September proved to be one of the busier months with the remaining plastics departments moving from the old PMP building to the facility. Mold maintenance, CNC, and quality moved in the middle of the month, followed by the tool room and plastic injection molders.

With the help of Checkmate Industries, the plastic injection molders were moved swiftly to the new facility in just three days. Molders were then reconnected and calibrated to keep up with production schedules and to prepare for Boeing’s BAC5231 recertification.

Due to delays with a demolition permit, demo day was pushed back from early to mid-November but that didn’t slow Dickson Company from tearing down our old plastics building in less than a week. The final wall came down, marking the end of an era and the start of phase 2 construction with Washington Patriot Construction.

Construction began early December with site grading in preparation for footing and stem wall excavation, and footing forms installation.

Upcoming construction activities include concrete footing placement with 100+ yards of concrete being poured starting Dec. 13^th, stem wall form and rebar installation, underground plumbing and electrical installation, and slab on grade in early January.

Substantial completion of the Tool Gauge expansion project is scheduled for May 11, 2020 with an open house scheduled in June.

When completed, Phase 2 of the expansion project will include an industry leading paint line, QA lab, training and lunchroom area, employee lockers and restrooms, offices and facility lobby. Other important expansion details include:

• •An additional 80,000 sq. ft. in our plastics division
• •Expansion of our plastics press size range
• •Broadened secondary operations, improving flow and ergonomic assembly
• •Installation of a state-of-the-art vertical paint system
• •New research and development center
• •Implementation of multiple collaborative robots (cobots)
• •An additional 2,000 sq. ft. for CNC machines and equipment within our metals division

If you’ve been keeping up with our social media outlets and blog posts, you may have noticed we’ve already started taking action on expanding our plastic presses and evaluating new technology for the factory floor.

We’ve received one of our five new plastic injection molders, a bright green Engel 1250 equipped with a Viper 50 robot. Once up and running, this machine will be molding interior parts for Boeing’s 777x and 737 aircrafts. In the next coming week, we will be receiving four additional Engel 85-340 ton molders for the plastics factory floor.

Management and engineering teams have also evaluated new types cobots for the plastics division, including an autonomous mobile robot (amr) from Mobile Industrial Robots (Mir). Olympus Controls visited Tool Gauge in late November to demonstrate their MiR500, which is a prime candidate to autonomously transport material and finished goods from various departments in the new facility. Both teams will continue to evaluate MiR as they review proof of concepts and ROI before purchasing a model. Click here for more information on our automation strategy with MiR robots.

We invite you to follow along with the last leg of our expansion journey by watching our 24 hour Workzone Cam and on our social media handles.

The post Facility Expansion Update – Winter 2019 appeared first on Tool Gauge.

In the continued pursuit of implementing new technology and increasing automation throughout our plastics and metals division, Tool Gauge management and engineering are in the first phase of evaluating new cobots from Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR).

Robotic specialists from Olympus Controls were onsite in late November to demonstrate the capabilities of their MiR500, one of four MiR autonomous mobile robot (AMR) models.

The MiR cobot fleet is a cost-effective way to quickly automate internal transportation and logistics of goods throughout various industry facilities. These robots optimize workflow, freeing employees for more valuable tasks, ultimately increasing productivity and reducing costs.

Over the next few months, Tool Gauge management and engineers will continue to research and evaluate smaller models of the MiR fleet to determine which departments would best utilize the robot. Material staging at presses, kitting operations, and our future paint department are areas considered to receive MiR robots. After proof of concept (POC) and ROI has been assessed, we will add 3-5 more MiR robots over the next few years.

Factors to be assessed before the first robot is purchased will be size, how to successfully (and safely) integrate the robot into daily operations, ROI, and proof of concept. If the robot is successfully integrated into facility operations, 3-5 more MiR robots will be purchased over the span of a few years.

For more information on MiR and their autonomous mobile robots, click here. Check page continously on our blog page for more information on our automation strategy!

The post Tool Gauge Evaluates MiR for New Plastics Facility appeared first on Tool Gauge.