Injection Moulded Part Assembler

Challenge

Tekplas is a technical injection moulding company that produces plastic packaging and technical moulding for companies all over the world.

They needed RML to transform a large project assembling a two-piece plastic lid for one of their customers.  This had been requiring twelve operators across three shifts.

It was a last-minute demand and Tekplas’ customer just wasn’t geared up for that amount of manual work. They needed an automated solution so they could deliver their product efficiently without disrupting existing capacity commitments.

Solution

As always, we started with an in-depth analysis of the plant parameters and the specifics of the products. After consultation with our customer, we designed a Robotic Assembly System feed from two injection moulding machines, using two overhead gantry robots to place formed parts into transfer mechanisms.

The parts are picked using precision constructed pick heads mounted on two ABB IRB120 robots and accurately assembled within a rotating jig. Two components are produced simultaneously in separate injection moulders then received into the machine and are assembled, pressed to lock together and ejected onto a conveyor. The optimal operating speed of the machine is 2.5 second cycles, equating to 25 lids per minute. Since installation it’s been run continuously for 5-6 days at a time without interruption.

Customer’s view

“Throughout the whole process, the RML team kept us up to date,” says Tekplas Project Manager, Sefton.

From the first day we sat down with the RML team, through to today, we’ve been so impressed by the level of service and quality of machinery that they have built for us.”

“With such an efficient machine, we’ve had no problem keeping up with production times and demands.”

“We’ve had multiple suppliers come through our plant and seen the machine in action. They’ve all said how impressed they are with the quality design and commented that it looks as good as anything they could buy overseas, which just goes to show the world-class standard that RML is at.”

“Tekplas is already moving forward with a new Automation project with RML that is in the design stage and looking forward to seeing the resulting machine in production in the near future.”