steel and aluminum into body panels and subassemblies for such car and truck manufacturers as Mercedes, Toyota and Isuzu, as well as u.s. auto-makers. Those parts are shipped around the world, including to China, where Ogihara is currently building a new plant.

Says Peca, “We’ve come out with various proc-esses and innovations that afford our customers better value than by sending jobs to low-cost countries. It’s our innovation that keeps us alive, and abb plays a big role in that.”

abb supplies Ogihara with robots, manufactur-ing cells and systems for welding, material handling and quality control. The plant’s four assembly lines have used 20 abb robots for the past five years. “abb works out very well,” says Kazuaki Miura, manager of assembly engineering at the Howell plant. “It has very good service.” In addition, says Miura, robots pay for themselves in six months, and at half the cost

of a human doing the same job. “Robots don’t take breaks,” he says.

Especially important for Ogihara has been qual-ity control and the ability to examine and measure assembled panels throughout the day. A year ago the company developed a white-light measuring cell using a Hexagon Metrology measuring device. Accord-ing to Peca, it increased their efficiency 100 percent, doubling the output without adding manpower. The device can do a full scan of 12 parts per shift. An abb 6600 series robot was integrated into the process.

Says Peca, “We evaluated many other robots, and some of the software was very complex. For some the support wasn’t there. We found the ABB robot was a nice fit for us. It was easy to use, the controller was easy to program, and it integrated nicely with the new technology. It just snapped into place.”

In fact, says Peca, “it’s worked out so well that we’ve decided to populate our inspection cells with abb robots.” One more cell is being installed, and another is planned for next year.

Joe Bowen is abb’s global account manager for the Robotics Division. He works closely with Ogihara engineers to make sure installation and support of abb products and “body-in-white” systems run smoothly,

in today’s tight auto market, innovation is the key to staying alive for U.S. auto parts maker ogihara america howell. in this aBB has a big role to play.

“We found the Abb robot was a nice fit for us. It just snapped into place,” says Steve Peca.

A cell for welding rear-quarter subassemblies for the Ford Lincoln MXS typifies the collaboration between Ogihara and Abb. A special type of geometry-setting tool, a GEO end effector, was developed by Abb and first used for this project. Holding all the necessary location pins and clamps, it streamlines the loading of parts and greatly improves flexibility, eliminating the need for a re-spotting station and thus saving Ogihara floor space and equipment cost. The setup includes:

Flexcell system. All components mounted on the •base frame and wiring are integrated for maxi-mum flexibility, safety and a smooth production process.Two Abb IRb 6600 robots with a 2.5-meter reach •and a 175-kilogram capacity.Pedestal-mounted air-driven MFdc welding gun •and projection nut welder.Abb Spotware computer software for customized •application and ease of use.

> Fa c t S

Spot welding cell pumps up the production

as with the robot cell for spot welding Ford Lincoln subassemblies. (See sidebar). Bowen points out that the robots in the cell are placed onto raised base plates rather than being bolted to the floor. “This makes for quicker installation, and when this program is done it’s easier for Ogihara to retool and reprogram,” he says. “They can reconfigure the cells more easily.”

Ogihara and abb have a mutually supportive rela-tionship. “abb sees the potential in what we’re doing, and they make a point to contribute,” says Peca. “The accuracy of the abb robot is great. The deliverables are outstanding, and there have been zero issues with their products. Everything works like clockwork with abb.”

Durability is also important in this business, and here Peca says an abb robot shines. “It’s robust and strong enough that after six or seven years of meas-uring, we can put it on an assembly line, and it will last another eight years hauling parts around, mov-ing parts from point to point and saving a human from danger.”

Looking ahead, Peca says that it’s crucial to con-tinue to develop new technologies in order to manu-facture products more quickly and accurately than the competition. The future for Ogihara is definitely in high technology, he says.

Text and photosby Dwight Cendrowski

ogihara corporation at a glance

Headquartered in •Ota, Japan.Operates 11 pro-•duction facilities in five countries.Has 2,000 employ-•ees worldwide.It’s U.S. plant, •Ogihara Amer-ica Howell, is a state-of-the-art, 800,000-square-foot facility in southeast Michi-gan for stamping and assembling high-strength steel and aluminum into body panels and subassemblies for car and truck manufacturers worldwide.

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11s P O t w E l d i N g , A R c w E l d i N g

By Metin DemirsarPhotos Berrak Kasgir

reaping the benefitsbenefits of robotizing welding at beyçelik include:

Reduced waste: •The robotic sys-tems produce significantly higher quality, resulting in almost no scrapped parts.better work envi-•ronment: The system is cleaner, safer and nicer for employees.More room: The •robotized welding system takes up a quarter of the space of a manual system, allowing more room for production and other activities at the plant.

> Fa c t S

s P O t w E l d i N g , A R c w E l d i N g

beyçelik Gestamp in fast lane

turkey’s Beyçelik Gestamp Mold and automotive Parts Production industry company is keeping pace with the country’s fast-expanding automotive industry, producing and supplying parts for car makers and commercial vehicle manufacturers, using aBB robots.

