Friatec is part of the Belgian Aliaxis Group. A cold chimney on the company premises is a reminder of the company's origins: at the end of the 19th century, pipes, troughs and tubs made of cement and clay were fired here. Then as now, Friatec products conduct gas or fresh, gray and black water. Over time, plastic has replaced stoneware. Today, 500 employees work to supply customers such as municipal utilities, distributors and pipe fitters with connection technology for piping systems. Plant Manager Christian Lang takes occupational safety regulations seriously. To prevent musculoskeletal disorders, for example, he launched a program with the aim of enforcing international occupational health and safety standards on a group-wide basis. The "Lifting and Carrying" initiative was launched with the purchase of vacuum lifting aids from Schmalz. Five exemplary applications at Friatec, spread across the 140,000^m2 factory site, make work ergonomic and safe. In the halls, injection molding machines transform black plastic granulate (mostly polyethylene) into sleeves, T-pieces and elbows. Where possible, robots take over the monotonous and usually physically strenuous removal and depositing onto conveyor belts. However, the flexibility and coordination skills of humans are also required, for example to pack goods, test devices or assemble fittings. Depending on its size, a shut-off valve weighs up to 40 kg. Each shift, the fitter has to lift 9 to 15 of these valves from the assembly table into a welding device. A column-mounted slewing jib crane from Schmalz now stands next to the workbench. A Jumboflex 50 with suspension hook is installed on it as a load receptor, which the worker hooks into an eyelet screwed into the workpiece. The tube lifter then lifts the fitting and the transport hanger follows the operator's movement without resistance. The component is then lowered into a fixture. The operator uses electrofusion welding to join the individual components reliably and permanently.

Support manual processes

A Jumboflex is also used in other places - for example, at a single workstation where workpiece carriers on a transport system make a short stop until a worker inserts a metal cartridge into the fixed fitting or removes and packs the finished component. A column-mounted slewing jib crane with a JumboFlex 35 anchored to the floor is used to handle the small 25 kg cartridge boxes and the unwieldy 10 kg shipping cartons. At another station, a JumboFlex 35 takes the strain out of handling 10 to 15 kg sleeves, which slide off the conveyor belt into a collection basket every 10 minutes.

Motek, Hall 7, Stand 7101

This article appeared in issue 10/23