The automotive industry, aeronautics, rail… Each sector has its own needs and demands, and each one benefits in its own unique way from the advantages offered by process automation. That’s why here at Aritex, our know-how is our greatest asset, because understanding, planning and the determination to succeed in whatever we do are key factors in making any part of a production line work.
Automotive industry, the leader in robotisation
The vehicle manufacturing industry is the sector that has benefited most from automated robotics, partly because it has to produce a large number of units and also because of the standardisation levels in components and processes. These requirements are an integral part of a sector that needs to achieve highly efficient mass production levels and comply with demanding ratios such as a complete vehicle leaving an assembly line every two minutes. The need to meet such results and the constant search for improvements would be pipe dreams without automated solutions.
The most outstanding applications offered by Aritex include handling components, robotised welding, bolting and quality measurement and control stations. We’ve also developed automatic bodywork welding systems, components assembly lines and finish lines. Although vehicles made by different manufacturers are similar in up to 90% of their assembly processes, the solutions have to be adapted to enable client-driven customisation. The trend in recent years has been automation of intralogistics, where Aritex also offers solutions that use state-of-the-art technology.
Thanks to standardised process automation, the automotive sector can manufacture more, more cheaply and more rapidly: another example of just how necessary experts like the Aritex team are for this type of solution. See some of our projects in this sector.
Aeronautics: automation adapted to market needs
If someone from the automotive industry were to look at the air transport sector, they might think that the automated solutions for the aeronautics industry are doomed to failure. This error has been around for a very long time, partly because this sector has tried to achieve the same levels of automation as the automotive industry. But planes are not the same as cars, and many of the solutions applied to automobile construction are simply unfeasible due to the limitations in terms of dimensions and number of units in aeronautics.
If a car is estimated to leave the assembly line every two minutes, the highest equivalent ratio for commercial aircraft is 60 units a month. Although production levels for different sectors shouldn’t be compared, production lines with more automated solutions aim to raise production to up to 80 aircraft a month.
So, what does process automation in the aeronautics sector provide? More safety and more precision. It’s not the same thing to robotise the handling of parts with fine thicknesses and a maximum size of two metres, as is the case in the automotive sector, as it is to work with the much larger dimensions and weights common to aircraft parts manufacture. What’s more, the automotive sector requires drilling and bolting precisions of about a millimetre, while the margins of error in aeronautics are measured in tenths or even hundredths of a millimetre. A real challenge in detail engineering. The standard tolerances of a robot don’t reach aeronautics sector requirements, and so Aritex has added artificial vision systems that take robots to the very limits of what is possible.
Work as complex as this is only possible thanks to the efforts and skill of professionals like the ones here at Aritex and its divisions, which offer differentiated solutions and products and ensure that they are totally adapted to our client’s needs, with our commitment to expertise and quality.
One of the main divisions of Aritex involved in the automation of the aeronautics sector is Loxin. Automatic solutions for measuring, drilling and riveting, combined with specific systems and software, enable repetitive tasks in aircraft construction to be completed easily, accurately and safely. Operators are freed from responsibilities and risks. Here’s an example: in the traditional system thousands of perforations were drilled manually using special drills and high-precision drilling templates. But now, thanks to the Loxin CNC system, operators only have to do 10-20% of this work, automated processes take care of the rest.
In other tasks such as transferring or turning parts, the Aritex and Loxin automated systems can move several elements (geometric structures, tools or aircraft parts) to a geometrically perfect position all at the same time. Valuable time is saved because there’s no more need to move elements individually.
Certified quality processes in the rail sector
Highly repetitive welding and drilling work is also very common in the rail sector, but with less demanding precision requirements that are closer to the ones in the automobile sector. However, the dimensions and ratios used in the rail industry are much closer to those in aeronautics. To achieve maximum competitiveness in the market, the rail sector needs a certain degree of automation. The added value of automation in the production of wagons for rail transport can be seen in the quality and precision of the drilling, welding and grinding of parts.
Automation and Loxin robots enable thousands of identical perforations to be made in the same location in all the wagons they work on. The resulting savings in time and costs offer benefits to clients in the rail sector, along with quality levels comparable to the ones used in manual processes, with the added advantage of being consistent over time and is therefore certifiable as a guarantee of better results since there is no longer any potential human error. What’s more, the robots are programmable and can therefore be easily and precisely adapted to any part in the production line.
Similar benefits can be seen in the robots used in welding processes. The results are as impeccable as the ones you see with an expert human welder, with the added advantage of automated welding solutions that can make up for the current shortages in this type of skilled worker in industry.
These are just some of the markets where Aritex and its innovative solutions participate. Our clients can count on over 60 years’ experience, knowledge and resources. Whatever the sector and its unique challenges, Aritex knows why, how and when to successfully automate your processes and offer complete client satisfaction.
If you want to explore even more about the benefits of automation in other sectors, you will soon be able to read our article on the “Benefits of Aritex process automation in wind, construction and logistics”.
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