Equipped by SCHUNKTeam­work with a Cobot

Until a few years ago, JUNG installed building tech­nology compo­nents such as switches, design covers or smart radios manu­ally. Then in 2014 the turning point came: The Manuserv joint project, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, helped JUNG to auto­mate a previ­ously manual produc­tion process using robotics in a way that made sense from a tech­no­log­ical and economic point of view.

For example, the UR5 light­weight arm from Universal Robots entered the produc­tion halls in Lünen as a new worker — equipped with the elec­tric gripper for small compo­nents EGP 40 from SCHUNK. “It made getting started with robotics very simple,” says Carsten Meise, Team Leader for Produc­tion Equip­ment Engi­neering at JUNG. “Automating loading of the laser marking cell at our smart radio station and equip­ping this work­sta­tion with a cobot just made sense. We were able to install every­thing without a hitch and get started right away.”

Auto­mated loading of the laser cell

With the SCHUNK automa­tion concept Plug & Work, a large number of automa­tion scenarios can be real­ized in a short time. In the mean­time, we have an exten­sive full range of stan­dard­ized compo­nents for grip­ping, changing and measuring forces and torques for various cobots and light­weight robots ─ from Universal Robots, among others.

„We clearly benefit from SCHUNK’s appli­ca­tion exper­tise.“

Carsten Meise, Team Leader Equip­ment Construc­tion at JUNG

At the laser cell station at JUNG the light­weight robot and the employee work together harmo­niously, smoothly and safely. It works like this: The employee places a fully assem­bled housing including power supply unit in one of two work­piece holders and starts the UR5. The SCHUNK EGP 40 picks up the compo­nent and places it in a Rofin laser cell, where first one side of the housing is marked. The gripper then picks up the compo­nent again, the robot arm rotates the gripper together with the work­piece 180 degrees around the longi­tu­dinal axis, and the second housing side is labeled.

Finally, the EGP 40 places the compo­nent in a second holder, from which the employee removes it again for pack­aging. During auto­matic laser cell loading, the employee can perform other tasks. She prepares ship­ping boxes, cleans assem­bled parts with a cloth, places them in the boxes, assem­bles a new power supply and places it in front of the robot in one of the two work­piece holders.

Save time with the Cobot

“This coop­er­a­tive pick-and-place appli­ca­tion helped to design an effi­cient smart radio station,” stresses André Heng­ste­beck, Senior Project Manager Oper­a­tions at JUNG. The SCHUNK EGP mecha­tronic 24-volt small parts gripper plays a major role in this. It scores with power density, high speed and high grip­ping force. Brush­less, main­te­nance-free servo­mo­tors as well as a powerful junc­tion roller guide ensure a high level of effi­ciency, and trans­forms it into the ideal handling compo­nent for dynamic, demanding pick & place appli­ca­tions.

The user remains flex­ible in terms of plant design, as the EGP can be flush or surface-mounted on the ground or sides. “We at JUNG clearly benefit from SCHUNK’s appli­ca­tion exper­tise with this Cobot appli­ca­tion,” confirms Carsten Meise. “Because we always assemble our produc­tion lines and oper­ating equip­ment ourselves and it was very simple for us. We are now preparing more suit­able work­sta­tions for auto­mated processes.”