ROLEC traces its roots back to the 1960s. The founder, Friedhelm Rose, revolutionized the industry at that time by developing the world\u2019s first sealed aluminum enclosures. Since then, the family-owned company has continued to evolve and is now one of the leading manufacturers of enclosures, HMI enclosures, and support arm systems. Friedhelm Rose\u2019s innovative spirit lives on today and has led to groundbreaking products such as the profiPLUS support arm system and the aluDOOR enclosure series, which won the German Innovation Award 2023. <\/p>\n\n
All ROLEC enclosures are manufactured using state-of-the-art machinery. Precise CNC technology is used to drill or perform milling on the finest fits and custom cutouts as needed. Even complex product machining requirements are met with ease. <\/p>\n\n
The production of custom aluminum enclosures for housing electrical and electronic components was a labor-intensive challenge. <\/p>\n\n
Some of these aluminum housings were machined in a single setup on HAAS VF-3SS machines. The 4-axis machining center was upgraded to a 5-axis machine and operated with a mechanical four-jaw chuck from HWR. This was necessary to avoid clamping marks in the thin-walled geometry and to ensure ROLEC\u2019s commitment to premium quality. The processing machines did not have a media union on the fourth axis for actuating a clamping device. <\/p>\n\n
Although the production processes were running smoothly, the machine operators often took on tasks elsewhere in the production area due to the long processing times. Once the machining program had finished, the machining center\u2019s spindle would therefore regularly remain idle until the operators acknowledged the end of the machining process, cleaned the finished part, and reloaded the machine. Production management therefore sought to optimize personnel allocation and maximize spindle time. <\/p>\n\n
The technological challenge was to automate the proven clamping technology without altering the established clamping process. <\/p>\n\n
consisted of a SherpaLoader\u00ae M25 with an electric spindle drive. First, the tasks were reassigned: The separation and continuous feeding of material are now carried out by semi-skilled workers, while the qualified machinists focus on production quality and automation. <\/p>\n\n
In the new process, the SpaceBox is loaded with raw material. Once the Current Job is complete, the machine operator in the robot cell can replace the used SpaceBox with a new one containing blank parts\u2014using a pallet jack\u2014and immediately resume production. Alternatively, the SpaceBox can remain in place while the machined parts are replaced with raw blanks. The New Job is selected in the dialog control, and the robot begins work: It picks up the parts, places them in the stamping station, and then into the machine vice. The workpiece is clamped using a torque wrench mounted on the robot. Finished parts are automatically cleaned with compressed air and placed back into the SpaceBox by the robot. <\/p>\n\n
A particular challenge in the automation process was avoiding clamping marks. Force was transmitted to the Gripper via four clamping inserts with a polyurethane surface, the properties of which were specifically tailored to this application during the project phase. This ensured that the automation maintained ROLEC\u2019s consistent premium quality. <\/p>\n\n
The approximately 70 enclosures in the SpaceBox ensure that the system never has to stop and wait for the operator. Staffing levels at the automated systems have dropped by more than 50%, which has led to a significant competitive advantage and given employees more time for other tasks. The fact that the robot cell also operates during unmanned night shifts and generates output during that time is a welcome side effect that has reduced the ROI to less than two years. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cOur operating costs depend heavily on our workforce. That\u2019s why our goal was to increase the productivity of our skilled and experienced workers. Today, our employees operate two additional production machines. Because of the short payback period, we immediately purchased a second CNC automation system of MAFU-SHERPA. And we plan to automate more machines next.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Because of the quick ROI, we immediately purchased a second MAFU-SHERPA CNC automation system. And we plan to automate next machines.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7254,"template":"","class_list":["post-2581","casestudy","type-casestudy","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mafu-sherpa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/casestudy\/2581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mafu-sherpa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/casestudy"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mafu-sherpa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/casestudy"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mafu-sherpa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mafu-sherpa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}