RoboCELL specifications and workflow
July 1, 2020The benefits of a robotic prepress workflow are enormous since it eliminates any tape waste and leads to a consistent tape application without any air bubbles. In addition, any waste during the pre-press workflow including tape waste, damaged sleeves from taping and mishandling, press downtime due to mounting mistakes and wasted time to apply tape and remount plates, is eliminated. Printers and converters are able to increase capacity and respond to the quick and frequent job runs.
The fully automatic solutions include Robotic tape application (RoboTAPE), Robotic loading and unloading sleeves on the mounting machine (RoboSLEEVE) and robotic flexo plate loading on the FAMM 3.0 (RoboPLATE).
The RoboCELL includes:
1. RoboTAPE: Robot with a taping tool which is able to spiral the tape onto the sleeve
2. RoboSLEEVE: Gripping tool handling the sleeves around the workcell
3. FAMM 3.0: 3rd generation Fully Automatic Mounting Machine for flexo plates
4. RoboPLATE: Plate loader for the FAMM 3.0 for up to 50 plates
Robotic Pre-press Workflow 4.0:
The operator puts the Tech Cart with up to 10 sleeves on the RoboCELL. He selects a job from the control console outside the cell and then he is free to perform other tasks. The robot will grab a tool from the tool station based on the inner diameter of the sleeve. Then, it will pick-up the first sleeve and load it on the RoboTAPE station to apply tape fully automatically. The Tape Application Tool has an automatic cutting and attaching functionality, which enables to start and finish a tape winding procedure without any manual assistance by the operator. The tape is applied evenly and without any air inclusions while the winding taping offers minimum tape waste and saves costs.
After taping, the robot will remove the sleeve from the RoboTAPE station and load it on the FAMM 3.0, which will mount flexo plates onto the sleeve fully automatically. The operator interference can be eliminated by adding the RoboPLATE, which includes a plate loading trolley with a 50 plates capacity and a pick-up unit that places the plates on the FAMM 3.0 conveyor belt.
The FAMM 3.0 mounts multiple plates one after another extremely fast and with a positioning accuracy of 2 microns. Each plate is mounted in 29 seconds including a final quality check, using the patented Image Recognition, and a pdf quality report is generated with the mounting accuracy and the color-to-color match.
When the mounting process is completed, the robot will unload the sleeve and place it back on the Tech Cart. In the meantime, as the FAMM 3.0 is mounting the first sleeve, the Robot is taping the next sleeve which will be ready to load onto the FAMM after the first sleeve is done.
As a reference, a single sleeve is taped fully automatically in 30 seconds and a 4-plate job per sleeve is mounted in 2 minutes on the FAMM. As a result, integrating the whole RoboCELL concept will allow you to complete a 10-color job with 4 plates per sleeve in less than 25 minutes including taping and mounting. The timing depends on the number of plates per sleeve and the number of sleeves per job.
*The different components of the RoboCELL can be installed independently as stand-alone units. For example, the RoboTAPE for applying tape fully automatically can be purchased independently and installed in any location of the plant. The savings from tape waste and human resources can lead to a ROI in a year depending on your capacity and workflow.
Let AV calculate your ROI! Contact them at sales@flexologic.nl