In 2007, Turkey produced a record 1,132,932 motor vehicles, including 632,883 automobiles, a 10 percent increase over the same period in 2006 and more than a fivefold rise from 1990.

“The country’s motor vehicle manufacturers are barreling along in the fast lane, and we as suppliers are racing alongside them, providing parts and com-ponents,” says Mustafa Boga, commercial manager of Beyçelik Gestamp, as he takes guests along the company’s assembly floor where more than two dozen robots are feverishly welding chassis parts for vehicle manufacturers.

Beyçelik Gestamp is based in the city of Bursa, Turkey’s automobile manufacturing capital, 250 kil-ometers southeast of Istanbul. In its 50,000-square-meter production area the company produces assembled sheet metal parts and dies, chassis and skin panels, as well as front end and crash body parts for motor vehicles. It processes 100,000 tons of sheet metal a year.

Faik Çelik, a master craftsman in mold mak-ing, founded Beyçelik in 1978 as a mold production company. At the time there were only three employ-ees. By 1983, Beyçelik started forming sheet metal for the automotive industry, a ready market for the company’s products. From that point the company grew rapidly. In 2007, the Spanish company Gestamp Automoción acquired a 50 percent share of Beyçelik. Nevertheless, Çelik still heads the company as chair-man. His brother Nedim Çelik serves on the board of directors, and his son Baran Çelik, a mechanical engineer, is its ceo.

“We like working with robots,” says Boga, who joined the company in 1993 as a mechanical engineer, fresh out of college. “The efficiency of abb robots has given us confidence to be aggressive in planning, investments and production.”

Since 2002, Beyçelik Gestamp has invested eur 4

million in 26 spot welding, arc welding and transfer robots from abb – including irb 6600, irb 6650, irb 2400 robots as well as s4c+ and irc5 controllers. In 2008, it placed orders for seven additional transfer robots from abb that have yet to be installed.

“When we decided to use robots in welding, it was not easy to adapt the robots, due to the variety and small quantity of the parts produced,” notes Boga. “So we planned a flexible production solution together with our integrator, ab Rotech. With this flexibility, production quantity has increased and quality of the welded equipment has improved.”

“our production has doubled as a result of the use of robots,” he continues. “We employ half the amount of people that would have been needed for manual welding. We also use 75 percent less space, and we waste less.”

The robotic systems produce a significantly high-er quality of parts, resulting in a standard production and almost no scrapped parts.

Before robots, if there was a large area on a part that required welding, the operator would spot weld more or less than the actual amount needed, which could result in flaws in a piece, In such cases, deliv-ery of faulty pieces would cause the whole part to be refused. This has never happened with robotic pro-duction, says Boga.

“Spot welding is a process that can have devastat-ing results that can cause irreparable damage,” he says. “But after we started with robotic production, due to the impeccable production, part loss is minimized.”

The robots have also provided a better work envi-ronment, Boga says. The system is cleaner, safer and more pleasant for employees. “We have a nicer work-shop today,” he says. “When we were doing manual welding, the factory was not as clean and didn’t look as good as it does today.”

Facts about Beyçelik GestampFounded: 1978 as Beyçelik.

headquarters: Bursa, turkey.

current ownership: Joint venture

between Faik Çelik holding of

turkey and gestamp Automoción

of spain (gestamp Automoción

acquired a 50 percent stake in the

company in 2007).

Products: sheet metal parts and

dies for motor vehicle bodies,

chassis and skin panels, front end

parts and crash parts.

Metal-processing capacity: 200,000 tons a year.

Main customers: tofa Fiat,

Oyak Renault, Ford Otosan, Ford

Europe.

annual sales: usd 83 million

in 2006, usd 135 million in 2007.

annual exports: usd 5.2 million

in 2006, usd 13.5 million in 2007.

number of employees: 1,000

“ Our production has doubled as a result of the use of robots.” Mustafa boga, beyçelik Gestamp


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13t R E N d

East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet, Rudyard Kipling once wrote. He was referring to the fact that the British tended to force their own conditions on the places they colonized rather than adapting themselves to foreign conditions.

In the industrial context, there has in the same way been a sharp line between East and West, Asia traditionally relying on relatively low levels of auto-mation while the West tends to take a more compre-hensive, automated approach.

Now, however, the sharp differences in produc-tion processes between the East and the West are disappearing. Instead of Asian production philoso-phies being pitted against those in Europe or North America, more and more each region, business or time period is requiring its own production strategy.

“European companies are aware of the fact that each country – and sometimes even each part of a country – requires a unique automation strategy,” says Dennis Fritsch, of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation in Stuttgart, Germany. “The strategy is influenced by many factors, such as economic aspects, but it is also determined by how easy it is to get the required spe-cialists, how easy it is to get spare parts and so on.

