In view of high labor costs and the scarcity of human labor, many medium-sized companies are considering how they can automate processes within the company. Thomas Burger, Managing Partner of SBS-Feintechnik, is no exception. The company from Schonach in the Black Forest is the parent company of the Burger Group, a medium-sized family business now in its sixth generation. As a system supplier, the group focuses on customer-specific drive technology. The Black Forest-based company works for the automotive industry as well as for sectors such as building technology, medical technology, mechanical and plant engineering and domestic appliance technology.

In the past, automation only played a role in the production of large quantities, but today it is also important for small batch sizes. Highly flexible systems support economical production. Until now, robot automation was not feasible for some processes at SBS-Feintechnik. The costs were too high and the control system too complex. This changed when the Schonach-based company discovered Horst from Fruitcore in Constance. The industrial robot can be assembled quickly, can be programmed without specialist knowledge and has a good price-performance ratio. At SBS-Feintechnik, the robot, painted in the company's corporate color yellow, is now helping to economically produce assemblies for customers in the automotive industry. "We are currently using Horst in assembly," says Thomas Burger. "But of course we are also looking to the left and right to see where we might have other interesting applications for this robot."

For Horst, this means a job in the assembly of components and for other handling applications. SBS-Feintechnik produces 120 assemblies per hour in three shifts at this station. Horst is responsible for fitting the motor with a drive screw. Installing and programming the compact robot was no problem. "We only supplied a roughly structured program for the process and gave the people at SBS a briefing," explains Patrick Zimmermann, Head of Sales and Application Technology at Fruitcore. "The automation engineers were then able to complete the application directly on the same day."

The robot removes a motor from the pallet using a specially designed gripper, a combination of a suction gripper and form-fit gripper fingers. © Fruitcore

This ease of use was one of the reasons why SBS-Feintechnik opted for Horst. Thanks to the horstFX graphical user interface, all it takes is a short training course to be able to create even extensive programs with the robot. "I no longer need a specialist to program the robot," says Burger happily. "I can now do this with a tech-savvy employee who doesn't need to have in-depth specialist knowledge."

Using a gripper designed by SBS-Feintechnik, a combination of a suction gripper and form-fit gripper fingers, the robot removes a motor from the pallet. It inserts this into the press and triggers the process via the robot system's control unit. The control system also takes into account whether the vibrating bowl needs to be activated in order to vibrate the motor into position. Once the component is correctly positioned, Horst grabs it to hold it in place. The punch moves down and presses the screw onto the shaft of the motor. The robot then removes the assembly and places it back on the pallet to process the next motor. One cycle takes around 22 seconds.

Press travel and force are measured using safety and control technology. This continuous force-displacement monitoring of the joining process ensures process reliability and documents the press-fit results. "I think we can be very satisfied with how the project has gone so far," says Burger, praising Fruitcore for the collaboration. "Fruitcore is very open and implements suggestions and ideas quickly and effectively." Further joint projects are therefore also very likely. "I see numerous other applications for Horst in our company," explains Burger. The company is also involved in machining and plastics processing, where efficient automation solutions are required. "In this respect, there are certainly still numerous opportunities for Fruitcore and Horst to get involved and we are therefore looking forward to further exchanges and good cooperation," concludes Managing Director Burger. as