Modern Machine Shop

SEP 2013

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feature "W e knew the MegaCell had to be designed for complete flexibility from the start," says Len Graham, the business unit manager at Rexam Mold Manufacturing (RMM), a division of Rexam Healthcare, in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago. MegaCell is the name given by RMM's Automation Engineering Team to an ambitious implementation of robotically tended production cells that will automate the entire mold manufacturing process. The MegaCell is being constructed in phases. Rail 1, the first phase of construction, is complete. This sub cell, which consists of machining centers and EDM units arranged on both sides of a track-mounted robot, is designed to streamline the production of graphite EDM electrodes and hardened tool steel mold inserts. Plans call for adding more sub cells end-to-end with the existing robot track, eventually creating an integrated, fully automated production line that covers virtually the entire mold manufacturing process. The MegaCell embodies a number of bold design and operational features, many of which are incorporated in Rail 1. "This first sub cell is a prototype for future ex tensions. It follows and proves out key principles for flexible automation that we're pioneering in the MegaCell," Mr. Graham says. By "flexible," however, Mr. Graham means that the cell can not only produce a wide range of electrode or insert types, but also operate in either a lights-out, unattended mode or in a manual mode for custom work. Provisions for manual operation were a critical requirement when Mr. Graham and his team began the conceptual development of the MegaCell. Although several of the cell's concepts are innovative and original, its dual-mode capacity may be the most significant because it reflects insights into the special nature (F acing P age ) This view of Rail 1 is representative of how the rest of the cell is arranged. It shows one of the EDMs with its side to the robot track. The side of a graphite mill is visible on the opposite side of the track. One of the cell's storage carousels is at the far left. A Workmaster robot serves all of the machine tools and other equipment in the cell, but it does not interfere with operators handling custom work on offline machines. of mold production and the kind of automation that suits it. Mr. Graham explains that most mold shops like RMM have to accommodate work that doesn't normally fit automated processing. This "custom" work includes mold components that need repair, don't f it standard pallets or require urgent processing. "It's not practical or affordable for a mold manufacturer to maintain an automated system that duplicates conventional, manual capability or vice versa. Not having dual-mode capability makes it almost impossible to justify mmsonline.com September 2013 MMS 77

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