From small to large, from light to heavy: Düsseldorf-based steel trader Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel GmbH (SMSD) sells a wide range of steel products throughout Europe. Many of these products undergo complex processing until they are delivered to well-known industrial companies ready for installation.
- Daniel Götze, Product Manager Prefabrication at Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel in Zeithain
Zeithain, Germany is home to one of SMSD's most modern locations. Here, SMSD sells sheets and plates as trading goods, and manufactures flame-cut parts to the highest precision. This includes ensuring that the workpieces are perfectly deburred and leveled. In order to meet customer demands for more quality, the steel trader purchased an EdgeBreaker® 4000 deburring machine and a FlatMaster® 140 leveling machine from ARKU.
SMSD produces sheet metal parts of various thicknesses and lengths in Zeithain. Most of these are up to 40 millimeters thick, with dimensions of up to 300 by 500 millimeters. Thus, the weight of most of these pieces is quiet heavy.
This is where another upgrade pays off: The EasyBot handling robot masters the loading and unloading of the deburring machine - thus allowing autonomous processing. "The robot works much faster than any worker and alleviates colleagues from tiring and mundane tasks," reports Götze. For their part, the employees can devote themselves to specific activities. "This decreases the retrospective processing time and we produce more," explains the product manager.
The EasyBot, with its single gripper arm, has no human features whatsoever. Despite this, the team accepted it right away. According to Götze, the young colleagues in particular were enthusiastic about working with the new technology. Training at the manufacturer paved the way for this: "Even before the robot came to us, our colleagues knew how to work with it," says the production manager. "The training created the necessary acceptance for an innovation that was not common."