Bottling manufacturer Tervis recently had a good problem: business was booming and the company was expanding and hiring additional personnel. For years, its automated facilities relied on Dorner 2200 and 3200 Series conveyors with precision belt technology for the accurate indexing of the tumblers to ensure smooth, uninterrupted flow of production.
However, to accommodate its latest growth, Tervis turned to RND Automation and Engineering, an outfit that specializes in custom factory automation, robotic work cell, packaging, and material handling applications. Tervis and RND first focused on production steps in the bottling process that did not require human touch and represented opportunities for automation and repetitive motion labor reduction.
Precision belt technology on Dorner conveyors is well suited for common drives, indexing, positioning, and highly loaded belt conveyor applications in product assembly, manufacturing, and packaging applications.
RND designed a machine that consisted of several technologies including the use of robotics to automate the various manufacturing processes. The machine required a delivery system for the inner and outer tumbler. The system had to be accurate and repeatable. Dorner’s 3200 series conveyor complemented the integrated RND machine. The Precision Move conveyor package uses the latest in timing belt technology to provide repeatable movement accuracies +/-0.02 in. up to 100 indexes/min.
The servo driven conveyor has a flexible fixture attachment system which accurately locates fixtures +/-0.005 in. In addition, the precise conveyor has side guides that hold side to side tolerance +/-0.01 in. for loading, unloading, or locating at the assembly stations.
RND initially designed and built a prototype for Tervis. After seeing the increase in productivity, the company ordered several more machines for its facility. Once fully operational, the machines are expected to process a substantial portion of Tervis’ products.
Tervis
www.tervis.com
Dorner
www.dorner.com
RND Automation and Engineering
www.rndautomation.com
Filed Under: Factory automation, Assembly automation, Conveyors, Motion control • motor controls