Sheet Metal Company Increases Productivity with Vacuum Handling Systems

Vacuum-assisted loading and unloading of sheet-metal machine tools saves personnel and costs and provides a considerable productivity increase for only a small investment.

The task is well-known: the new machining centre for sheet-metal parts has been installed, or the performance of an existing machine could be higher, except for the fact that loading it with blanks and removing the finished parts takes too much time and too many people. This challenge has now been solved: with the aid of vacuum lifting devices, loading and unloading of machines can be done more rationally, faster and more safely by only a single person. The only drawback is that the users of machines for processing sheet metal are prepared to invest large sums in such machines, but hesitate to create the necessary environment with respect to material flow and handling of the blanks and finished parts. This is almost literally an anachronism, since it means that the full performance of the machine, for which the user has paid, cannot be fully utilised. With the aim of achieving more rational production and a higher throughput with fewer operators, making work for the operators easier, and ensuring the reliable and safe handling of the heavy metal sheets, the responsible persons at the medium-sized sheet-metal company Pro Metall Blechverarbeitung GmbH in Achern-Fautenbach decided to invest in a vacuum handling system for loading and unloading an existing laser-cutting machine and a stamping press/nibbler.