Intelligent Material Handling
High-Reliability Inter-Process Conveyance
Two integrated conveyors carry every casting from finishing into heat treat, 24/7, with no operator and 99% efficiency.
CLIENT
INDUSTRY
SOLUTION
DURATION
The Challenge
Castings leaving the finishing line had to reach the heat treat stocker turned, identified and in sequence, around the clock, with no one assigned to the job. The route crossed a team member walkway, every part had to be rotated 180° and identified by type before heat treat, and any stoppage would back up finishing or starve the stocker. The plant needed a transfer system reliable enough to run unattended 24/7.
Key Requirements
- 24/7 operation with no operator
- 99% system efficiency
- Swing gate for team member walkway access
- 180° turntable to orient every casting
- Camera part-type reading before heat treat
- Automatic loading into the heat treat stocker, plus a guarded manual load station
- Handshake with finishing and the heat treat stocker
The ICR Solution
ICR designed and built the inter-process conveyance as one system of two conveyors, each with its own control panel, lockout and pneumatic assembly. Conveyor 1, a motor-driven roller conveyor, takes castings off finishing, passes them through a swing gate that opens for team members on request and turns each part 180° on a VFD-driven turntable. At the corner of the L, Conveyor 2 lifts each casting onto a six-position drag chain conveyor, reads its part type with cameras and tracks destination and reprocess data, so the heat treat stocker always receives the right part. A light-curtain-guarded manual load station lets parts be added without stopping automatic flow. Photo eyes confirm every position, cycle-time monitoring flags any slow transfer, and the conveyors handshake with each other, finishing and the stocker.
Equipment & Technology
- PLC per conveyor, linked to the plant network
- Touchscreen HMI
- Motor-driven roller conveyor (43 roller drive motors)
- VFD-driven 180° turntable (Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 4)
- Lifter and six-position drag chain conveyor (PowerFlex 523, 3 chain drives)
- Camera part-type identification
- Keyence photo eyes on every position
- Keyence safety light curtain at the manual load station
- Allen-Bradley Guardmaster safety relays
- SMC pneumatics with lockout start-up valves
Scope of Work
- Up-Front Engineering
- Mechanical Design
- Controls Design
- Fabrication and Assembly
- Panel Build (2 panels)
- PLC/HMI Programming
- Installation
- Commissioning
Results
The system moves castings from finishing into heat treat 24/7 with no operator, holding 99% efficiency in high-volume automotive production. Every part arrives turned, identified and in sequence, so the stocker never receives the wrong casting, and team members keep a safe walkway through the line. Each conveyor’s own panel, lockout and pneumatics let maintenance work on one independently, keeping operational availability (OA) high.