Founded in the 1940s, German company burgbad started out as a manufacturer of wooden building blocks and coffee grinders. The company then went on to produce functional bathroom furniture from 1965. Today, burgbad is known not only for its high-quality products that are “Made in Germany”, but also for its sustainable production and delivery processes – as demonstrated by accolades such as being named the first climate-neutral bathroom furniture manufacturer in the world.
Customer:
burgbad GmbH
https://burgbad.de/en/
the starting point:
On the lookout for a partner with expertise in robotics
Until now, burgbad had always produced the drawers and pullout compartments for its high-quality bathroom furniture by hand using manual assembly presses. Although this process ensured that each product was of excellent quality, it was expensive and time-consuming. When searching for a partner with experience in successfully automating similar production processes, burgbad decided to work with toolcraft.
The Challenge:
Fully automated assembly process for strict quality requirements
To accommodate the wide range of design options to be produced, toolcraft had to develop a brand new assembly process with three variable presses, five robots and many different feed-in points for the various components, such as frames, siphon covers, screws and rear panels of different sizes and widths. The system also had to be able to produce a batch size of 1 and deliver high output with a low cycle time. To produce customised drawers with widths that differ by increments of 1 mm, the system had to recognise and capture the shape and position of the individual parts being fed in and also connect to the production planning system.
This is where toolcraft’s automation experts tackled the challenge of implementing a reliable process using smart camera and sensor technology. Here, it was essential that the manufacturing sequence could be followed with absolutely no deviations because a downstream process was dependent on the drawer production output. It was also vital that the manufacturing process produced consistently high quality.
The Approach:
Precise planning and implementation
- Preliminary design phase followed by a test phase for the critical steps in the process
- Exact definition of how to implement the system and of the process workflow
- Detailed planning and development of the design
- Assembly, programming and test phase with start-up for the first time at toolcraft
- Disassembly and packing up of the system at toolcraft
- Set-up and start-up of the system at burgbad in Greding
- Training for the responsible production and maintenance staff at burgbad
- Support during series production runs following system implementation
The Results:
Quality improved thanks to technical progress
The short cycle time achieved by automating the process increased output significantly. toolcraft successfully helped burgbad automate more of its manufacturing process, making the process more profitable and efficient.