“A robot is a very powerful machine, but it needs skilled labor for maintenance and programming,” he continues. “People must have sufficient educa-tion to work with robots. German companies, for example, have a lot of experience with robotics and automation. In many other countries this is lacking. As a consequence, these countries concentrate on less comprehensive applications of robots and automation technologies.

“Complex systems are more expensive,” Fritsch adds. “A robotic solution can be a good and econom-

in terms of production philosophy and methods, the line between east and west is becoming less defined. an individual approach seems to be the trend.

ical solution in one country and a less economical solution in another country.”

But now in Asia the situation is changing, he says. Automation is booming and the demand for skilled staff is huge. And while there are increasingly more people in Asia with the requisite education to work with robotic solutions, still more are needed. The demand is higher than the supply.

Moreover, says Fritsch, as industries in Asia and elsewhere turn to automation, more and more com-plex solutions are being introduced. At the same time everyone is keeping a very careful eye on costs. Effi-ciency is the key word. How a manufacturing plant is organized very much relies on each individual need, the product, application and market.

The concept at the forefront is “lean produc-tion” – a production philosophy that can be adopted regardless of the location or business a company is in.

“The rapid growth in China is enabling com-panies to invest in more advanced equipment and new facilities,” he continues. “Foreign companies are bringing their latest products and production tech-nologies into China, and this will help China to be even more efficient in the future.

But, Rautavuori cautions, “maintenance aspects are not well known in China, and this will be one of the concerns as automation increases.”

For his part, Fritsch believes that the comprehensive and the simple ways of organizing production will con-tinue to co-exist even as the East embraces automation.

“Both methods are good methods, because they are appropriate for the local constraints,” says Fritsch. “There are still a lot of companies in Germany and the West that are looking for simple solutions, and at the same time there are a growing number of com-panies in Asia that are looking for more advanced manufacturing technologies.”

First introduced by Toyota as the Toyota Production System, lean production dominates businesses and organizations worldwide – in all areas, from manufac-turing through to r&d and administration.

Joni Rautavuori is in charge of abb’s global robot production. Based in Shanghai, he has considerable experience with Asian and European markets.

“The Chinese people are said to be cost-conscious people and good at saving,” he says. “In the West, we tend to have a lot of ‘nice to have’ things in our prod-ucts and factories. Chinese are good at doing ‘good enough,’ which keeps methods simple and costs down. Of course, this also brings with it a risk of low quality if it is not done properly.

“Due to the availability of low-cost labor, the level of automation in China is still relatively low,” Rautavuori says. “But we will see increases in the coming years as more focus is placed on quality, safety and increased production volumes.

t R E N d

By Petra LodénIllustration Björn Lundkvist

Fraunhofer instituteThe research institute Fraunhofer IPA, focus on tech-nological functions in the production sector of industri-al companies. IPA has about 150 scientific employees and an operating budget of EUR 27, 5 million (2005).

Dennis Fritschdennis Fritsch is working in the robot systems depart-ment of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engi-neering and Automation in Stuttgart. Since 2007 he is Group Manager for Handling- and Assembly systems.

Joni rautavuoriJoni Rautavuori is the Head of Global Operations at Abb Robot Products. In his various operations man-agement roles he has been implementing Operation-al Excellence techniques like Theory Of constraints (TOc), Lean Manufacturing and demand Flow Tech-nology. He has gained multi-cultural experience in implementing these practices in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, US and recently in Asia.

> Fa c t S

Blurred line between East and West

“Each country – and some-times even each part of a country – requires a unique automation strategy”, says dennis Fritsch.

dennis Fritsch (to the left) and Joni Rautavuori give their opinion on production philosophies.

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

North America Europe Asia(excl. Japan)

2005 2010 2005 2010 2005 2010

operational stock and forecast industrial robots at year end 2005 and 2010 (iFr).


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www.abb.com/robotics www.abb.com/robotics

15t E c h P A g E s

cmt (Cold Metal Transfer) welding result in welds with high levels of accuracy on thin-section materials usually reserved for tig (tungsten inert gas) welding.

And cmt welding may well be the way of the future. According to Steve Bartholomew, metal fabrication account manager for abb Robotics, cmt welding technologies could overtake and dominate manual tig welding in sheet-metal arc welding applications.

“The improved efficiencies available through cmt unlock a host of potential new applications for robots in markets that were previously dependent upon costly highly skilled labor,” says Bartholomew. “And pay-back on investment is on average one year.”

Until now sheet-metal product manufac-turers have faced a choice between tig or mig (metal inert gas) welding for arc welding sheet metal. mig welding has covered much of the market, while tig welding is most commonly used for welding thin-section material. tig welding has a number of advantages, in par-ticular a high degree of accuracy.

tig welding, however, has traditionally been performed manually as it requires a high level of skill. It is considered unsuit-able for robotization.

Fronius International introduced the concept of cmt welding in 2005. By using

the mig welding method of applying a wire consumable, Fronius found a way of welding with a high degree of accuracy on thin-section materials usually reserved for tig welding.

