Fakuma robot release pulls in the crowds
After the world premiere of the new SAM-C robots at Fakuma, interest in the first in-house automation solution from Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery, Schwaig (SDG), continues unabated. The two handle and place systems were the real crowd pleasers on the company’s Fakuma booth, attracting a great deal of attention affirms Jürgen Schulze, Director Automation SDG. He explains: “We continue to receive extremely positive feedback and sales, with customers assured about the technical and aligned processing benefits.”
As part of the inaugural unveiling, two of the new scalable robots from the SAM series were showcased at the trade fair in Friedrichshafen. The SAM-C10 integrated on an IntElect2 130/520-450 demonstrated the value and flexibility of deploying robotics on an LSR application. In another automotive IMD showcase featuring an IntElect2 220/660-1100, height optimisation was accomplished using a compact telescopic axis.
“The SAM-C series focuses on addressing standard injection moulding applications with moderate complexity, yet offers the option to adapt our handle and place solutions to market requirements as required,” reports Schulze. “Designed specifically to optimise production on a Sumitomo (SHI) Demag machine, our proprietary SAM-C robots can significantly reduce the overall footprint of a self-contained cell, while simultaneously improving user-friendliness of the machine controls.”
Redefining the SDG automation platform, SAM stands for ‘Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Automation Machine’ and comprises both the robotics components as well as the company’s complementary strategic and pragmatic support. The debut Cartesian “C” kinematics are currently available in four payload sizes. The company anticipates rolling out additional robot kinematics and adapted options as early as K-2022 and further expanding the SAM platform within this short timeframe.
“With our SAM-C robots, we offer our customers an attractive price to performance ratio, enabling plastic manufacturers to deploy CE conforming automation solutions into production lines faster and more intelligently to help address current labour and skills challenges,” states the automation director. Responding to increasing demands from customers for flexible automated solutions that requires minimal human intervention and low maintenance costs, Automation SDG has helped to fill a critical gap in standardised production. “By minimising the footprint, manufacturers are able to increase their machine estate. This in turn enables them to boost their capacity, repeatable precision, component quality and efficiency and consequently reduce defects and waste.”
Having used robot technology to automate the company’s injection moulding machines since the middle of the 1990s, Schulze regards the launch of the Automation SDG platform as a natural extension of its processing expertise. He confirms: “Applications like the standard SDR Sepro robots used since 2009 will continue to form an essential part of our new automation platform. However, the addition of our own-branded SAM robots reasserts our strategic vision and ambitions – optimised system technology engineered specifically for SDG injection moulding machines.”
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