Partners primed for performance perfection

 

Optimising the production cycle through an increasingly higher level of plant automation. In order to meet this and the best needs of the automotive sector, Belotti, a leading manufacturer of high-speed machining centres based in Bergamo, Italy has developed a new solution called Belotti INTEGRALE for the processing of advanced materials in close collaboration with KUKA and Siemens.

The development of this new centre follows the DNA of the Italian company, which, since its foundation in 1979, is constantly looking for innovative solutions that improve the production cycle of customers and adapt to the use of new materials. The project itself is relevant for the intrinsic technological development for the importance of the partners involved and for the interesting commercial potential.

Belotti INTEGRALE is one of the first applications in the world to integrate robotics and CNC: the robots are controlled by Siemens numerical control through the function Sinumerik Integrated RunMyRobot. This allows the customer to program and manage the robots with ISO language - typical of industrial machinery - and it represents an innovation that became reality thanks to the collaboration of two major players such as KUKA and Siemens. Following a specific global agreement, signed in 2013, these two companies have defined an interface allowing the data exchange between their two related systems. Therefore, Siemens Sinumerik CNC is able to communicate perfectly with KUKA control software for robot management. From this, Belotti has finally integrated CNC and robot technologies within its new numerical control machine, an intelligent automation solution for the total benefit of the customer.

“Using an innovative, technical approach we have fully exploited what KUKA and Siemens previously developed,” begins Belotti’s managing director, Umberto Belotti. “We create a high-tech solution that enhances and actually differs from the traditional CNC and robotic applications, if taken separately. We firmly believe in the integration between anthropomorphic robots and Cartesian machining centres, two different technological concepts that can work together within the same line. Thanks to Belotti INTEGRALE, these two systems fully communicate with each other for the first time.”

Belotti INTEGRALE is a robotic cell that can be installed into an existing production line, offering a high-degree of modularity. In fact, the customer can choose the modules that meet his own needs during the negotiation phase or even later. Each module represents a function, a specific process that the customer wants to introduce. Compared to the traditional and closed systems, this solution therefore allows a simpler update of the entire production line, adding modules according to the required functions or the new needs. This feature provides greater flexibility as well as ease in upgrading the line without undermining previous investments.

Belotti INTEGRALE is born, not to be a special or customised system, yet a product that can be immediately included in the Belotti catalogue and portfolio. It will be immediately proposed through the international distributors’ network since its main application is typically intended for car manufacturers, a sector in which Belotti already boasts numerous, important references such as Ford, FCA Group, Automobili Lamborghini, Nissan, and Dallara.

The pilot line of Belotti INTEGRALE

The pilot line of Belotti INTEGRALE is installed in Sant'Agata Bolognese and is part of the assembly line of the Super SUV Urus by Lamborghini, a leading, Italian luxury car brand owned by the German Audi (Volkswagen Group). The customised design of Belotti INTEGRALE allows the positioning at close distances to the traditional Cartesian CNC machines already in the line, for a perfect fit both in terms of layout and of communication with the entire system already operating. Integrating with other traditional CNC machines, systems of loading/unloading pallets and equipment transfer, this new solution guarantees a high level of flexibility and attention to detail in the trimming and milling of composite materials and light alloy components, in particular carbon fibre and aluminium often used in the high-end automotive sector.

At the ground level of the machine, a rotary table located in the centre of the cell is served by two side shuttles that take the pallet from the existing system and bring it into the cell. Automatic dust-tight doors open and close quickly near the shuttle. Subsequently, the materials are machined using a KUKA QUANTEC KR 270 R2700 robot hung from the ceiling. This setting, combined with the rotary table, has been conceived to gain access to several points within the cell itself and to facilitate the machining processes since the different faces of the workpiece can be always arranged in front of the robot. The main machining operations concern milling, drilling and trimming of composite material components and other special functions required by the customer, with the possibility to install special tools to automate some processes previously done manually.

Due to space constraint, an elevated loft has been designed to manage and store the tooling that is usually positioned at the ground level. On this upper level, another KUKA KR 30 robot operates the tool change and measurement functions; while the exchange with the first robot underneath takes place through a dedicated opening in the ceiling. The upper robot accesses a 36-position tool changer also called ‘fast’ storage where it picks up the tools in use during the machining and exchange it with the other robot at the lower level. During downtime, it carries out secondary tasks: it moves the tools to a ‘slow’ chain storage as backup, so that they are always available, and it prepares the tools for the following machining operations. In addition, it picks up the tool that has just finished working from the robot on the lower floor, recognizes its specifications, detects the dimensions and place it in the appropriate storage or in another dedicated place if excessively worn or broken. The tool pre-set is done by the operator who loads the right number of needed tools at the beginning of the work cycles by means of a special elevator. This latter one brings them to the upper level, where they will be managed by the upper KUKA robot picking and reading them for confirmation, then placing them in the dedicated place. If necessary, the machine can be controlled by the operator on the lower floor, while access to the upper floor is via a staircase, for maintenance and possible control. Indeed, the heavy customization of the tooling management system aims at leaving the machine unattended even for long time.

The creation of this cutting edge Belotti solution is possible thanks to the openness and flexibility of the CNC Siemens Sinumerik 840D sl, which allows the very complex operations of the two KUKA robots to be kept ‘under control’ and programmed with ease – also managing their diagnostics – and the end-user to have a single access point for the necessary remote assistance.

The complexity of Belotti INTEGRALE is also linked to its very high-level automation, which responds to the Lamborghini’s need to optimise the production cycle, increasing the productivity of their machined car parts up to 30%.

Layout and placement

A challenge, which was a further element of complexity also from the mechanical point of view, has been addressed and solved by Belotti that designed a very particular layout for this pilot module. Belotti INTEGRALE is developed in height in order to perfectly fit into the existing space and not to collide with the beams of the building. Previously assembled for all functional tests at Belotti plant, it has been disassembled and rebuilt passing over the high-productivity production line of Lamborghini (operating almost 24/7).

As final result, this new robotic cell perfectly integrates as an autonomous, safe and reliable module within Lamborghini production, guaranteeing the customer’s increase of production to finally meet a very strong market demand. The installation, carried out with as little downtime as possible, has been completed at the end of February 2019. The test period follows now in order to actually integrate it within the Urus assembly line of Automobili Lamborghini.

Partnership with KUKA and Siemens

The input for the collaboration between Belotti and KUKA came directly by the customer, who requested KUKA as supplier for this plant’s robots, already well-known and used in Automobili Lamborghini and in Volkswagen Group manufacturing plants. The established integration of Siemens controls for the management of KUKA robots was another important aspect, also to enhance and leverage on the already acquired knowledge of Lamborghini operators in terms of CNC.

"Our company chooses a privileged supplier and unlike most of our competitors, tries to propose it to the market as a standard component of its machines,” concludes Umberto Belotti. “Our main goal is to establish real partnerships with suppliers. In addition to quality products and commercial and marketing collaborations, we also ask our suppliers for technical support, in order to develop our solutions in the best possible way. We strongly believe in this partnership model.”

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