“For robot manufacturers, the main advantage of cmt is that it is based on the mig welding process, a proven process for robotic automation” says Bartholomew. Speed and control of heat input are two

recent advances in cMt welding technology are opening up a wealth of new possibilities for robots.

cMT welding offers speed and control

IRb 1600Id – a tight fit

t E c h P A g E s

The irb 1600id is a key compo-nent in many abb-designed robot automation systems. Its big advantage is that it can rotate 360 degrees and use a combination of multiple axis movements to manage even the most

difficult welds without need for human touchups.

The compact wrist and upper arm are an additional plus. “The upper arm is very slim and smooth, so it can enter very nar-row spaces,” says Per Löwgren, global prod-uct manager for medium robots. “The weld-ing cable is also integrated with the arm. It follows the arm’s movement so it doesn’t hang out and disturb any of the auxiliary equip-ment around it. That makes it very reliable and, from a reach point of view, it allows you to enter very tight areas without the cable get-ting caught on any fixtures or workpieces.”

This integrated hose package also means that systems using the irb 1600id can have much higher robot densities, if required. “When the arm is moving, the hose pack-

age does not move uncontrolled in different directions,” says Löwgren. “Unlike with tra-ditional hose packages, it means you can have robots placed in very close proximity with-out danger of stoppages caused by machines getting hooked up with each other. As two robots work faster than one, this gives you the option of more or less doubling the out-put of one production cell.”

Naturally, depending on the customers’ specific needs, the product can also be used with a variety of both air- and water-cooled torches and hose packages from Binzel, such as Esab, Fronius and sks.

“The dependability and comparative stiff-ness of the robot’s arm is also a big advan-tage,” says Löwgren. “It means that the machine is very suitable for offline program-ming.” The ability to use the RobotStudio program with a Virtual Controller for pre-cisely and reliably setting cycles and positions means that the programming and commis-sioning time for irb 1600id robot installa-tions can be as much as 90 percent shorter.

cMT stands for cold Metal Transfer. It is a new method of droplet detachment based on short arc MIG/MAG welding. It gives a metal transfer with less heat input compared to conventional MIG/MAG welding.

When it comes to welding carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum, metal manufac-turers no longer have to put together systems piecemeal. Instead, they can turn to abb’s new complete package that combines the best in welding and automation technology.

A new package is available with abb’s irb 1600, irb 1600id (Integrated Dressing) and irb 2400l robots. This package uses welding technology from esab, including the AristoMig power source, the latest genera-tion of integrated inverter power sources designed specifically for robotic mig/mag welding in metal fabrication industries.

The compact power source is based on inverter insulated gate bipolar transistor technology and an advanced process regula-tor. The combination provides outstanding welding characteristics, including excellent control with a minimum of spatter, even at high welding speeds.

Hundreds of ready-to-use synergic

welding lines that offer combinations of welding method, material, wire diameters and shielding gases, allow for easy setup and operation. All the operator has to do is select the desired wire-feeding speed, and the Aris-toMig will automatically select the appropri-ate voltage.

This package also includes a special highly flexible, torsion-resistant Bikox cable developed by Abicor-Binzel especially for the new irb 1600id robot and offers solutions with air- and water-cooled torches for id robots and standard robots as well.

Both the power source and the robot controller are set up via the robot Flex-Pendant, abb’s portable interface unit, using intuitive icons instead of cryptic codes. Only one set of data needs to be entered, speeding up programming while reducing the risk of human error. Welding data, such as voltage and current data as well as error messages from the power source, are displayed on the

robot FlexPendant, allowing the operator control of the welding process at all times.

The robotics arc welding package contains connections to the media neces-sary for arc welding, such as electric power, large welding drums and bobbins for wire, shielding gas and pressurized air. It can be delivered with a range of abb irbp position-ers to fit the specific needs of the customer for workpieces ranging from 250 to 5,000 kilograms. The motion system with the robot and the positioner is controlled for the shortest possible cycle time and accurate coordinated motion with the robot based on an advanced software dynamic modeling technique.

This seamlessly integrated package can be delivered from abb or directly from esab.

Factory directFor metal specialists, nothing could be surer than starting with a comprehensive arc welding package - direct from the factory.key benefits of the Fronius cmt welding

process.“The Fronius equipment can be used in

all modes of transfer, cmt, synergic and dip pulse, providing considerable flexibility for the user should he chose to switch from one mode to another,” says Bartholomew. “We expect to see far greater use of robots for arc welding, as users become aware of their abil-ity to simplify welding processes”.

almost no weld

is too difficult for the

compact irB 1600iD, with

its integrated hose

package.


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17A R c w E l d i N g , m A t E R i A l h A N d l i N g A R c w E l d i N g , m A t E R i A l h A N d l i N g

Located near the sleepy town of Sedlčany about an hour’s drive south of Prague, stros-sedlčanské strojírny’s premises look nondescript from the out-side, but inside its production hall an impressive manufacturing operation is at work. With 50 years in the business, stros is one of the world’s leading suppliers of hoist machinery for building sites. It sup-plies high-quality work platforms as well as custom-ized personnel and material hoists – hoists that can be expected to carry loads of up to 3,200 kilograms, speeds of up to 90 metres per minute and heights of up to 350 metres. Thus its tetrahedral vertical masts are a crucial component. As each mast section needs a total of 222 reliable welds, manufacturing them is an extremely labor intensive process.

