Immediately second and third robojob tower for mecopol-kemaspray and platteau subcontracting

Things are going fast for Pieter Cappoen and the companies in which he participates: Platteau Subcontracting NV and Mecopol-Kemaspray. Early this year the two companies took a big step towards Industry 4.0 by purchasing a RoboJob Tower. Meanwhile, they ordered a second and third Tower: the second Tower for Platteau Subcontracting. The third Tower goes to sister company Mecopol-Kemaspray, where Cappoen is also shareholder and co-manager. 

For years, Platteau Subcontracting has been known for big jobs in machining: its large machining centers can mill pieces over 11 meters long. Managing director Pieter Cappoen took over the 65-year-old company 7 years ago, and saw many opportunities to expand the company's activities. Cappoen invested in new machines as well as in automation: first, a new machine was installed. Turn-Assist from RoboJob, and Early this year, a RoboJob Tower was installed to a new Mazak Integrex j-200S. 

This combination was equipped with a servo gripper on the robot and a claw changing system from SMW.  "With this combination, we can produce five or even more batches without an operator intervening."  Pieter Cappoen strongly believes in combining multitasking machines with RoboJob's flexible automation.  "Series from 15 pieces upwards we already produce fully automatic", he says proudly. "We want to bring that down even further. Customers are ordering in smaller and smaller quantities.  Eventually I want to automated machining from 2 pieces upwards."

That Cappoen believes in the Tower is evidenced by the two new orders he recently placed. One is the addition of a Tower to Platteau Subcontracting's shop floor. It too will be set up at a new Mazak Integrex j-200S. There will also be a bar feeder.  "This combination will again be fitted with the servo grabber, but this time with a Hainbuch collet changing system. That should allow us to switch even faster from product A to product B.  The flexibility is huge!"  At Platteau, meanwhile, they have also been able to build up experience using the Tower, and so the bar is being raised a bit higher: "We are going to equip 3 drawers with Hainbuch collets, and thus will also be able to produce smaller quantities fully automatically."

Also a Tower for Mecopol-Kemaspray

In Diksmuide, barely a 20-minute drive from Platteau Subcontracting, there will soon also be a Tower. There Pieter Cappoen is a shareholder and co-partner in the company Mecopol-Kemaspray.  "In 2018, together with my colleague Kathleen Kesteloot, I took over the running of the company," he said. says co-owner Christof Verhaeghe. Verhaeghe has since taken over the day-to-day management of Mecopol -Kemaspray from the previous owner, who exited the company in 2018. He, too, followed the evolutions at Platteau Subcontracting: "Mecopol-Kemaspray specializes in the machining of small series and piece work. Until recently, we thought automation was beyond us. When we do a series of 50 pieces, that's already a big series. Naturally, I was impressed by what the RoboJob Tower at Platteau can do. To such an extent that Pieter and I started investigating whether automation could also be relevant to Mecopol-Kemaspray."

"For us, too, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract good workers. A year and a half ago we purchased our Doosan DVF 5000, and it easily runs 10 to 12 hours a day," Verhaeghe knows.  "But that's purely with manual dusting. That has to change."

Mecopol-Kemaspray is investing in a Tower that will be installed at an existing Doosan DVF 5000, which can perform 5-axis simultaneous milling. To this end, the Tower will be equipped with a robot with servo gripper, which will Can load both workpieces and pallets.  "During the day we still want to continue to do complex piecework, and then the idea is to put the Tower to work mainly in the evenings and at night for serial work. That way, the work also remains exciting for our employees, because no one likes monotonous serial work here," Verhaeghe said.

"We too choose RoboJob's Tower. Of course, we also looked at other parties," explains Verhaeghe.  "But RoboJob's user-friendly and clear Software still makes all the difference. We have very little experience with car"We too choose RoboJob's Tower. Of course, we also looked at other parties," explains Verhaeghe.  "But RoboJob's user-friendly and clear Software still makes all the difference. We have very little experience with automation at Mecopol-Kemaspray, and then it is important to get the operator on board right away. Moreover, Pieter told me that at RoboJob we can count on a strong service. And The flexibility of the Tower is also fantastic: this allows you to alternate between workpiece loading and pallet loading." 

Mecopol-Kemaspray will not stop here either: "We are now building a new factory and moving at the end of this year. The Tower was already penciled into the new building, and there will be a second milling machine there in the future.  Thus, the robot will keep not one, but two machines working fully automatically."