Fully automatic Slitting line for COILPLUS | Fagor Arrasate

The Plainfield processing center is one of 10 branches Coilplus runs across North America. After running a slitter practically full out for nearly 30 years, the team sought to widen the gauge range and grades it could slit, while moving ahead of the curve by employing robotic technology and automation.

The Plainfield branch was working overtime on the existing slitter, which ran master coils up to 1/8 inch thick. In late 2019, Coilplus installed a new line from Fagor Arrasate that can slit coils up to 1/4 inch thick.

Coilplus' parent company [based in Japan] has service centers all over the world. The service centers in Japan have had robotic knives and separators set up for decades already but this level of automation was not stablished in the United States yet.

Eventually, Coilplus chose Fagor because it had not only the experience in this type of fully automatic lines but also a technical center as well as service and support personnel on the ground in the United States, in Portage, Indiana.

The key difference between this metal processing line that Coilplus Illinois has and what all other U.S. metal processors have is the robotic technology on the slitter head.

Each slitter knife and spacer is etched with a three-dimensional label that is read by the robot. As the robot maneuvers inside a tower stocked with knives, it can verify that it is selecting the exact right tooling for the job.

There is a verification that this is the proper tool for this setup. Sometimes, when a human handles the tooling, the blades will bang together and may get dinged. The robot does not mishandle tools. It manages them perfectly every time, mates them perfectly every time. That reduces tool maintenance.

The robot is also equipped with a knife edge assessment tool. A laser scans the edge of the knife, as the knife rotates 360 degrees. It ranks any imperfections. Coilplus now knows the quality of the edge on each specific knife and how each knife should be used. The robot selects the knives for the purpose.

Since the line was installed, Coilplus has not sent any knives out for maintenance. So the assessment program has extended the life of the tooling.

To do a good job, slitter operators must have finesse. When checking a knife’s sharpness, an operator will run a thumbnail around the edge of the blade, and check for surface imperfections by eye. In trying to clean a tool off, the operator will wipe off any debris with a glove or rag.

Associated with Coilplus’ Fagor line is a wash machine for the tools. It uses an ultrasonic cleaning system with an alkaline detergent. The guys are not picking the tools up, which eliminates the possibility of damage. That also eliminates repetitive motion, which can cause operator injury over time.

The company also installed a camera to measure slit widths. Coilplus no longer has its people measure the width; the camera does it. It saves them time; and it is safer. The system takes measurements several times per second; it measures the coil from beginning to end and gives them a report.

As the master coil is slit, the narrow ribbons of metal are separated to prevent tangling while being rewound into individual coils. Historically, tooling separators were loaded manually.

Often, a first-shift operator will do that one way while the second-shift operator will load the separators slightly differently, even on the same order. At Coilplus, that process is now automated so separators are loaded the same way every time. They can modify the program, make minor adjustments as needed. If they find they must make a modification for a particular order, theye can make it, and it always happens the same way from then on.

The computer that runs the slitter is connected to Coilplus’ ERP system so when the team writes a work order, that information for sizes and tolerances is all transmitted to the operations computer. The guys at the machine have everything already preset when they select the order for the coil they are processing. They don’t have to do any additional calculations.

UHSS

Coilplus processes metal for end markets such as HVAC, building products, appliances, automotive, agricultural equipment and electronic enclosures.

The new slitter doubles their capacity. It gets them into ultra-high-strength steels [UHSS] they couldn’t do before, and that opens the door for additional automotive growth in light gauges. UHSS is the direction consumers have chosen, so if they are able to run 180,000 tensile strength versus their older line, running 50,000, that opens a door.

This line by Fagor also opens a door for heavy-gauge stamping, using hot-rolled pickled and oiled. The new slitter cuts material twice as thick. Coilplus didn’t have that ability before.

More information: https://fagorarrasate.com/your-expert...

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