Automation of mineral wool depalletizing for Ruukki

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Project

RUUKKI is a company with traditions, with its roots in Scandinavia. One of the company’s branches is the production plant in Oborniki, in the Wielkopolskie Voivodship. As part of activities aimed at expanding the portfolio of manufactured boards and increasing efficiency and safety on the production line, RUUKKI decided to introduce a new system for depalletizing mineral wool sheets. Among the challenges of this project were, among others:

high efficiency of the depalletizing line
ensuring an extensive buffer of unloading sheets
the possibility of simultaneous depalletization of different types of mineral wool
optimization of the number of unloaded species and the place of depalletization
adjustment of line capacity to current production needs
optimization of the wool grade selection process for depalletization
automatic tracking of transported sheets and transferring them to the right place

Proster solutions used in the depalletizing line

We have designed the new depalletizing line in such a way that the expected tasks are performed by two workstations with robots. This was necessary to ensure the efficiency of the process assumed at the beginning of the project.

Pallets with mineral wool sheets are delivered by roller and chain conveyors. We have placed the conveyors in the production hall in such a way as to ensure an extensive buffer of unloaded sheets. In practice, this means even 33 pallets on conveyors (3 deliveries from a truck).

Stacks of pallets at the entrance to the robotic stations are manually unpacked from the protective foil and then transported to the depalletization process. We have programmed the robots so that they can unload sheets independently from four pick-up points, which allows to increase the efficiency of the process. The wool sheet collected by the industrial robot is placed on a conveyor belt, which transports it to the next stage of the technological process.

Project implementation process

During the implementation period, we designed a comprehensive range of mechanics, automation and robotics, as well as electrics. Then we produced the mechanical components and the power and control switchgear for the depalletizing line.

The implementation process began with the design of a system of roller conveyors, chain conveyors and grippers for robots. Then, the electrical design was developed and the power supply and control switchboards for the depalletizing line were made.
Jarosław Tynka, Senior Project Manager in Proster

One of the most important stages of our engineers’ work was the design and manufacture of two-jaw mechanical grippers. They have three main functions: transport of pallets, transport of mineral wool sheets and transport of sheet strips. Each of these functions, as well as the maintenance of the gripper drive mechanism, are described in detail in the comprehensive line manual.

inżynier

After the production stage, it was time to test the robotic stations in our assembly hall with the participation of Ruukki employees. After accepting our solution, we took care of transport to the plant in Oborniki, where the depalletizing line was installed.

Commissioning of the depalletizing line

After completing the assembly work, we configured the automation devices and the robots themselves, and then we launched our test line on various formats of the semi-finished product in the form of sheets and strips of mineral wool – which went without major disruptions.

First, we integrated the depalletizing line with the client’s production line, where we focused on the exchange of appropriate signals between them. This made it possible to coordinate their work so as to maintain the condition of continuous feeding of the semi-finished product in the form of sheets of mineral wool. Each break in the depalletizing process stops continuous production on the sandwich panel production line, which in turn results in time and material losses for the customer.

After refining continuous depalletization, we focused on achieving full efficiency of the line with production processes. At this stage, work was mainly carried out on optimizing the movements of the robots in order to reduce the cycle time of feeding the mineral wool sheets to a minimum. After a few corrections in the sequence of work of the robots, the expected results regarding the efficiency of the robotic depalletizing process were obtained. The last stages of the commissioning were training for line operators and maintenance services, and then handing over to the customer with a short production assistance on our part. All these stages lasted about two months, after which the customer could fully use the purchased rope for depalletizing mineral wool sheets.

100%

increase in process efficiency

Powierzone prace zostały wykonane w pełni profesjonalnie i zgodnie z oczekiwaniami firmy Ruukki. Firma PROSTER charakteryzuje się rzetelnością i należytym zaangażowaniem w wykonywane prace. Zlecenie zostało zrealizowane sprawnie, dokładnie i terminowo. Polecamy firmę PROSTER jako wykonawcę kompetentnego i godnego zaufania, oferującego wysoką jakość usług.

Rafał Chwał,

Inżynier Procesu Ruukki Polska Sp.z.o.o.

Korzyści dla naszego partnera

Zaprojektowana oraz wykonana przez nas linia depaletyzacji arkuszy wełny mineralnej dostarczyła firmie Ruukki wymierne korzyści.

Wzrost wydajności linii o 100%

bezpośrednio wpływa na zwiększenie zysków przedsiębiorstwa
Wyższa efektywność

poprzez system umożliwiający śledzenie transportowanych arkuszy
Prostota przezbrojeń

umożliwia szybką zmianę rodzaju arkusza wełny, przy zminimalizowaniu przestoju linii produkcyjnej
Kompleksowe przeszkolenie personelu

zapewnia bezpieczeństwo i higienę pracy podczas eksploatacji linii depaletyzacji
Łatwe nadanie wydajności paletyzacji

zwiększa kontrolę nad procesem produkcyjnym i optymalizuje wykorzystanie zasobów
Elastyczność procesu

dzięki funkcjonalności dostosowania do bieżących potrzeb produkcyjnych
Serwis gwarancyjny i pogwarancyjny PROSTER

gwarantuje szybką reakcję i spokój w razie awarii systemu