Valk Welding: 2005

Once again, changes will be made in our factory during the Christmas holidays. While most of us are enjoying Christmas dinner, Valk Welding and MCFE will be busy installing a new robot welding system for welding the lift brackets.

Archie and Flip:
Archie and Flip, the names we lovingly chose for our 2 lift bracket robots, show signs of old age every now and then. This is not really surprising, when one considers the number of years’ service they have provided at a shift of 17 hours a day. Repairs will eventually become very expensive and the interruptions in service sometimes drive our employees to despair. We finally decided that it would be better to replace the robots, rather than repair them.

When we replace these robots it would also be a good time to consider improving the whole department. The following points will then be considered:
- “Flow” of products
- Flexibility
- Work and safety
- Space and layout for the employees
- Possibilities regarding potential extensions at a later stage

Due to changes in the factory, the Lift Bracket Welding Department has been moved around the factory a number of times, which has not been advantageous to the department. It is for this reason that the layout of the robots and the department need to be taken to task.

The new system:
Instead of 2 robots standing alone, we have chosen for 2 robots which are able to run freely over one lane. We will start with the welding moulds in a fixed (line) position, whereby the robots will be able to freely move alongside on request. In this way it will also be easier to react with more flexibility to changes in the production mix. Because the robot has in this way been given more freedom of movement (driving over a lane), the welding range for larger products has been greatly increased. Should an increase in capacity be required, it would then be possible to place a third robot on the lane.

Valk Welding is presently busy building up the installation in a large shipping hall, so that it will  not be necessary to carry out the time-consuming fitting and measuring work in the factory. A portion of the total of 120 welding programs will also be programmed. The welded products will be checked and approved by our “Quality Inspection” before the installation is placed.

Once we have removed the complete present installation at the beginning of December, Valk Welding will break down the installation and build it up again in our factory. During this time our lift bracket welders will be given another location in the factory so that they will still be able to weld lift brackets. At the moment we are working hard at building up a supply, so that the shortage during the period can be compensated.

We hope to be able to weld a number of products on the new installation from 2 January 2006, but a large number of programs will need to be written by our diligent robot engineers, the “brothers” Philip and Floyd. Our 2 new robot friends will fully operable in our lift bracket production from February.

Milestone:
After checking our records, I came to the conclusion that this installation could actually be counted as a milestone. Not only will the second of the 2 new robots carry the jubilee number 25, but we are entering the 10th year of successful teamwork between MCFE and Valk Welding.

10 Years ago a number of pioneers of MCFE Production Engineering decided, under the inspiring leadership of our present “welding boss” Jaap van Zanten, to robotize the welding production. After thorough investigation, we decided to join forces with a supplier in Alblasserdam, Valk Welding.

From that moment, more and more welding activities were taken over by robots. During the past 10 years, both free-standing and complete robot welding and painting systems have come into service. Each of these robots is given a famous name like Kwik, Kwek and Kwak, The Daltons, Asterix and Obelix. During these years, Valk Welding has delivered all robot systems to everyone’s satisfaction.

Valk Welding:
Valk Welding has, since its establishment in 1961, constantly made a point of improving and automating various welding processes. This company which has grown to a 50-man strong company, has been able to call itself a market leader in the Benelux for a number of years now and has, since 1988, delivered more than 900 robot installations. Apart from the well-known robot welding installations, they have concentrated on robot applications like: “Pick-and-place”, plasma cutting, spray painting, cutting and sawing. Not only do the bright red Panasonic robots form an unmistakable part of the appearance of our production halls, but large quantities of the electrodes of Valk Welding are used for welding our forklift trucks. MCFE burns round about 90 tons of electrodes per year, most of which is delivered by Valk Welding.

Valk Welding has also profited from the teamwork with us. During the past 10 years, they have entered into various challenging projects with MCFE and a number of difficult technical hurdles have been overcome. The Technical Department of Valk Welding not only get headaches, but must also tear their hair out when thinking about the uncensored criticism of our robot specialist Wim van de Berg. The new installation will no doubt also produce some difficulties, but I hope that we will again solve these successfully.

Finally, I gladly invite you to come and take a look at our newest robots, either during or after their installation. See you soon!

Paul Thoonen
Project Engineer
Production Engineering

(Source: De Vaart – No. 2 December 2005)