Until recently, stros had to use highly skilled welders to make these sections. Although it has been using robots for 25 years, these machines could not manage the complex arc welds in narrow spaces need-ed for these particular components. Consequently, in order to produce a satisfactory number of mast sec-tions it had to employ three welders per shift at three separate workstations to make these pieces.

Apart from the obvious outlay this required in terms of manpower and space, stros found it increasingly difficult to recruit the highly qualified welders needed for this work. That’s why in 2007 the company decided to hold a tender for the complete robotization of its manufacturing process for mast sections. Of the four firms who participated, only the abb group could fulfill all its requirements.

“abb was the only one who could supply the entire workstation,” says stros project manager Milan Škorpa. “We didn’t just want to buy a robot. We wanted a completely robotized workplace, which would include a positioner and would handle the transfer of components. abb also did all the program-ming for us, which means they effectively delivered a complete workstation.”

The irb 1600id industrial robot with a process arm is a key feature of the robot automation system that is now in place at stros. The machine’s arm is extremely slim and can combine multiple-axis move-

ments and rotate 360 degrees, which makes it ideal for entering narrow spaces and carrying out the com-plex arc welds that are needed to complete the mast sections. An integrated welding cable follows the arm’s movements, which ensures that it doesn’t get caught in any surrounding fixtures or workpieces.In addition to the process arm’s maneuverability, Škorpa says abb’s positioners for holding the pieces to be welded were also a major selling point. “The fact that the positioner can turn on more than one axis was crucial,” he says. “It’s necessary to be able to coordinate the robot’s movements on the track with the positioner.”

the process arm’s fluid interaction with the posi-tioner is an impressive feat of balletic synchronicity, which according to Škorpa could not have been achieved without abb’s readiness to work closely with stros in designing the system. “The workers who make the mast sections had to collaborate with the supplier so that the system could be put into operation the way we wanted it,” he says. “First and foremost, the people at abb were perfect experts. And they also willingly responded immediately to any problems we might have encountered.”

Abb gives STROSa helping arman innovative process arm is what sold czech hoist manufacturer StroS on aBB’s irB 1600iD robot solution. not only does the arm provide multiple-axis movements, it can rotate 360 degrees, and includes an integrated welding cable.

By Coilin O’ConnorPhoto Vladimir Weiss

“the robot effectively does the work of three welders using just one workstation.”

Milan Škorpa, Project Manager

“There are important returns on the investment that can’t be quantified,” says Milan Škorpa.


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stros uses a rotating irbp 500 d positioner with two workstations to hold the individual parts of the mast section that are to be welded before the final piece is completed. This means that the robot is in constant use, because an operator can prepare pieces for welding on one side of the positioner while the other part is being welded. The positioner then rotates and welding continues while the operator removes the completed part on the other side and prepares the next component. The standard combined cycle time for making one mast section is 54 minutes, which is three times quicker than the time required by a human welder to make the same piece. “The robot effectively does the work of three welders using just one workstation,” says Škorpa.

Such obvious savings in space and time mean that Škorpa believes stros’s investment of czk 7.5 million (eur 300,000) in the robot system will have been recovered in two to three years, especially as the com-pany was able to get 50 percent of the cost covered by a special eu grant for modernizing production technologies.

Besides these concrete benefits, Škorpa claims the system’s intangible advantages are also significant. “There are important returns on the investment that can’t be quantified,” he says. “For instance, we now don’t have to worry about trying to hire properly trained welders, who are in short supply these days because nobody wants to do this work anymore. It also pays off in terms of the quality of the welding. Even if you have a good welder, you are never going to get the same consistency that a machine gives you. And robots don’t forget any welds.”

BenefitsOne tailor-made robotized workstation •produces the same number of pieces per eight-hour shift as three human welders would.Robot welding systems ensure consistent •high-quality welds without any of the devia-tions produced by human welders.They eliminate the need to recruit qualified •welders, who are in increasingly short supply.Welding mast sections with robots guar-•antees constant high levels of geometric precision, which means that the sections fit perfectly with each other when being used to assemble hoists. The systems can be easily reprogrammed •to produce other parts.

about StroSSTROS is one of the world’s leading suppli-•ers of machinery for building sites.The company has been in business for more •than 40 years and has a longstanding focus on manufacturing hoists for material and personnel, working platforms and other steel structures.It employs 220 people and exports its prod-•ucts to 35 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

> Fa c t S

“The process arm’s maneu-verability as well as the positioners for holding the pieces to be welded were a major selling point,” says Milan Škorpa


19m A t E R i A l h A N d l i N g , A R c w E l d i N g

By Trish RileyPhotos James Steele

The behemoth machine that cuts up the asphalt and conveys it to the bed of a dump truck for deliv-ery to an asphalt recycling facility in a road resurfac-ing project is likely a Roadtec Cold Planer. Roadtec patented the revolutionary Roadtec Shuttle Buggy, a material transfer vehicle that revolutionized the road resurfacing industry. Roadtec equipment can be found worldwide.

