BRAKE SPIDER ASSEMBLY SYSTEM

Challenge

Pentaflex Inc. specializes in heavy gage stampings and assemblies for the heavy truck industry, supplying safety-critical parts, including axel and brake components. Their current process required seven skilled workers to assemble, inspect, and pack brake spider assembly systems. With aging equipment, and an ongoing challenge to hire and retain skilled workers, Pentaflex was ready to invest in automation, and their employees.

Solution

The JR Automation design team worked side-by-side with the Pentaflex team to view their current process and understand what was required to make and ensure quality finished parts. The team then developed ideas and options for automating the process from end-to-end. The result was a semi-automated system leveraging two skilled workers for loading part components and robots to transport parts between the process stations. The main processes include welding, boring, zerk installation, retainer fastening, bushing processing, and a material handling robot for automatic pack-out. The entire process takes 20-seconds from initial load to pack-out. As a safety-critical part, Pentaflex also looked to conduct quality control checks in-line and collect data on process parameters to further validate quality finished parts while having data to review if needed.

Outcomes and Benefits

By investing in automation, Pentaflex was able to adjust production scheduling to better meet customer schedules. In-line quality inspection and data collection improved overall process control and enabled the operations team to address part issues in-the-moment. By transitioning to a process that required two, rather than seven, skilled workers, Pentaflex reassigned team members to other customer-critical operations and projects. Lastly, by reducing production times, Pentaflex was able to maximize operation efficiencies and overall profitability.