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better production Shops Using Technology factory. The company specializes in short-run production with turnaround time as quick as 24 hours. When a new job required the company to make 700 valves each month on a CNC machine that normally produced 400 valves per month running two shifts, RSS turned to the UR5 robot arm from distributor Sparkem Technology and incorporated it into the shop for 24/7 production. "In a flexible environment like this, you need a Blaser Swisslube Inc. Goshen, New York flexible robot: one that can work without safety cages, is portable, and can be reprogrammed quickly," says CEO Geoff Escalette. By increasing the run rate, the company completed the new order within 11 days of purchasing the robot arm. It also opened 30 percent more capacity on existing machinery, he says. The robot's return on investment (ROI) in this particular application is a couple months, Mr. Escalette says, but by moving it to various machines, the ROI is about 6 months. Before integrating the When the coolant becomes a liquid tool. robot into production, Shane Strange, RSS automation and integration specialist, and his team assessed its safety by experimenting with various accelerations and joint speeds testing how much force it could take before failing. "The robot is surprisingly sensitive to outside force and will stop immediately when colliding with a person," he says. Its high level of sensitivity enables it to run without safety cages. Instead, the company uses a light curtain as an extra safety measure when the robot works on an assembly We are here to help you line with workers staboost your productivity, tioned nex t to it. Mr. Strange explains that economic effciency and the light cur tain is a machining quality. simple, portable solution that plugs right into the Come and see us at WESTEC, booth no. 1523 I/O of the robot. If a We are looking forward to your visit! person crosses the light barrier, the robot automatically stops. "We can just wheel the curtain to wherever the robot Phone 845-294-3200 mailboxusa@blaser.com www.blaser.com goes. It's not a big deal 116 MMS September 2013 mmsonline.com