TPT March 2016

I NDUS T RY

Automated tube bending cell doubles output A UK-based wheelbarrow manufacturer has installed a second custom-designed automated production cell from Unison to help meet demand for its ‘barrow in a box’ product. the company to increase manufacturing throughput from 1,800 to 3,500 wheelbarrows per day.

volume production and freed up skilled staff for future product development. The success of our barrow in a box range is due in no small part to the manufacturing flexibility that the cell introduced. Increasing demand meant that we needed to expand capacity even further, so in 2014 we invested in a six-robot press line for wheelbarrow pans, followed about six months later by this second Unison cell for frame manufacturing.” Launched in 2012, the barrow in a box line of products are supplied in flat-pack form for easy transportation. The concept has proved popular with both retailers and customers, and the company recently sought to further increase manufacturing capacity with another production line, to keep up with demand. The new production cell comprises a tube bundle loader, tube orientation station, intermediate dual-arm loader, bending machine and a five-axis articulated robotic handler. All five stages are controlled by a central PC. The tube bender is based on a customised 30mm (1.25") single-stack all-electric model from Unison’s Breeze range. It features a long, narrow neck and bend head that is specifically designed to facilitate precision fabrication of the tight wheel-end bend of wheelbarrow frames, without causing the tube to collide with machine architecture during the process. Once the bundle loader’s hopper has been filled and the operating program has been selected, the production cell operates entirely automatically. The bundle loader feeds tubes individually to the tubeorientationstation, whichdetects the weld seam and rotates the tube to the optimum position for bending. The tube is then transferred to the bending machine by the intermediate loader, and after being bent to shape is removed by the robotic handler and placed in a multiple rack storage scheme, ready for hole punching and powder coating. This latest Unison cell forms an integral part of a new production line that is primarily designed to manufacture frames for Walsall Wheelbarrow’s barrow in a box products. However, the cell is programmable and can also be configured for a variety of tube bending tasks to help handle peak production of other products.

Jonathan Thacker, operations director at The Walsall Wheelbarrow Company, commented, “Our first Unison production cell was the catalyst for production expansion. It enabled us to re-engineer our manufacturing operations for high-

The cell is part of a new production line that makes the frames for these wheelbarrows, and fully automates all tube bending operations. It has enabled

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Unison Ltd – UK Website: www.unisonltd.com

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