MACDONALD HUMFREY AND EXMAC AUTOMATION CREATE THE ASSEMBLY LINE FOR A NEW HIGH PERFORMANCE ENGINE AT RICARDO
MacDonald Humfrey Automation (MHA) and sister company Exmac Automation have joined forces to help automotive engineering specialist Ricardo create a state-of-the-art 600 square metre assembly facility to build its first ever high-performance engine at Ricardo’s Technical Centre in West Sussex. Providing a near cleanroom production environment the facility has the capacity to produce 4000 engines annually across two daily shifts. Its core is a ten-station vertical conveyor mini-line supported by incoming materials inspection and line-side delivery of components. Each station is equipped with a sophisticated MacDonald Humfrey ‘Human Machine Interface’ (HMI) providing guidance to each operator on the precise sequence of operations required at each stage of assembly‘ to ensure No Fault Forward’ (NFF) assembly. Tools at each station are instrumented to provide data directly into a central warranty database for each engine, providing complete finished product traceability.
Each line station is interlocked via its HMI to ensure that all operations and checks have been successfully completed and recorded before the line can be indexed and the engine moved forward to the next station.
Says Ricardo’s Dave Thompson: “Exmac understood our brief, asked the right questions and provided their own engineering ideas to help us achieve our objectives. Because space couldn’t accommodate a continuous loop line, designing the conveying system proved particularly challenging, as did the relatively slow 50-minute Total Average Cycle Time (TACT) required for the low – eight engines per shift – production volume and the ‘no-faults-forward’ culture.
To meet the specification within the space available Exmac designed a compact 10-station back-to-back manual line that takes up very little floor space in the new building. The system allows Ricardo to load engine blocks onto the line and rotate them at any of the stations, and indexes manually to allow greater control over the assembly process.
Engine blocks are fixed to lightweight trolleys using a vertically mounted slew ring and quick release plate, that allows it to be rotated through 360 degrees whilst is locked in place to allow complete access for operators. Engines start their build sequence at station 1 and when all assembly functions are completed the control system allows a stop to retract for the operator to push the trolley (running in a steel track) to a holding position until station 2 is clear. The trolley is then pushed to station 2 where it is again held in place for that station’s assembly functions to be carried out …….and so on to station 10.
A latched turn-post at each end of the line (providing a swing-gate effect) allows trolleys be re-directed to the opposite side of the line after assembly operations at station 5 are completed. When a trolley reaches station 10 the engine block has been transformed into a fully assembled, complete engine.
The Exmac-designed mechanical locking systems locate and secure trolleys at each station until the MacDonald Humfrey HMI system confirms that operators have completed all required tasks at each station, and assembly can continue on a no-faults-forward basis.
If an engine needs to be reworked, trolley and engine can be moved to a holding position at the end of the line. When work is completed, both are returned to station 1 (via the turntable if necessary) and then moved to the appropriate station to allow the engine to continue its build programme.
Commenting for Ricardo, Dave Thompson says a great deal of thought has gone into the way the line operates, and has resulted in a number of innovations, including a novel low-cost method of rotating the engine using a battery-operated electric drill, fitted with a special socket that is attached to the gearbox, enabling the engine to be positioned wherever it is needed.
The bespoke MHA Human Machine Interface’ provides Ricardo production engineers with a list of operations that they can vary and configure themselves. For example, not only are they able to set task-by-task instructions showing assembly operators how to build the engine, they also include time allocated to each task, DC tooling operations, air tests, and gasket glue plotting. In addition, the HMI integrates all operations and confirms – with a time and date stamp – that all tasks have been completed. Effectively this means that every single operation – including every bolt to be tightened – has its own programme! Detailed on-screen information and visual aids are shown at each of the ten stations and data is fed to an MHA pick-to-light system to ensure efficient error-proof component picking.
The facility was specified, designed, constructed and commissioned in just 18 months despite Ricardo insisting on an aesthetic approach to the design, in order to present an attractive and technically advanced visitor environment for Ricardo’s international customers.
Summing up, Paul Crosbie of MHA says: “The combination of a robust Exmac handling system and complex MHA control system, has more than exceeded Ricardo’s overall performance expectations.”
Ends
For further information contact:
Marcus Hunter, Exmac Automation Gregory’s Bank, Worcester WR3 8AB
Tel: 01905 721500, Fax: 01905 721539
Email: MH@exmac.co.uk, Web: www.exmacautomation.co.uk
For press information contact:
Dennis Cantillion, Cantillion King Advertising 16 The Cornhill, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2JT
Tel: 01453 755551 Fax: 01453 751525 E-mail: dennis@cka.co.uk
About Exmac Automation:
Exmac Automation has years of experience in the design, manufacture, and installation of unit conveyors, conveyor systems and associated materials handling equipment for many industry sectors.
Part of the MacDonald Humfrey group of companies and with an annual turnover in excess of £16 million, Exmac Automation are market leaders in the supply of automated materials handling equipment to the automotive, aerospace, white goods, warehouse & distribution, nuclear, pharmaceutical and food & beverage industries.
Projects range from individual standard conveyors and bespoke handling applications, to complete turnkey contracts involving conceptual and process design, installation and commissioning.
Exmac Automation is ISO 9001 accredited and constantly strive to achieve continuous improvements in the overall quality of its products and service.
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