Frontline benefits from ABB’s robotic technology

ABB Australia Pty Ltd
Saturday, 05 June, 2010

Producing perfect aluminium welds and eliminating harmful dust during polishing operations has been achieved by the acquisition of a series of CSF (Complete Surface Finishing) robotic solutions at Frontline Australasia at its plant in outer south-east Melbourne.

The systems, designed, manufactured and installed by CSF Australia using ABB robots, have produced a series of important benefits for Frontline, by greatly improving the quality of the welded aluminium products while abolishing the dirty manual labour that was previously a by-product of the manufacturing process.

Frontline is an Australian company that manufactures components for the defence and automotive industry. CEO Kevin Hooper explained that 30% of their production is for defence and 70% for the automotive market. “We manufacture locally fitted components for the automotive market sector; supplying manufacturers such as Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Mitsubishi and Kia.”

With the Australian manufacturing sector under extreme competitive pressures from suppliers in Thailand, Vietnam and China, the future of the local industry depends on the application of best available technology and the local expert knowledge base to remain viable. “Cost savings and annual productivity increases of 20% are essential for us to maintain the edge over imports,” Hooper said.

“The ABB robots have produced a productivity increase of 45%, with another 20% in the pipeline over the next 12 months. We need to become more efficient, and industry players working in cooperation with governments and academia is an important partnership to offset the growing impact of overseas competition on the Australian manufacturing sector,” Hooper said.

The robots can handle an almost unlimited range of intricate welding patterns, with uniformly consistent quality outcomes.

Turning to the relationship with ABB and CSF, Hooper described it as first class, with good technical backup and technical support, training, availability of spare parts and prompt service when the need arises, ensuring seamless operation of 20 hours a day, six days a week for the six ABB robots. The initial robot was purchased four years ago, with five additional units added over the last nine months.

Among these are a twin polishing robotic cell with two IRB 6640 robots, an aluminium robotic welding cell with one IRB 2400 robot and Fronius welding source, and a water jet robotic cutting cell with one IRB 4400 robot Foundry protected.

Apart from the welding processes, Frontline, supported by a $1.5 million grant from the federal government, has also developed a globally patented process for manufacturing titanium pipes to be price competitive with stainless steel pipes. This process can produce titanium pipes at a cost of about 25% of product currently available from existing technology.

The close cooperation between CSF and ABB was a very important element in providing the specialised technology that has provided the equipment to Frontline.

Frederick Kolak, director of CSF, described the development of the latest robotic applications as initially originating with the supply of robotic polishing cells. “Polishing represents a major production cost, and an area where robots can produce significant savings. This cooperation later evolved into the development of welding robots to handle the first mass-produced bull bar line.

“One of the challenges was to design the software that would successfully weld two separate aluminium alloys, requiring different temperature settings, and allowing round-the-clock production,” Kolak said.

Turning to robotics in general, Kolak said that designing and innovating new product applications is vital to keep work in Australia, as well as promoting export opportunities.

Kolak said there are opportunities for exporting to the Asian market, as our geographic location can provide short time lines of service, giving Australian-based companies a distinct advantage over European suppliers in this region. CSF is currently working on a range of innovative projects, adapting robots to surface finishing, with R&D and software development a vital component for optimum benefit to industry.

CSF provides extensive and ongoing post installation support and training as part of the service they provide. “We have been working with ABB for over three years now, and can only describe their quality and total support as a major factor that enables us to provide total solutions to our clients’ needs,” Kolak said.