Roadtec is one of a consortium of 16 companies that make up Astec Industries Inc. Following the lead of Astec Underground into robotic manufacturing, now Roadtec is building its mills using abb Robotics. Company executives anticipate doubling produc-tion levels and enhancing uniformity, thanks to the technology provided by abb through Wolf Robotics of Colorado.

“We will actually have to add one more person to the production team,” says Mike Bliss, director of manufacturing for Roadtec. “But the output will change. The biggest thing will be the reduction of

if you’ve ever encountered a road resurfacing project whiletraveling in the United States, chances are good that you’veobserved roadtec equipment in action.

Paving the way to smoother

road resurfacing

man-hours. We’ll go from about 120 hours to 60 hours to make a mill drum. That will let us produce twice as many drums as we were making, and we think we’ll be able to tweak that even more once we get into routine production.”

rhey houston, a fixture designer with 15 years at the company, undertook the task of researching compa-nies that could fulfill Roadtec’s needs. “I went right to the Internet and found Wolf Robotics,” he says. “They seemed capable and had all the answers we needed.” Best of all, the company had been around since 1944, had once been owned by abb Robotics and was now an integrator of abb products.

Roadtec began working with Wolf in June 2007, designing two robots to build its 900 series mills – the biggest cold-planing equipment it makes – for highway resurfacing. Houston reports that Wolf ’s customer support was fantastic throughout the proc-ess. But by the time the equipment was designed and


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installed in March 2008, Roadtec’s buyer requests had shifted from large equipment intended for highway reconstruction – the 900 series machines – to smaller mills better suited for private roadways and narrower applications. Luckily the robots flexibility meant they can work for other mills as well, continuing to pro-vide Roadtec an advantage.

“Our job is all in relation to road bills passing Congress,” says Houston. “If highway funding bills are large, companies get a lot of money and they buy a lot of machines. We’re not selling the series 900 mills we thought we would, but the robot builds all the drums for other mills, too.”

wolf designed the initial software, but Roadtec staff programmers do the work of recalibrating it to meet the varying dimensions of the products in cur-rent demand. The 500 and 700 series mills, made for narrower roads, are the hot items in today’s market. The robotic equipment can meet the need. “A robot can make numerous repetitions of parts, and it will make every one of them identical,” says Houston. “It helps our sales because the customer knows that every mill will be the same. It will decrease our man-power to load blocks on the drum. In turn, we have to make special preparations for the robot as well. We have to make sure everything is exact, or it won’t work for the robot.”

Roadtec uses an irb 4400 material-handling robot to pick up the pedestal blocks and teeth and place them on the drum. From there an irb2400l six-axis welding robot secures the blocks and teeth in place. The two robots are mounted side-by-side to a floor track system that is used to transport the robots between the staging area for the pedestal blocks and the milling drum. The irb 4400 robot has a grip-per end tool that picks up a pedestal block and then places it in a location jig where it reorients the part to

ensure accuracy and then it swings around and holds the block in place on the drum as the irb 2400 robot reaches in and tack welds the block to the drum in three locations. Once secured the irb 4400 releases from the block and goes back to pick another block from the staging area. The drum rotates to present a new location for the next block and the process is repeated. When all blocks have been placed and tacked the irb 2400 robot then returns and completes the welds on each block. The operation does not require the robots to move simultaneously with each other. But they need to be aware of each others loca-tion and projected movements. Done manually, the process takes up to 100 hours to place and weld the teeth, but the robot can get the job done in 10 hours or less. “Do the math,” says Houston. “It doesn’t take long to start making money that way.”

The robotic process creates a more uniform, better-refined finished product as well. Houston points to a pair of drums, one with blocks welded by hand and a finished drum that was set and welded by the new robots. The difference in workmanship is evident. The manually welded piece is rough and inexact, while the robotically produced product is smoothly welded, each tooth perfectly placed in a spi-ral around the drum.

Rickey Ellis worked as a manual welder for 30 years, and now his job is overseeing the robotic weld-ing process. “I’m in a T-shirt instead of a long sleeve shirt, sitting there getting physically sweaty. Now I can sit in the chair, punch a button and watch it do its thing. I love it. I’m looking forward to this mak-ing my life easier.”

Houston is pretty sure the robotic applications are going to make everyone’s life easier at Roadtec and will provide a better product for their customers as well. “The robot is a very beneficial application here at Roadtec,” he says.

about roadtecLocated in chattanooga, Tennessee, founded •in 1981. Number of employees, 435.Produces cold planers, material transfer •vehicles and asphalt pavers.Known for simple-to-use designs that are •compatible with U.S. department of Trans-portation specifications.

