As part of its commitment to driving operational excellence and manufacturing efficiencies, leading welded steel mesh manufacturer Siddall & Hilton Products has invested in two innovative automation projects designed to further streamline its processes.
The Yorkshire-based business, which processes more than 22,000 miles of wire a month, is the UK’s largest manufacturer of industrial welded mesh and perimeter fencing panels. It partnered with Sewtec Automation, a global leader in bespoke machinery and automation, to develop a robot to automate the process of packaging and banding its finished product. It is believed to be the only robot of its type in the UK.
The innovation follows the commissioning of Siddall & Hilton Products’ EVG-LGR102 welding machine in August 2021 which has a significantly faster throughput than other production lines on site, causing subsequent bottlenecks in the process as conventional product handling methods were simply not quick enough, resulting in inefficiency and unnecessary downtime of around 10%.
Sewtec was identified as an automation partner and, together, the two businesses developed a technical solution to the issue with a fully integrated pallet de-stacking device introducing pallets into the production line automatically.
The robotic palletiser in the Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) area on site at Sewtec
A 5-axis robot has also been integrated into the production line to pick and place and rotate the mesh if necessary after welding and automatically stack on to a pallet. Once the pallet is fully assembled, it is automatically transferred to an in-line automatic banding machine where edge protection is applied and the product banded, presenting a complete pallet/package at the end of the production line for either warehouse and or despatch.
Andy Dawson, operations director at Siddall & Hilton Products, explained: “Automation will play an important role in our future development and following the commissioning of our newest £2m welding machine last year, the need for a swifter, automated stack and wrap palletiser came into stark relief. In some instances the line is 90% faster than conventional mesh welding machines when producing standard panels, and our operators needed to keep stopping the line while they unload and pack the products.
“Having looked at different automation companies, we were really impressed by Sewtec in terms of their concept, level of know-how and communication. They have more than lived up to our expectations and, all being well, this is only the beginning of what we can achieve together.”
Andy Perks, head of sales at Sewtec, added: “We’re really pleased to be working with Siddall & Hilton Products. The two businesses align perfectly and we’re off to a great start on this automation journey. With so much scope for future endeavours together, we are confident there will be further exciting projects ahead.”
Siddall & Hilton Products https://sandhp.com
Sewtec Automation www.sewtec.co.uk
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