Flexible automation is a must in today’s’ manufacturing environment for most companies exposed to ever changing trends and varying needs of consumers and end users.
The old style mass production is becoming a faded memory as we go from high volume low variety to low volume high variety. This is becoming increasingly evident with the last years rapid expansion of robot based automation and the increased need for collaborative robots.
This is easily manageable when you know what your needs and variations are, but that is using an old style approach to a new reality. You have to embrace the fact that you will not know what your needs are tomorrow, and be prepared for rapid change. The reality for most companies is that they will need to adapt already available equipment in order to achieve a cost competitive production solution. More often than not, the majority of the movements in any machine is performed with pneumatic actuators due to their simplicity, low cost, and great ranges in ready-made machine elements. The disadvantage with pneumatic actuators is that they are made for end-to-end movement with no simple way of controlling multiple stops or adjustable end positions.
So what is our proposal?
With Staccato Technologies flexible positioning unit, FPU, users can turn their current pneumatic actuators into powerful units, where they digitally can control any position, any speed, and any force, much like a considerably more expensive AC-Servo. Exact position is also returned in a monitor signal, giving constant feedback which is next requirement in machine upgrades. This solution also work on rotary actuators and grippers.
Apart from the obvious cost-savings, machine modifications will also be very quick as you can keep your existing actuators, just add a position sensor and our positioning unit and you have a new flexibility you never thought was possible in the past.
Want to know more? – have a look at some of our application examples on our Youtube channel and contact us for further discussions.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChD2QXuo_6YD_Ej_eIu4ekQ/videos