> Fa c t S

Benefits of robotization at roadtec:•Decreased production time: Roadtec expects to produce drums

in half the time. • increased production output: building twice as much product. •More uniform product: The welding robot creates a cleaner line,

the same way every time.•Safety: The robot works in a completely enclosed system, keeping

smoke, welding glare and loud noise inside the system and away from workers. This helps reduce eye burns from welding.

The steel drum, which is very shiny, causes a hazardous glare of welding sparks. Fewer workers are exposed to the glare in the contained envi-ronment.

Roadtec sold 95 machines in 2007, building 50 to 60 percent in house and purchasing the remainder for resale. In 2008, Roadtec projects sales of 110 mill machines and expects to make more of them in house, thanks to the robot installation.

The operation to place and weld the teeth takes 10 hours, manually the process would take up to 100 hours.

m A t E R i A l h A N d l i N g , A R c w E l d i N g



Text and photo by Alexander Farnsworth

a big stepfor a small company

It was a simple equation. The unemployment rate for professional welders in southern Sweden, in the region of Småland, is so low that the family-owned company Allt i Plåt (loosely translated as Everything Within Sheet Metal) decided to meet increased demand for its products with a welding system from Andon Automation based on a three-axis manipulator and a dedicated handling system.

Allt i Plåt, which employs about 50 people, have installed a robotic welding cell from Andon Automa-tion with an abb robot (delivered by Andon Automa-tion) in one of its large manufacturing halls as part of a company-wide modernization strategy – the biggest in the company’s history.

“We invested sek 25 million in 2007 to upgrade our facilities and modernize our equipment,” says Christer Persson, who took over the company with his brother and sister in 1995.

The changes in the factory are on a grand scale. Besides the robotic cell, which is used to weld up to 600 meters of joints on a 1,000-kilogram mining machine’s cab, Allt i Plåt has also installed a German-made Trumpf laser precision cutting machine in an adjacent 1,600-square-meter hall.

This machine takes the company’s raw material, sheets of steel 1,500 millimeters wide by 3,000 milli-meters long in various thicknesses supplied by Sweden’s ssab, and cuts them into 40,000 different parts or arti-

the global thirst for minerals and metals has rubbed off on aB allt i Plåt, a small company in southern Sweden that manufactures, among other products, cabs for mining machines and cranes.

cles that are then pieced together to manufacture cabs.Among the company’s clients are equipment

manufacturers within the mining, trucking and for-estry industries. In addition, Allt i Plåt manufactures humidifiers and dehumidifiers, a legacy business from the old days that does not require any welding.

However, manufacturing truck, mining machine and forestry machine cabs is a welding-intensive busi-ness. After laser cutting all the individual pieces of a cab, the pieces are “stapled” together (through the use of small spot welds), and then the raw cab, which at this point looks like a cable car, is transported to the robotic welding cell.

in the cell, the 1,000-kilogram cab is secured to a 2-axis positioner, which rotates the cab into optimal welding positions.

“This communication between the robot and the positioner is where the advanced technology comes in,” says Lennart Niklasson of Andon Automation.

The ultimate benefit, according to Persson, is that the robot can weld a whole cab in three hours, as opposed to a whole shift.

“In addition, the quality of the welds is much higher, which for a mining machine that works in dan-gerous environments is an important safety improve-ment,” he says. “And our customers also appreciate that we are using more efficient procedures.”

After the welding, each individual cab is painted, buffed and outfitted with all the necessary cables, sound isolation and safety glass.

“These cabs actually look quite nice,” says Pers-son, standing next to a bright yellow unit that just came out of the paint shop. “It is too bad they have to go down a mine and get dirty and all scratched up.”

allt i Plåt’s benefits from automated weldingWelding time per cab has decreased to around three hours, compared with •a whole shift if done manually.Increases capacity and production.•

Allt i Plåt chose the IRb 1600 robot with the IRc 5 steering system from Andon Automation, an engineering specialist within arc welding and thermal cutting applications based in Örebro, Sweden. The company partners exclu-sively with Abb.

> Fa c t S

“We were interested in a total system solution,” says Olle Persson (to the left). “And we decided on Andon and Abb after a customer conference where we saw the possibilities of their solution for us.”


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“To reinforce our competen-cies, we have chosen to part-ner with reputed suppliers, and this strategy is working very well, ” says Wang Jianhang.

Shanghai huizhong automotive Manufacturing co. Ltd.Established in 1991, Huizhong is a wholly owned subsidiary of the •Shanghai Automobile Industry corporation, the largest vehicle group in china. Huizhong employees more than 6,500 people around the world and has •12 plants in china, as well as offices in the United States, Germany and Australia.In china, Huizhong’s customers include Volkswagen, Audi, Hyundai, •Ford, Fiat, Honda and Toyota. Huizhong now is a global tier 1 supplier for General Motors Global, Ford •North America, FAW Volkswagen, General Motors Global Epsilon plat-form, daimler chrysler and chang’an Ford. In 2005, Huizhong had sales of USd 580 million (RMb 4 billion).•

> Fa c t S

A R c w E l d i N g

It is no exaggeration that most cars made in Shanghai use parts and modules from Shanghai Huizhong Automotive Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

“We are the biggest car module supplier in China, and provide chassis and parts to major auto-makers in the country,” says Wang Jianhang, an engi-neer with Huizhong who has participated in many major projects for the company. “In addition, we also produce cars, buses and heavy trucks.”

