With the MCA211668, an assembly 200 millimetres long is produced every 40 seconds. These parts, which have a diameter of 100 millimetres, are used for direct insulation of the exhaust systems, which become very hot when the engine is switched on. The insulation ensures that valuable heat energy is not lost. The shielding parts also help to reduce emissions and act as silencers to protect against excessive noise. The customer's welding station, which welds the outer and inner stainless steel shells together, was integrated in the middle of the production line. Three Fanuc industrial robots are used for the entire process.

Production is sorted by type. A workpiece carrier, into which ten stainless steel outer sleeves are inserted by hand, travels via two accumulating conveyors to the first part of the work cell. At the staging area, a transponder is used to check whether the correct materials are being used. The same happens with the inner sleeves on the second conveyor belt.

The first Fanuc M-710iC/50 robot then removes the two sleeves with its double gripper and inserts them into the rotating optical measuring station. A laser measures the outer dimensions of the sleeves and transfers the part-specific measurement data to the system's control unit. When the workpiece carrier is empty, it automatically moves to the lower level, where the worker removes it again manually.

A second robot of the same design inserts temperature-resistant mats into the wrapping station. For this purpose, the worker places the stacked mats in four drawers. Once the drawers are full, they are closed. If the corresponding code matches the selected construction variant, production is released so that the robot can remove the first mat with its gripper and place it on the mat scale. If the weight of the mat is within the prescribed specification, it corresponds to the correct dimensions and it is also ensured that it is only one mat at a time - in this case 200 by 250 millimetres.

The first robot picks up the outer and inner sleeves in parallel to this process. One after the other, the first mat is placed around the inner sleeve in the wrapping station, the outer sleeve is placed over it again and then everything is wrapped in a second mat. Finally, a plastic film is stretched around the entire assembly so that it can no longer fall apart. The film is welded twice and the excess is cut off.

The robot transports the assembly to the customer's welding station, where the inner and outer sleeves are welded together. However, if the components do not meet the quality criteria of the optical measuring system, they are ejected via a conveyor belt. It is also possible to manually remove complete assemblies that are not to be further welded using an accumulation conveyor system.

Back to the welding station: the fully automatic loading door releases the component again. Now a third Fanuc robot of type R-2000iB/175L is used. It hydraulically presses the welded assemblies into the stainless steel shells provided by the worker. The assembly is positioned correctly in the pressing station. The ends of the shell are then bent so that the assembly no longer moves and its diameter can be properly calibrated. The industrial robot places the assembly in another station, where it is marked with a laser.

Before the finished assembly is transported to the stamping station, its data matrix code is read. The parts that are not in order are ejected via a discharge conveyor. Only the good assemblies now receive the manufacturer's embossing stamp and are placed in the grid boxes with intermediate trays provided for this purpose. Up to six levels with 12 assemblies each are stacked on top of each other on a pallet. The system door opens automatically and the worker can remove the pallets with the pallet truck.

It took the engineers at MartinMechanic 12 months to develop the two work cells and adapt them to the customer's own welding station as a complete system. The heart of the MCA211668 is the S7-1517F PLC controller from Siemens. Conveniently, the mobile, cable-connected KTP900 touch panel can be plugged in at three points in the extensive system. as