February 2021 Volume 3

AUTOMATION

Lessons in Automation from the Die Casting Industry By Robert Ewing

Manufacturing is certainly not without its challenges. As we endeavor to push the limits of our materials and forming capabilities, the margins for error and unfortunately, sometimes profit, shrink. One way to combat these pressures is an investment in people and processes that increase capacity and reduce part costs through automation. Historically, the forging industry has been slower to automate. However, by analyzing the cousin industry of High-Pressure Die Casting (HPDC), we can gain valuable insights on when, where, why and how to automate to achieve a satisfactory return on investment. To begin, it’s best to answer the question: why automate and why now? Traditional 6-Axis robotic automation has been in North America for close to 40 years, and the impact on reducing manufacturing costs and increasing quality are well documented. Over this same time, standards and best practices have been developed that regulate programming and installation to increase safety. And, quite simply, continual improvements have resulted in modern robotic solutions that are reliable, precise, consistent, and available 24/7, 365. Most robot manufacturers have hardened versions available for foundry work to further increase reliability in these challenging environments. With close to 35,000 units installed in North America every year, these solutions have become near commodities. At the end of the day, all of these benefits effectively summarize increasing plant capacity and quality. With reshoring opportunities on the rise, producers are ideally positioned today to capture this work by increasing their automation levels. When evaluating the where and how of automation, it is helpful to draw on the parallels to HPDC alluded to earlier. With an industry automation level of around 85%, robotics has been embraced in HPDC everywhere from custom shops with a few dozen employees to OEM foundries with over 1200 employees. While the benefits of automating mass production in captive shops are easily apparent, successful automation of small and medium die casters working in a job shop environment requires a closer look. At the outset these shops have instituted the logic of mass customization, viewing the investment as a re-deployable asset not necessarily tied to a particular part or job. Most foundries have standardized to a single robotic manufacturer and in some cases a single model across multiple operations. Processes attacked first are generally those with the longest cycle times or the hardest andmost dangerous work currently being done with operators. These include metal ladling into the press, die lubrication and cooling, and part extraction. Similar to forging, these tasks are repetitive, hot, smoky, and physically taxing. However, if done incorrectly they can significantly impact quality and production creating internal and external defects. Not only do

robotics ensure process control cycle to cycle by reducing variation, they also shift the operator’s work to safer and higher-value tasks. To increase efficiency, most die casters follow single minute exchange of die practices (SMED). The tooling on the robots is typically capable of handling a range of part requirements or has adapters to allow easy change over to custom tooling for each job. On smaller presses, it’s possible to combine operations such as part handling and spray into a single tool, helping reduce the investment cost.

The next step for many casters after the base forming operations is to automate finishing operations such as de-burring and facing. Robotic finishing is typically more complex both in programming and tooling and in most cases requires higher performing robots capable of accurate positioning up to +/-0.0005”. Not only is the upfront cost generally higher with finishing solutions, but the technical ability to support these solutions is also much more advanced. In either case, uptime of the automation generally outpaces the auxiliary equipment in the process and can be as high as 98% during production. In turn, this allows maximum utilization of the press equipment. Even understanding all the benefits and potential path to automating as presented, some plants will still fail in the implementation, so it is also important to consider is what makes an automated solution successful. In production, as in life, there are no silver bullets. The robot itself is only as useful as the program driving it and the tooling attached to

FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2021 45