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.