Whirlpool baths are hard to handle, and trimming the fiberglass and drilling the holes can be even tougher. The world’s leading producer of bathroom and kitchen fixtures and faucets decided to invest in automated saws to increase productivity and reduce errors. Once the saws were installed, a problem still existed – how to handle this awkward product efficiently and safely.
Enter the engineers from Conveyer & Caster. They reviewed the need to stage, accumulate and transport tubs from the molds to the saws and determined that a Zero-pressure Accumulation Conveyor should be used to move each tub into place in front of the three new saws.
An operator calls for a tub and the conveyor delivers it to her station where the tubs are lifted off the conveyor and into the saw using existing vacuum hoists. After the saw completes its work, the tubs are placed back on the conveyor and the operator then sends the tubs to the take-away conveyor, which runs parallel to the feed conveyor. The tubs are placed on “slave boards” to avoid damage to the decorative finish and then transferred by pneumatic chain transfers.
