Rhodes Interform, the UK manufacturer of special-purpose hot and cold forming equipment for metals and composites, has completed the design, build, installation, and commissioning of a bespoke hot-forging production line for bending forklift truck forks at Cascade’s UK plant in Openshaw, Manchester.
This innovative solution replaced
Cascade's manually operated bending equipment with a fully automated cell, which has standardised product quality, increased manufacturing capacity and exceeded health and safety requirements.
The project involved Rhodes Interform producing two hydraulic presses – a 100-Tonne Upset press that compresses a section of material in an axial direction and a main 400-Tonne Bend and Squeeze press that forms the finished part profile. Robotic part transfer between the two presses and automatic tool transfer deliver a fully automated process, while HMI control systems mounted on the exterior of the guarding give operators access to thousands of stored recipes and operations.
A key engineering challenge was fitting the cell within a confined area of Cascade's existing factory floor while retaining full ability to safely manipulate and position the product between presses.
Rhodes Interform's mechanical, electrical, software, and project engineering teams worked together on detailed design, feasibility studies, risk assessments and cost analysis, consulting the client throughout to keep the solution aligned with Cascade's strategic objectives.
Following design sign-off, the line was manufactured and assembled in-house at the company's Wakefield headquarters, where Cascade attended a Factory Acceptance Test. The equipment was then dismantled, transported and installed at Cascade’s premises by Rhodes Interform service engineers.
The company carried out CE marking for the complete line, with commissioning, Site Acceptance Testing and operator training undertaken jointly with the client.
The new solution allows Cascade the flexibility to manufacture a wide variety of products without the need for frequent tool changes. This will significantly streamline the production process, reduce downtime between jobs and enable faster transitions between different product types. As a result, overall efficiency has been improved, and manufacturing capacity has been increased.
The company now has greater flexibility to support smaller production runs and a greater mix of products, helping Cascade to respond more effectively to changing customer demands, whilst maintaining consistent throughput and high levels of productivity.
Jed Shaw, fork operations manager for Cascade UK and Sweden said: "We set out to develop a new solution, as our bending process had become outdated. We chose to work with Rhodes Interform as the company has the skills and experience to be able to provide a turnkey solution, with technical support and installation capability, which helped drive the project through to completion at a cost that was in line with our budget. This has been a significant journey for both Cascade and Rhodes Interform.”
He added: "UK manufacturing faces a challenging market, with growing competition from overseas manufacturers. In this environment, the ability to produce small-batch, high-variety products efficiently is critical. The new bending process supports this need by reducing tool changeovers while maintaining operational efficiency."
Peter Anderton, technical director for Group Rhodes, said: "Designing and manufacturing high-performance automated solutions is a major part of our business, generating major time and labour-saving benefits for our blue-chip customer base. This line offers accuracy, repeatability and programmable flexibility, with the added feature of process memory recall, and it is now proving itself in daily production for Cascade."
Rhodes Interform continues to provide Cascade with full service and maintenance cover for the machinery. The company also offers fully certified refurbishment services on any make and model of metalforming and composite press.