October 2019

36 n MACHINE BUILDING October 2019 www.drivesncontrols.com Automation raises spirits at ceramic flagon-maker W ade Ceramics, located in Stoke- on-Trent, is one of Staffordshire’s oldest pottery businesses, and can trace its history back to its establishment in 1810. The company operates two production sites, one of which specialises in producing flagon containers for manufacturers of alcoholic spirits. It makes both refillable and non-refillable versions, sometimes using bespoke designs. Producing the hand-crafted flagons is an intricate process. Each flagon passes through multiple stages, beginning with casting in clay, passing through to decoration and inspection of the final glazed product, before reaching packaging and despatch. Each flagon is fired twice in kilns – initially after the casting and fettling stage, and once again after the coloured glazing that gives each flagon its distinctive finish has been applied. Each container needs to be produced to the tightest possible tolerances to ensure that it meets the company’s strict standards. Because each flagon takes between 16 to 20 hours to produce, it is essential to minimise the risk of any problems occurring during the various manufacturing processes. Faced with an increasing demand for its products, Wade decided to enhance its production processes by introducing automation. When drawing up the case for automation, it identified several objectives, including introducing technology to maintain the highest levels of consistency and to eliminate potential quality issues. One example was the positioning of individual flagons before the first kiln firing. If they are too close together, they could fused during the firing process, resulting in them having to be scrapped. To ensure that the flagons were placed repeatably, two robot cells incorporating ABB robots were installed at the in- feed to the first kiln. Each cell includes a machine vision system which locates the flagon as it is presented to the in-feed area and ensures that it is subsequently placed correctly by the robot to prevent fusing during the kiln firing. Another issue that the company turned to automation to solve was inconsistencies in the glazing around the base of the flagons. The glaze, which is applied as a powder coating, gives each container a distinctive colour. Wade’s high product quality standards require that the glaze must be applied evenly over the complete surface of every flagon. Previously, imprecise wiping following the application of the glazing powder could cause some of the powder to be removed from the bottom of the flagons, potentially resulting in an uneven finish. Wood Automation & Control’s Systems Division developed a robotic cell incorporating an automated “foot-wiping” system that ensures precise and consistent wiping of each flagon base, without removing the glazing powder. This cell also uses an ABB robot, which picks up each flagon and presents it to a rotating cleaning mat for wiping, before passing it on to the conveyor for the second kiln. “One of the biggest hurdles in developing the foot-wiping cell was the need for the robot to be able to keep pace with the powder-glazing machine,” recalls Simon Miles, Wood’s applications and proposals manager. “To keep everything perfectly synchronised, we needed to complete the foot-wiping process within a target Takt time of just 16 seconds.” To achieve this meant not only getting the products to the robot from the glazing machine, but also making sure that the flagons were tracked when they arrived at the robot and when they were subsequently arranged on the kiln batts, located on the out-feed conveyor to the second kiln. “Getting the process exactly right involved extensive testing to arrive at the optimum configuration that would allow the cell to operate at the A Stoke-on-Trent ceramics manufacturer has turned to automation to help it increase output, enhance the quality and improve the consistency of the processes it uses to produce containers for luxury spirits. One of Wade Ceramics’ specialities is producing bespoke containers for luxury spirits