Strong brand in steel products combines automated production line with two platform elevators

To continue to meet the increasing demand for finishing products, in 2017 Joris Ide, one of the world's leading manufacturers of steel products for roof and facade systems, invested in an automatic production line for punching and bending sheet metal into finishing profiles for industrial construction. In addition to the machine tools, this installation also includes two plate lift systems type Hänel Lean-Lift®, supplied and assembled by DDD Technics. A robot takes a plate from the automated warehouse and every 15 s a finished product rolls out of the machine.

West Flanders self-made manager Joris Ide started producing metal sheets in 1985, first for the agricultural sector and later for the construction industry in general. Since 2015, his life's work has been part of the Kingspan Group, Ireland's world leader in high-performance insulation and building envelopes, and has become one of the leading manufacturers of steel products. Its range includes sandwich panels, roof tile panels, cladding and profiles for roof, wall and facade, facade cassettes, high, concrete and gypsum profiles. "Joris Ide today represents over 370,000 tons of steel per year and more than 1,100 employees. We have 16 production sites, including three in Belgium and seven in France, and our large storage capacity of 4,000 tons allows us to deliver on short notice," explains technical project coordinator Johnny Franckaert. "Since 2017, the demand for finishing products for roof and wall has only increased. While until then all pieces were manually extracted and processed, management decided to invest in an automatic production line for punching and bending sheets. At the same time, we were looking for a solution to easily and especially efficiently store the sheets for production. This is how we arrived at automated warehouse solutions and, after thorough comparison of the possibilities, at DDD Technics and Lean-Lift®."

A platform lift system from Hänel Büro- & Lagersysteme makes maximum use of the available height of the space and parts are stored in an optimized way without loss of space in height. "The Lean-Lift® exists in models from 840 to 4,460 mm wide, with a choice of four different depths: 635, 825, 1,047 and 1,270 mm for the storage of goods with weights ranging from 300 to 1,000 kg per platform and a maximum payload per system of 60,000 kg," explains Chris Cherretté, technical commercial representative at DDD Technics. "Two platform elevators 2,800 mm wide and 6,300 mm high were built at Joris Ide, both equipped with 99 platforms with a width of 2,460 mm and a depth of 1,270 mm, each capable of carrying 400 kg. Each elevator includes an MP-N controller with an 8" full color touchscreen that is linked via the company's network to an umbrella system, which works perfectly with the other machines in this production line."

The two Lean-Lift® systems were commissioned in 2018, and at Joris Ide they are already very satisfied with both systems and service. "These automated warehouses are an important link in our automated production line. Beforehand, the flat sheet cutting machine creates sheets from rolls. These flat sheets are then manually loaded onto the trays. A robot takes them out of the elevator and places them on the belt of the production line, after which punching and folding can start. Every 15 s a finished plate leaves the machine, whereas with a manual operation it takes 2 to 5 minutes depending on the operations," Franckaert concludes. "This was our first collaboration with DDD Technics and it has been very positive. As with most installations, there were some teething problems here in the beginning, but the technical support from the distributor was optimal and ensured that everything was addressed immediately. Even today we can still contact them with any questions."