Pushing past the brink
July 2023
Editor's Choice
Motion Control & Drives
Brink Towing Systems is the global leader in developing and manufacturing towbars. Since the end of the pandemic, many of the car brands it supplies have ramped up production to keep up with rising demand. For Brink, this means finding new ways to fulfil customer orders, which already see the towbar specialist manufacture north of 160 000 towbars per year for South Africa, the UK, Europe and Thailand.
Brink’s modern towbar manufacturing facility is situated in Pietermaritzburg, and is equipped with a significant number of Yaskawa robotic welding cells. The cell is comprised of two stations where it has two GP25 robots running in synchronised motion with a set of positioners, all housed in a protective enclosure. “For operators, using the system is simple − load the part, press the button, and the doors will close,” explains Devon Prinsloo, national project manager at Yaskawa Southern Africa. “They run the two stations in parallel so that there’s always an active part getting loaded and unloaded. This reduces their cycle time in the long run.”
Since the system’s deployment, Brink has seen a dramatic increase in production, helping it meet demands that were otherwise unattainable before the introduction of automated cells to run the operation. And if car production rates are the benchmark, the towbar leader won’t be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, Brink has recently installed its fifth, and soon its sixth, cell from Yaskawa.
Designing and installing custom solutions for niche manufacturing operations is no easy task, but Yaskawa has a long history of problem-solving and optimising production lines for robotic integration. “Brink uses a water-cooled torch welding system,” says Prinsloo. “The booth itself was designed by one of our suppliers, Dynamik, but for the most part we set up the entire system, including writing the PLC program and robot program.”
In this case, Brink is also well-versed with the robot, so they perform live programming on-site with extensive use of MotoSim. The entire system is controlled using Profinet, Ethernet IP and Profisafe. Profinet is an open industrial ethernet solution based on international standards. It is specifically designed for collecting data from, and controlling equipment in, industrial systems with a particular strength in delivering data under time constraints.
With the re-emergence of high demand in the global economy across different sectors, manufacturers are pushing the boundaries of how automation can add accuracy, efficiency, productivity, and return on investment for their operations by partnering with experts like Yaskawa.
Further reading:
STEMulator – a gift to the youth of the nation
Editor's Choice News
STEMulator is a groundbreaking virtual platform designed to ignite the spark of curiosity in young minds and stimulate their interest in STEM subjects.
Read more...
Innovate, accelerate, dominate
Festo South Africa
Editor's Choice Pneumatics & Hydraulics
Festo’s latest innovations, revealed through the Ramp Up Campaign, offer a blueprint for performance excellence, using the anatomy of a race car as an analogy to simplify and powerfully communicate how their technologies address industry challenges.
Read more...
Loop signature 29: Averaging or surge level control
Editor's Choice Flow Measurement & Control
There are many processes where it is undesirable for the load to suddenly change quickly, for example in the paper industry. Examples of level control have involved reasonably fast tuning. An example of a level loop tuned this way and responding to a step change in setpoint is given.
Read more...
Advanced telemetry solutions
Editor's Choice Industrial Wireless
Namibia is one of the driest countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with an average annual rainfall below 250 mm. To address this challenge, the Namibia Water Corporation has employed one of southern Africa’s most powerful and well-proven telemetry solutions, designed and manufactured by SSE/Interlynx-SA.
Read more...
Navigating the future of intralogistics
LAPP Southern Africa
Editor's Choice
In the rapidly evolving landscape of global markets, the demand for agility, efficiency and scalability in intralogistics has never been more critical. At LAPP Southern Africa, we stand at the forefront of this transformation, offering cutting-edge connection solutions tailored to the dynamic needs of intralogistics.
Read more...
Cutting-edge robotics and smart manufacturing solutions
Yaskawa Southern Africa
Editor's Choice
Yaskawa Southern Africa made a compelling impact at this year’s Africa Automation and Technology Fair.
Read more...
A cure for measurement headaches in contract manufacturing
VEGA Controls SA
Editor's Choice
A contract manufacturing organisation provides support to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the manufacturing of medications, formulations and substances. VEGA’s measurement solutions offer accuracy and reliability for monitoring levels and pressures during the manufacturing process.
Read more...
PC-based control for a food capsule and pod packaging machine
Beckhoff Automation
Editor's Choice
For TME, a machine builder specialising in the packaging of powdered foods, Beckhoff’s PC-based control technology offers unlimited opportunities when it comes to performance and innovative capacity in terms of flexibility, scalability and openness.
Read more...
Simple and efficient level measurement in the mining, minerals and metals industries
Endress+Hauser South Africa
Editor's Choice Level Measurement & Control
Measuring devices in the mining, minerals and metals industries face the challenge of varying material states and long distances in measurement height. Endress+Hauser’s answer to these challenges is the new Micropilot family.
Read more...
PC-based control for fertiliser
Beckhoff Automation
Editor's Choice Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
On a farm in the USA, valuable ammonia is extracted from slurry and processed into ammonium sulphate. NSI Byosis has transformed this complex process into a flexible modular system. This modular approach requires an automation solution with flexible scalability in both hardware and software, which this Dutch company has found in PC-based control from Beckhoff.
Read more...
printer friendly version