Leading cold rolled and forming manufacturer, Charter Wire is a Tier 1 supplier of engineered shaped wire used in many industrial applications. The family-owned company was looking to automate a manual finishing process where operators removed welds using a handheld five-horsepower air grinder equipped with a coarse stone weighing a total of 30 pounds. This process took about five minutes and was one of the worst ergonomic exposures for Charter Wire employees, many refusing to work on the line and some even quitting because of it.

Charter Wire tapped FANUC ASI Acme Manufacturing to provide an automated robotic metal finishing solution. Acme used a FANUC R-2000iC/270F Robot to integrate a robotic material removal system grinding varying diameters of the steel wire, ranging from 0.90" to 1.75". A flash upset butt weld connects sections together with a large weld burr in the process.

As a result, Charter Wire is achieving a perfect finish every time and has successfully removed a dirty, dull and dangerous task from their manufacturing process. In addition to keeping their employees happy, the automation has helped the company lower scrap rates as well as enabled them to take on more business and meet the demand.

Leading cold rolled and forming manufacturer, Charter Wire is a Tier 1 supplier of engineered shaped wire used in many industrial applications. The family-owned company was looking to automate a manual finishing process where operators removed welds using a handheld five-horsepower air grinder equipped with a coarse stone weighing a total of 30 pounds. This process took about five minutes and was one of the worst ergonomic exposures for Charter Wire employees, many refusing to work on the line and some even quitting because of it.

Charter Wire tapped FANUC ASI Acme Manufacturing to provide an automated robotic metal finishing solution. Acme used a FANUC R-2000iC/270F Robot to integrate a robotic material removal system grinding varying diameters of the steel wire, ranging from 0.90" to 1.75". A flash upset butt weld connects sections together with a large weld burr in the process.

As a result, Charter Wire is achieving a perfect finish every time and has successfully removed a dirty, dull and dangerous task from their manufacturing process. In addition to keeping their employees happy, the automation has helped the company lower scrap rates as well as enabled them to take on more business and meet the demand.