The benefits of automation: The increases in efficiency and laser beam-on time can be 'like having another machine'

摘要

Where relatively small batch sizes require frequent machine re-setting, the purchase of a new production machine should not only focus on its processing speed, but also on reducing the idle time that occurs when it is being reset to manufacture a new product. An important part of reducing this idle time is the logistics of supplying raw material to the machine, and removing the components after manufacture. Southampton-based Kasto (Tel: 01489 772882) is one company that has addressed this requirement with its development of a number of space-saving modular systems that allow sheet-metal finished parts and other goods to be stored and subsequently delivered automatically to workstations. Moreover, the company co-operates with many of the leading sheet-metal machine tool manufacturers -including Trumpf, Salvagnini and Bystronic -to provide interfaces between their machines and its storage systems.