Husco
Assembly Line
Robots Automate Assembly of Auto Parts
AMG is Husco’s in-house factory automation arm. It designs and builds most of the manufacturing lines for Husco, and it recently began offering its services to outside clients as well.
While many manufacturers, including Husco, have been devoting more and more of their efforts to EVs, increasing the efficiency of internal combustion engines remains important. One crucial development has been the use of variable-force solenoids in car and truck engines. These small devices optimize the opening of the valves that let fuel and air into the cylinders at the heart of each engine, helping to increase both fuel efficiency and horsepower.To reach its goal, the plant would have to produce a fully assembled and tested solenoid every 6.1 seconds. To make that possible, the AMG team developed a modular automated assembly system consisting of a pallet-transfer conveyor and 10 Epson SCARA robots for most of the material handling. They settled on one Epson G6, two G3, and seven T-Series systems.
Husco and AMG most often use Epson T-Series robots for pick and place operations, but upgrade to the G-Series when they need higher speed and accuracy.
Automation Boosts Production of Masks
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive surge in demand for a variety of medical devices, not the least of which are N95 respirators and other personal protective equipment. To meet that need, manufacturers worldwide are building new factories and installing new automated assembly lines. Two of those companies are Breathe Medical Manufacturing in Kelowna, BC, Canada, and Husco International Inc. in Waukesha, WI.
While designing the new facility, Warren Jones, partner at Breathe Medical, realized early on that conveyors would be needed to transport masks throughout production. Together, Dorner, Shelley and Apex designed a conveyor system to support 12 mask assembly machines. Using Dorner’s FlexMove conveyors and custom workpiece carriers, Breathe Medical will be able to transport masks from machine to machine with optimal efficiency.