The customer was looking for a solution for handling round cell housings and the associated transport containers. The basic requirement was that the system had to be proven and have familiar concepts to minimize the project risk.
In the past, PIA had already implemented a large number of loading and unloading systems. Because they operated with excellent reliability and availability, it led to a high level of customer satisfaction.
PIA had already demonstrated we could meet the performance on a smaller system in previous years, which helped us win the new contract. The order comprised of 18 Loader machines, 4 Stacker machines and 2 Wash Tray Handling Systems. To maintain a cost-efficient system the line made use of PIA and Customer standards.
The Loader machine utilized two parallel tray handling lanes to drive throughput of 480 cell housings per minute. Each side of the Loader machine serves one upstream cell housing forming press, each of which runs at speeds of 200 cell housings per minute. The trays then feed into a gantry system ready to be stacked. One tray holds 480 housings. With 9 trays stacked on top of each other, the Loader machine has prepared 4320 housings ready to be released to the next process via an AMR.