Major alterations at the Sage Doors factory have seen a new machine designed and built in ten months. The team is excited about the short lead times and product benefits that customers will enjoy once the new machine has been commissioned.
So, what has it been working on? Sage has transformed its edgebander into a robot it is calling the ‘Edgebot’. An infeed area with automatic squaring and sizing has been added, along with stacking towers to store panels as they are processed, and an outfeed/quality checking area.
What does all this mean? After a panel is placed on the infeed conveyor and the barcode is scanned, the Edgebot remembers all the specs of the panel, including size and colour, and which edges need to be surfaced.
It feeds panels in automatically, squaring and sizing them at the same time to ensure they are correct. It then selects the correct edging from the edgetape magazine. The Edgebot remembers the current location of each panel in the machine, edges the correct edges, and finally feeds out the finished panels to be quality checked and packed.
Sage knew that automating the edgebander was the way to continue offering customers the best possible product and service. Automation will also help to continue reducing waste and improve factory health and safety.
Wastage is a key manufacturing issue and is hard to control. Damage and defects in panels can be caused by production handling, parts that are not square, and imperfections in the melamine. By reducing handling Sage aims to reduce the number of internal re-makes, resulting in faster production times.
With a high spec edgebander running at 25m/min, the smallest error can easily result in a panel being made out of square. The company is excited about the automatic squaring and sizing of the panels because staff know that dimensionally accurate doors are very important to customers.
Health and safety is also a key issue. By having the machine automatically do the hard work, Sage can prevent the back and shoulder strain that is caused by heavy lifting, taking better care of staff.
Finally, but of the greatest importance, what are the benefits for Sage’s customers? Dimensionally square doors finished to the highest standards, delivered efficiently and quickly without harming people or the environment!
