Small on space, big on output
For its Spanish customer Gamadecor, the IMA Schelling Group designed a plant which handles above-average shift volumes in limited space. To do so, the plant builder developed several original solutions for the machining process.
IMA Schelling is repeatedly faced with highly specific requirements. One very special request came from the Spanish manufacturer Gamadecor. With 35 years of experience in the industry, they are the biggest kitchen manufacturer in Spain. Thanks to a global network of specialist stores, the company's kitchen, bathroom and home furniture can be found virtually anywhere in the world.
Gamadecor commissioned IMA Schelling to produce a fully interlinked, fully automated batch size 1 plant for the production of fronts and cabinet items, which also had to fulfil two specific requirements: it had to be connected to the existing assembly line in a narrow space and it had to achieve a capacity of at least 1300 to 1400 components per shift.
Intensive planning and development process
"This was actually a real challenge," explains Ralf Schumacher, Sales Area Manager at IMA Schelling. An intensive planning and design process was needed. The engineers at IMA Schelling travelled to the city of Villereal in the east of Spain to take a look at the production conditions on site. They planned, developed and sought out creative designs, before settling on a solution which fulfilled all of the requirements.
At the heart of the concept lies a Performance.cut batch size 1 cutting and machining plant. Equipped with milling units, not only can it cut boards to size, it can also carry out additional tasks such as grooving and drilling, as well as rabbeting and diagonal cutting. To further increase the machine's capacity, the experts at IMA Schelling equipped it with two main spindles. As a result, the Performance.cut processes an outstanding 1750 components per shift. "This means the total output requested by Gamadecor can be achieved with just one machine. And needless to say, this saves space," stresses Schumacher. It also reduces the cost of investments, the suction system and operating personnel.
Four options for feeding and discharging
Attached to the IMA Schelling solution is a Combima combined automatic formatting and edge processing machine on which the boards can be edge-banded using glue or a laser, as required. A vertical parts buffer is connected between the two machines to compensate for differences in output.
At the customer's request, the plant was equipped with a total of four options for feeding and discharging parts. After the Performance.cut, residual parts can be removed, cut to size on a saw and then fed back in. The same is possible after the edge processing and before sorting.
Transport units staggered horizontally
To save even more space, the experts at IMA Schelling configured the transport units on two levels, horizontally above one another, in various locations. This makes the material flow exceptionally efficient and enabled optimum integration into Gamadecor's existing processes. The entire plant is controlled via the IPC.Net control system from IMA Schelling. This is a huge benefit to customers as they receive everything from a single source – meaning there are no interface problems.
Optimised process thanks to parallel milling station
While this fulfilled Gamadecor's essential requirements, they also had two additional specific requests. Gamadecor also needs to profile MDF fronts as well as particle board components, which means additional machining time and machines. IMA Schelling came up with an original solution which saves time during machining. A parallel milling station was incorporated for particle board components such as shelves which only need a glued edge on their long side. This processes the edges of shelves in just two passes, instead of the usual four.
Gamadecor requested that the workpieces be upright at the end of the machining process, so IMA Schelling came up with a solution for this too. "We integrated a dynamic workpiece turner in front of the sorting unit and a workpiece upending station after it," explains Schumacher. For the sorting itself, IMA Schelling developed two highly-efficient sorting cells, each with a Robot.sort robot and four sorting shelves. Together these can manage the cut-to-size parts from one shift.
High-tech plant with original production processes
The customer's specific requirements set the benchmark for the development and project planning work at IMA Schelling. "We planned a complete custom solution for Gamadecor, incorporating our high-tech plants, with some truly original production processes," stresses Schumacher. Engineers and experts in material flow simulation, plant control, robotics, cut-to-size and performance calculations as well as plant design all work together in IMA Schelling's development team to come up with a solution which satisfies all the customer's requirements – no matter how challenging the task.
