PEGUET

12
Material Handling, Robotics
Issue N°9 • September 2007
Robots stick it to the
ceramics sector
PEGUET
BE SURE TO RELY
ON QUALITY
In the conservative ceramic mosaic tile industry, manufacturing innovation is
often shunned. However, ABB Robotics in collaboration with the Italian
Engineering consultancy EMC, has developed a robotic solution for the production
of ceramics that is winning over previously reticent tile makers. Apart from
providing necessary automation the system has also reduced costs by eliminating
the need for paper and mesh backing as well as templates.
When quick,
strong and reliable
fastenings are
required,
just take Péguet’s
60 years experience
on trust.
F-74105 ANNEMASSE - FRANCE
Tel. Export (33) 450 95 58 23
Fax (33) 450 92 22 06
www.peguet.fr / peguetpeguet.fr
For SLI: enter 15203 at www.tim-info.com/ien
AEROTECH
Gantry Positioning Solutions
for Every Application
AGS1000 Series
Linear brushless servomotors
Linear motion guide bearings
Superior performance and long
life
Optional machine base and risers
Compact design reduces overall
machine size
X-Y Travel
to 500 mm
Accuracy
+/- 5 µm
Load
15 kg
AGS10000 Series
High velocity to 3 m/s and high
acceleration to 3 g
High-power linear brushless
servomotors
Customisable Z- and theta-axes
Noncontact linear encoders
Optional machine base and risers
X-Y Travel Accuracy
to 1000 mm +/- 5 µm
Load
25 kg
AGS20000 Series
High velocity to 3 m/s and high
acceleration to 3 g
Optimised precision to +/- 3 µm
Dual parallel lower axis drive
Customisable Z- and theta-axes
Noncontact linear encoders
Optional machine base and risers
X-Y Travel Accuracy
to 1000 mm +/- 3 µm
Load
30 kg
ABG10000 Series
Fully preloaded air bearings for
ultra smooth motion
Dual linear-motor / optical
encoder on lower axes
Options include: granite machine
base, z axis, vibration isolation,
and control enclosure
X-Y Travel
to 1000 mm
Accuracy
+/-2 µm
Load
84 kg
Two years ago ABB Robotics approached EMC with a
request to develop robotics applications in the ceramic tiles industry. EMC’s name is an acronym for its
focus: engineering, manufacturing and consulting for
robotic applications. Marco Corti, who started the
company in 2001 in Italy, manages the technical aspects
of the consultancy, while Paolo Durio heads up the commercial side. Ceramics was an industry unknown to Corti, who had to come to terms with the fact that innovation was viewed with scepticism and suspicion. Even
though robotics provides performance, flexibility and
simplicity in production - all of which are requisites for
the competitive future of the ceramic tile industry – there
was still the need to come up with a solution that was
palatable to the market.
The Flexpicker assembles and manipulates tiles and mosaics; prepares tiles for gluing and applies a new type
of adhesive to hold the tiles during subsequent phases of transportation and application.
Meanwhile in the process of developing Moses, EMC
realised the need for a new gluing method to maximize
the flexibility of robotic handling. “Working with
partners, we devised a new system to glue the mosaic tiles together,” recalls Corti. “We had to develop a
new adhesive and deploy a second robot to apply it,
which we called the sticking machine. The FlexPicker
places the tiles onto a sticky sheet of plastic, which holds
them stable. Then they pass under the sticking machine,
where special glue is applied that holds the tiles together. The outcome was so outstanding that we could eliminate the use of paper backing, mesh and templates altogether.”
So successful has the new system become in the
Italian ceramics industry that the Moses has belied
any concerns expressed about industry uptake. “This
solution has become one of the most important parts
of our business, and now represents one-third of our
revenue,” said Durio.
Both Corti and Durio have had about 20 years of business experience, with Corti’s devoted almost exclusively to robotics. “You could say that ABB Robotics was responsible for growing the robotics market in Italy,” states
Corti, an engineer with a fascination for robotics.
The project facing EMC and ABB Robotics was to help
mosaic cutters, who produce the mosaics in squares or
in strips held together by either expensive mesh or cheaper paper backing. EMC was asked if it could develop
an alternative to this backing for mosaics.
ABL9000 Series
Ultimate precision
Dual linear motor driven lower
axes
Linear encoder or laser
interferometer feedback with
active yaw control
Pitch, yaw and roll less than
2 arc-sec
The global ceramic-tile industry is worth around 20
billion and is expected to grow to about 35 billion in
the next decade. EU countries, notably Italy and Spain,
are responsible for more than half of world revenues
today but are projected to lose more than 10 per cent
of that market share by 2015. The result is that European manufacturers cannot afford complacency and
must compete more aggressively to retain share of the
global growth. Hence, there is a far greater imperative
to streamline and automate manufacturing, overcoming previous traditionalist views.
X-Y Travel Accuracy
Load
to 1000 mm +/- 0.5 µm 100 kg
Aerotech Ltd.
Jupiter House, Calleva Park, Aldermaston
Berkshire RG7 8NN, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)118 940 9400
Dedicated to the
Fax: +44 (0)118 940 9401
Science of Motion
Email: info@aerotech.co.uk
www.AEROTECH.co.uk
For SLI: enter 19380 at www.tim-info.com/ien
The assembly of the small squares of tile had traditionally been done by hand. EMC’s brief was to remove this
manual element while retaining both quality and accuracy. The company’s design team developed a robotic solution based on ABB’s IRB340 FlexPicker robot, known
affectionately by EMC’s engineers as ‘Moses’.
ABB’s FlexPicker delta robot is the optimal, flexible
robot solution for high-speed pick and place. It is the
fastest robot in the world, with 150 picks per minute
and a payload up to 2 kilograms, and being top
mounted, the delta robots require minimal floor space.
ABB
TEL. +46-21-342429
FAX +46-21-342501
For SLI: enter 19844 at www.tim-info.com/ien