Wittmann Robots Deliver Savings for Wavin UK
Wittmann Battenfeld UK has supplied Wavin UK’s injection moulding facility at Doncaster with a bulk order of eight Primus 14 linear robots.
Wavin UK operates four UK manufacturing sites and is part of the Orbia Building and Infrastructure group – a world leader in plastic pipe systems for residential, non-residential and civil engineering projects.
The Wittmann robots replaced an ageing fleet of robots from another supplier which had seen better days and which were beginning to disrupt production through breakdown and lack of parts and service.
Competitive tendering for the new order saw Wittmann Battenfeld UK win through, largely through customer service and support and an impressive price/performance ratio.
Luke Evans, Wavin UK Project Engineer and CI Leader says that “the robots needed to fit seamlessly onto our existing moulding machines and take up a very similar footprint to that which was already fitted. The overall package price needed to be competitive, and ease of use was always high on our list, due to the nature of the production area and the amount of human interactivity.”
Wittmann was selected due to the quality of the robot while still offering a very competitive price. Luke notes that “after visiting another customer site to witness the robots in action and to see how easy the robots were to work with at high speed, it made our decision a lot easier. From quotation to point of order was then an easy task. Wittmann provided fully detailed layout drawings and talked us through all the elements of the job. That combined with the support on installation and training resulted in Wittmann being selected as the successful supplier.”
The installation & commissioning of the Wittmann robots was a smooth process despite only being able to have two injection moulding machines down at any one time. “Wittmann were very flexible and patient with us in this regard – able, for example, to get two robots installed and commissioned in 1-1.5 days and then have the machines back up and in production before moving to the next set of machines.”
Further benefits included:
- A seamless integration of the new robots into the existing conveyor guarding system
- A flexible training schedule that worked around Wavin UK’s shift patterns.
- Full engineering support for all technical questions.
- Significant energy savings over the previous automation system.
Wavin UK has certainly noticed the before and after benefits: “With the new robots installed,” says Luke, “we have been able to reduce the cycle times on the machines by up to three seconds. This is primarily due to the increased robot speed and has had a massive impact on production. In addition, the ease of setup has significantly reduced out changeover times again having a big impact in moulding.”
Orrin Smith, Area Sales Manager for Wittmann Battenfeld UK says “it was a real pleasure to work with Luke Evans of Wavin on this project. It makes all the hard work securing this business worthwhile, when you see that the customer is happy, has improved output, streamlined their process and reduced the stress in the day-to-day. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Wavin on future projects and growing our relationship.”
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