Automotive Supplier Cuts Costs with Robot Laser Cutting Automation

WKW North America is a Tier 1 automotive supplier of aluminum anodized extrusions. They recently selected Shape Process Automation (SPA), a FANUC Authorized System Integrator, to design an automated solution to produce structural aluminum parts at their facility in Portage, Michigan. Initially, WKW requested standard islands of automation, but after the team at SPA explored cost models using their ROI automation tools, the alternate solution achieved a more cost-effective approach to producing the parts.

The fully automated laser cutting system includes multiple FANUC six-axis robots equipped with SPA’s innovative three-axis laser cutting head called NEWTON®. The robots are extremely repeatable and consistently find the right location on the part for laser processing. The NEWTON® cutting head device provides down to ±50µm accuracy as it cuts the required shape. NEWTON® works at far higher speeds and accuracy than previous robotic laser cutting systems.

The combination of traditional robotic laser-cutting technology with SPA’s NEWTON ® proprietary laser cutting head has allowed WKW North America to achieve their goals and experience significant cost savings.

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This technology is very robust, dependable, and precise – and it’s easy to use. The lowest cycle time we have is 26 seconds per part. We can get over a thousand parts in an 8-hour shift. It's very exciting, honestly, pressing the start button and it’s ready to go.

Justin Bald Manufacturing Engineer – WKW North America