February 2021

Cobot gives veteran spring- maker added bounce S kipton-based John Binns & Son (Springs), established in 1895, makes springs and wire forms for sectors including medical, electronics, aerospace and automotive. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, the company has manufactured springs for ventilators and for hospital beds. The family-run business operates from 2,500m 2 premises and generates an annual turnover of around £3m. The company is committed to staying at the forefront of spring manufacturing, and has made substantial investments in technology in recent years. Its latest arrival is a collaborative robot (cobot) – its first robot of any kind – which has removed the need to unload and pack wire forms by hand. “We have aWafios BM6 CNC wire-bending machine which produces 3D wire-form components in batches of thousands,”explains JB Springs’ managing director, Alex Driver. “Due to short cycle times, an operator needs to be in full-time attendance whenever the machine is running to unload and pack the parts. As this work is repetitive and not a very cost- effective use of skilled labour, we thought it would be ideal for automation.” JB Springs considered three different robots before deciding that a Universal Robots UR10e would be the optimummatch for its applications.“In particular we thought its programming was the most straightforward,”says Driver. Other attractions included the robot’s collaborative capabilities and its pleasing appearance. Before adopting the UR cobot, JB Springs spoke with a couple of other users of the machine ,“both of whomwere very happy with it,” according to Driver. “As it was our first robot, some of the staff were understandably a little anxious, but once it arrived and the training had been delivered by RARUK Automation, they became more confident and soon got fully on-board,”he adds. “It is now held in such affection that they’ve even given it a name – Kevin.” Since the cobot was installed, it has been automating production on theWafios BM6 machine, which is fitted with a Keyence high-speed inspection camera. In one application, 12mm-diameter pre-galvanised wire forms receive four bends in a nine-second cycle before being unloaded and packed by the cobot. “The robot picks and packs parts neatly, saving a massive amount of costed manual labour,” Driver reports.“Our wire forms can vary from simple hooks and brackets through to complicated linkages for machinery, precision components for electronics and medical equipment, automotive parts, and welded assemblies for production line systems. We use the UR10e wherever we possibly can and it’s a perfect example of how technology is helping us to constantly improve our manufacturing efficiency and accuracy.” Investing in cobot“has allowed us to redirect labour to other operations where more value can be added by having skilled input,” he concludes. The UR10e cobot can carry payloads of up to 10kg and has a reach of up to 1.3m. JB Springs is using it with a Robotiq 2 Finger 85 gripper whose position, speed and force can be adjusted. n A long-established UK spring-maker has installed its first robot, removing the need to unload and pack wire forms from a wire-bending machine by hand. The machine is helping the company to improve its efficiency and accuracy, as well as cutting its labour costs. JB Springs’collaborative robot has allowed the company to move its workers to other operations where their skills can add more value ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING n Drive HMI PLC Servo System Linear Motor Gearbox Tel +44 (0) 2475 097450 Email rschembri@ls-electric.com www.ls-electric.com Give us a call at LS ELECTRIC for all your automation and motion needs