Established in 1991, Huizhong is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Shanghai Automobile Industry Cor-poration, the largest vehicle group in China. Employing more than 6,500 people around the world, Huizhong boasts 12 plants in the country and has set up offices in the United States, Germany and Australia.

“In fact, we grew out of several old chassis fac-tories, some of which have a history going back more than 60 years,” says Wang. “In 1986 one of the factories became the exclusive supplier for Shanghai Volkswagen, and in 1998 Huizhong became the exclu-sive chassis supplier for Shanghai General Motors.” Wang himself has worked for the company for 14 years and witnessed its swift growth.

Currently Huizhong’s customers in China are Volkswagen, Audi, Hyundai, Ford, Fiat, Honda and Toyota. With such momentum behind it, the com-pany has breezed onto the international Automotive oem scene, joining the global competition.

From 2003 to 2006, Huizhong was granted the status of global tier 1 supplier for General Motors Global, Ford North America, faw Volkswagen, Gen-eral Motors Global Epsilon platform, Daimler Chrys-ler and Chang’an Ford.

“By 2005, our sales volume has reached usd 580 million [rmb 4 billion],” Wang says. “Although we have expanded very rapidly, we need to enhance our competencies by developing our own products.”

although china’s producers may have certain advan-tages in terms of labor costs, Huizhong clearly knows that, as a company competing on the international stage, it must provide satisfactory products and services.

“Price is a very important factor, but it is not the most fundamental one,” Wang explains. “How to enhance our capabilities in research and development is most important. To reinforce our competencies, we have chosen to partner with reputed suppliers, and this strategy is working very well.”

Huizhong started to use abb welding robots in 2005, and now has more than 60 robots includ-ing irb 2400l and irb 1410 as well as positioners irbp500r and irbp 750r in service, making parts for Ford and General Motors.

“In fact, 2005 was a turning point for our compa-ny,” Wang adds. “The project to produce subframes for Ford was of great significance for us.”

Wang explains that it usually takes 10 to 12 months to develop a product such as a subframe. Wang and his team, however, were required to finish the job in five months.

“Time was extremely tight,” he recalls. “The per-son responsible for the technical part of the project at

Ford felt that it was totally a ‘mission impossible.’”When Huizhong was searching for suppliers for

the project, it chose abb for the welding work and received four sets (a total of seven) of robots.

“abb lived up to our expectations,” Wang says. “They spared no effort in supporting us and tried their best to meet our standards on clamps. The robots are fantastic, but to make the welding work perfectly, we still needed high-quality clamps to help with accurate positioning. abb solved the problem by cooperating with its local supplier.”

Wang and his colleagues amazed Ford by present-ing their design within five months. “I went to abb every day for a month to discuss the design,” Wang recalls with a smile.

Soon Ford expanded its production, and Huizhong also increased its number of abb robots. Now in the noisy workshop 14 robots weld at seven workstations.

“Different workstations have different welding tasks, and now we can produce a total of 110 sub-frames per shift,” says Zhou Hui, supervisor for the Ford subframe line.

having worked for Huizhong for 10 years, Zhou has operated a number of different welding robots. What impresses him most about the abb robots is their user-friendliness. “We installed more robots last year,” he says, “and the updated operation panel is equipped with a touch screen that can display Chi-nese characters, which is really convenient for our workers. Although Ford’s production expansion does put pressure on us, we can handle it easily with the help of these robots.”

Thanks to abb’s improvements to the fixture, the reliability of the parts has improved greatly. “It seems very easy, but abb made a great effort on the improvement,” Wang says. “To ensure the quality of the fixture, abb undertook the design work itself, a task that used to be performed by its supplier.”

With the success of the Ford project, Huizhong again allied with abb, winning the h-Car project from General Motors. In this project, Huizhong pro-duces the rear axle and subframe and has more than 40 abb robots working on the project.

“I hope Huizhong will work even more closely with abb to win even more support,” says Wang. “It would be perfect if abb could join us when a project is still in the preliminary design stage.”

smart robots help propel growth

By Rita YaoPhoto Gao Erqiang

with the support of aBB robots, Shanghai huizhong automotive Manufacturing co. Ltd. has successfully won major projects, greatly reinforcing its compe-tencies.

aBB robots in huizhongHuizhong started cooperating with Abb in •2005.Now Huizhong has about 60 Abb welding •robots working on the Ford and General Motors projects.The user-friendly robots won Huizhong’s •approval, not least because their operation panel can display chinese characters.On the Ford line, a total of seven robot •stations can complete welding on 110 sub-frames per shift.

mission impossible - abb group · mission impossible becomes possible at huizhong > 22–23 ten...

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