Regardless of the extent to which a user/users wants to automate their production systems, a machine tools company like Trumpf can provide users with suite of solutions for instance, ideally matched automation, storage and software solutions that range from automated loading to networking of the production processes.

The automation concept is characterised by its modularity. The automation components available offer a wide range of options and most importantly, the ability to respond specifically to your manufacturing needs. From semi-automatic loading to completely automatic production cells with storage connections — there are choices for any.

What this does for a customer is that it provides:

1. More flexibility

To compensate for economic fluctuations, there is a great need to be able to deploy one’s resources in a flexible manner. Trumpf offers modular automation concepts that have the potential to fulfil these flexibilities.

2. Faster response

Product life cycles are changing as international competitive pressures rise. Automation allows for quicker response times and potentially reducing manufacturing downtimes with greater resource efficiency.

Affordability, A Key Driver

PalletMaster Tower

Efficient production and machine automation solutions are an important issue for both large and small companies alike. In this arena, Trumpf has products that specifically target this market.

In 2014, the company launched a range of 2D laser machines that promised higher productivity, lower operating costs and user-friendly functions. According to Trumpf, the machines could be possibly working for days, nights and weekends.

The machines would be especially beneficial for smaller companies because they provide a cost effective route into manufacturing automation if they have not done so already. Fully automated production cells can be created using the PalletMaster Tower or by combining the storage system with the automation unit and the sorting aid.

As well as improving productivity and increasing cost efficiency, such solutions also help companies to protect their most important asset: human resources. Automated loading and unloading eliminates the physical effort required to lift metal sheets and parts, especially if they are large and heavy, which in turn helps to improve work safety.

Case Study: Quicker And Better

The specialties offered by Koridon Industriële Plaatbewerking are engineering, prototyping, and series production – along with mounting high-quality sheet metal parts and assemblies. The company largely supplies customers in the mechanical engineering field and offers them great manufacturing depth – with laser cutting, punching, bending, welding and post-processing work.

Ton Koridon, the company’s owner, was the first European customer to equip his TruLaser 3030 with the new PalletMaster Tower. Ever since that innovation was installed, production processes are reliable while operations run around the clock. The machine continues its service, working all night and on weekends, carrying out the pre-programmed job orders.

Working with steel, stainless steel and aluminium sheet metal in a variety of formats and gauges, it cuts mid-sized lots just as reliably as it separates individual parts from remainder sheets. Since October of 2014 the multiple pallet changer, the PalletMaster Tower, feeds materials as needed.

All the sheet metal required for the lights-out shift is stored in its 20 compartments. The PalletMaster repeatedly removes one pallet with the desired type of material from the storage tower and forwards it, fully automatically, for processing in the TruLaser machine. Once machining is complete, the accessory unit returns the pallet to the tower and makes the next one available. The linked sorting station makes sure that finished products can be removed parallel to productive time.

“Flexibility and speed are our strengths. To be even better here, we are putting our faith in carefully planned automation. Augmented by the PalletMaster Tower, my TruLaser 3030 operates reliably around the clock. We are more productive and our delivery periods are shorter. That’s what counts, in my book,” says Ton Koridon.

“Stored in the fully automated PalletMaster Tower are 20 different types of sheet metal and the machine can request them at any time – even when small quantities need to be cut. This makes possible just-in-time manufacture whenever required, regardless of the piece count. Since each type of material is stored on a separate pallet, the quality of the parts has also improved and, thanks to the automatic, lightning-fast change in materials, we also save time,” Koridon explains.

Optimum Loading And Unloading

SheetMaster

The SheetMaster is a viable solution for automating your punching or combination machine. Automatic loading and unloading makes a production process much more reliable and cost-effective. The machine can also be hooked up to other highly efficient automation components. In all, what such a machine does is provide a significant increase in productivity with a high degree of flexibility in the production of medium to large batches.

Fully Automated Sorting

SortMaster

The SortMaster removes parts from the pallet changer at a 2D laser machine, sorts and stacks them. Not only is it easy on the materials. It is even faster and easier to use than its predecessor – and more reliable, too.

Together with a TruLaser 5030, a LiftMaster Store, and a TruStore, the SortMaster forms a compact and fully automatic manufacturing system. The machine can handle every cutting assignment. Simultaneous to the machining itself, the SortMaster removes Automating one’s punching solution ultimately speeds up the production process the parts, weighing up to 100 kilograms and cut from the sheet metal panel, which rests on the pallet changer. The parts are then sorted and stacked.

To do this, it uses an array of 144 individually controllable large-surface suction cups, mounted on extendable spreading slats which can match a variety of contours up to 1,000 by 600 millimetres. By sorting and stacking the parts, the SortMaster achieves optimal preparation for subsequent processing similar to bending.

With axis velocities up to eleven percent higher than its predecessor, the new SortMaster reduces cycle times and possesses high output levels. This is important, since faster machines can enhance productivity only when downtime is reduced as well. Should it ever be necessary, a vibrator on the lifting unit ensures that the part is effectively separated from the scrap skeleton.

This boosts process reliability. To protect the material when moving the parts, the SortMaster uses brushes to clean the gripper and slats regularly.