12.07.2018 – The tool manufacturer Siegfried Hofmann, based in Lichtenfels, Germany, specializes in the production of high-performance molds, among other things. The company was looking for a solution for the automatic polishing of injection molds. The particular challenge for the desired solution was to develop a system that could also be used economically for a quantity of 1. In addition, the employees were to be relieved of the manual and very time-consuming polishing work.
“With the flexible polishing system from Boll Automation, we were able to expand the degree of innovation in our production even further” – Markus Gräf, Head of Process Development at Hofmann.
Boll Automation is a specialist in the field of human-robot collaboration and develops systems that enable automation even for small batch sizes and a high number of variants. For the toolmaker Hofmann, the engineers from Kleinwallstadt have developed a flexible polishing system in which the employee interacts directly with the robot.
The polishing system works in 2 steps
Step 1: Manual teaching process of a robot path
Step 2: Independent execution of the process by the robot
For a quick and easy setup of the process sequences, the robot is taken directly in the hand by the operator and the desired robot movements are simply demonstrated (“Teaching by Demonstration”). For this, the operator does not need to have any programming knowledge. By simply teaching the robot path, the system can be adapted to new tasks within a very short time. The user can make these adjustments himself at any time. Time-, cost- and knowledge-intensive robot programming is completely eliminated.
“Our employees are thrilled with the ease of use of the new system. New processes can be taught in within a few minutes. This function was particularly important for us, because we often have very small quantities in our injection molds, which previously made automation almost impossible” – Markus Gräf, Head of Process Development at Hofmann.
For the subsequent automation of the previously set-up process, intelligent safety and material logistics concepts are used. Adaptive process control is one of the core competencies of Boll Automation. The process is not just rigidly reproduced, but monitored and controlled by sensors. This enables consistent results at all times despite varying initial situations. For maximum flexibility, the robot is mounted on a mobile cart and can thus be moved as required.
By implementing the new collaborative polishing system from Boll Automation, the toolmaker, Siegfried Hofmann, was able to achieve a number of benefits:
- Relieving employees from one-sided and monotonous work
- Achieving consistent process quality
- Process know-how of the employee is still available
- Increase in productivity: Since the employee is only needed for teaching the process movement, he can supervise several RoboMill systems
- The attractiveness of jobs in post-processing is increased
See the application live in action in a short practical video.
You can also find more information about the solution – Robomill here.
