Treves Group orders two new ABB I-R waterjet cutting systems
Treves Group orders two new ABB I-R waterjet cutting systems
Keywords: ABB, Waterjet, Cutting
The Treves Group of France has placed an order for two new robotic waterjet cutting systems from ABB I-R Waterjet Systems AB, a joint venture between ABB Flexible Automation and Ingersoll-Rand. The order comprises two Fourrob Cutting Box systems utilising IRB 2400 robots from ABB Flexible Automation for installation in one of Treves Group's facilities (see Plate 5). With this latest order, the Treves Group now has ten robotic waterjet cutting systems utilising a total of 24 robots. The company produces car carpets and door panels in France,Brasil and the UK for a range of automotive customers including Renault and Peugeot.
The Fourrob Cutting Box is the top-of-the-range product in the multi-robot waterjet cutting systems manufactured by ABB I-R. In the Fourrob system, four robots work simultaneously around the workpiece, providing a cutting capacity of approximately 1,700 parts per day. ABB I-R also produces cutting box systems with two robots and customised solutions are available to meet special application requirements. ABB I-R is the global leader in robotic waterjet cutting with over 300 cutting boxes installed around the world.
Plate 5The Treves Group of France has placed an order for two new Fourrob Cutting Box systems from ABB I-R Waterjet Systems AB
The order for waterjet cutting systems at the Treves Group is part of a larger project, in which ABB I-R is co-operating with another manufacturer from Germany, supplying two foaming plants to the Ploermer facility. The foaming plants and the ABB I-R cutting boxes will be integrated to form two new complete production lines.
These new production lines offer the Treves Group a turnkey production system, where car trim parts (for Renault and Peugeot) including inner wheel housings, boot carpets and door panels, are first formed and then transferred by an automatic handling system to the ABB I-R cutting boxes to be finished using waterjet cutting. In this way, the Treves Group does not need any stock of semi-finished parts and instead can produce finished parts direct from the line with the minimum number of operators.
The cutting box from ABB I-R is a modular production machine incorporating industrial robots from ABB and high pressure water pumps from Ingersoll-Rand. It offers a very safe, cost-effective, high productivity and environmental solution for waterjet cutting. Loading and unloading of workpieces is made outside the cutting box, while the robots are processing workpieces inside, on the opposite side of the worktable.
The features of the self-contained unit meet all current EC machinery safety standards, with an enclosure around the box which separates the waterjet cutting activity from the operator and other machines, whilst ensuring that the sound level is reduced.
Supplied as a turnkey system, the cutting box is a multi-purpose machine easily adaptable to a variety of different applications. Programmability through the latest generation robot controllers offers a much more economic cutting method than other methods such as punch tools, which are limited to just one application.
The cutting box forms the core of ABB I-R's three-dimensional, pure waterjet cutting technology for trim applications on interior components of cars and other vehicles made from soft materials such as polyurethane foam, moulded fibres, sandwich materials or composites.
