Automation shines at grote industries

Grote Industries (Madison, IN), manufacturers of head and tail lamps, dome lights, emergency lighting, flashers and LED marker lamps, has decided to implement robotic assembly to improve productivity. The robotic system, which consists of two cells with teams of robots working in close proximity to human operators, provides versatility and advanced system monitoring, interface and control. Improvement in traceability are obtained by the parts which are laser-etched with identifiers indicating the date, time and shift. The robotic assembly system's layout includes to cells, the first cell includes three six-axis HP6 robots from Motoman Inc. equipped with custom grippers and the second cell is equipped with welds, greases, laser etches, tests and labels the lamp. A graphical user interface includes visual overlays of the cell with touch screens that allows user to navigate through different layers.