In 2015, West Sussex-based
Wesbart, a manufacturer of aluminium and stainless steel storage systems, as well as laboratory consumables, decided to carry out a full review its products and manufacturing processes to help improve productivity and reduce costs.
David Patey, sales executive at Wesbart, said: “Over the last five years we have redesigned our products, rebranded the company, including a new website and catalogue, changed our packaging to offer an easily recyclable solution and set up an in-house anodising process plant. In total the company has invested over £1.7 million.
“One of the main processes which required investment was the folding process. All aluminium and stainless steel parts are folded using a manual system with an operator. Due to an increase in orders it was necessary to use sub-contractors to meet demand. Our production runs could range from 150 parts up to 5,000-plus.
“The solution was to look at an automated folding process, many of which are available. We started to look around but noticed the bending cells on the market were either too large for very big components or designed for much smaller parts, all of which took up a lot of valuable floor space.”
He added: “We carried out some testing of various options and found the parts would need to be fed into the cell on a conveyor system. We contacted locally based ICS Robotics and Automation, a robot integration company, to work with Bystronic to develop a suitable bespoke system.
“We chose to use
KUKA robots with
Bystronic Xpert 40 press brakes, as they have a small footprint.
ICS designed a space-saving set up using three KUKA robots, one operating each press brake with another feeding the parts from the conveyors. A camera system was included to identify the parts and confirm they have been placed on the conveyor correctly.
Mr Patey concluded: “The system was delivered in January 2021 and has already shown a great deal of potential — the Bystronic press brakes are incredibly quick and reliable. The user interface is very easy to operate and helps with robot programming for our products. Meanwhile, the space-saving design helps free up additional space on the factory floor.
“With the investment made in the bending cell we hope to continue to remain a market leader based on the quality, price and lead time of our products and it will also give us the opportunity to enter new markets.”