It comes as little to no surprise that a rising number of manufacturing companies of all types and sizes are investing heavily into automating their manufacturing processes. With Industry 4.0 proving to be a key driver of improved process effectiveness inside manufacturing plants, automation has become paramount within production procedures to reduce or replace work traditionally done solely by employees. Following the trend is automated riveting, reports Germany-headquartered rivet and tooling supplier GESIPA.
Firstly, it is important to understand the benefits of automated riveting. Automation in any manufacturing setting provides the obvious benefits of increased efficiency, greater flexibility and improved workplace safety. However, when automating a riveting process, there is an extended list of benefits.
Automating your riveting process allows companies to:
- Reduce issues of inconsistencies. Inconsistencies during a blind rivet's setting process is a common factor that occurs when using manually operated or hand-held riveting tools during mass production due to the high levels of accuracy and repeatability required to manually line up a rivet each time one is being set.
Inconsistencies in the rivet setting process can lead to product quality problems further down the production line. Using an automated riveting solution such as integration with a collaborative robot which repeatedly follows exact processes and pre-determined workflows with precision, will significantly reduce the risk of possible reject parts.
- Improve rivet cycle times. Rivet cycle time refers to the amount of time it takes to set a singular rivet from start to finish. This includes the operator picking up the rivet, placing it in the application, and using the rivet setting tool to set the rivet. On average, GESIPA found that it takes approximately 4.8 seconds using a battery powered hand-held rivet tool to set a singular rivet, equating to 12 rivets being set per minute, per operator, at peak capacity. Using an automated riveting solution such as GESIPA's GAV8000 more than halves the rivet cycle time and has the ability to set up to 40 rivets per minute.
- Eliminate the risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI). As manual riveting tends to be a taxing motion on the wrist and forearm, the risk of RSI is possible when setting large quantities of rivets on a constant basis. By using even a semi-automated riveting solution, it removes the risk of operators sustaining damage to muscles or tendons from continuous riveting. Is automating the riveting process right for your organisation and for your application? Evaluating whether or not your company is ready to or even needs to automate its riveting process is important. Here’s some questions to help evaluate whether or not your riveting process is suitable for automation:
- How many rivets are you setting? Does your current riveting process consist of only setting the odd rivet into an application? If that's the case, then an automated solution isn't the one for you. As an automated riveting solution tends to be more costly than that of a manual riveting tool, you'll need to ensure that it will provide a return on investment. A recent study by GESIPA’s research and development team in Germany found that an automated riveting system is cost effective when setting an annual quantity of more than 500,000 blind rivets (in relation to the German market).
- What is your current rivet setting process? If your organisation's current riveting process is providing strain on your workforce or the process flow is inconsistent, then opting to automate your riveting process would be the correct decision. By automating just parts of the riveting process can eliminate the need for a large team of operators, freeing up staff who can be utilised in other areas.
- Do you need to collect data from the rivets being set? Especially during the production of safety critical components, it is becoming increasingly important for manufacturers to be able to collect and store data during the manufacturing process. Data is used by manufacturers to ensure safety and efficiency and can even help organisations avoid legal liability due to quality control standards. Unlike manual riveting tools, all automated riveting systems are equipped with process control monitoring which allows an organisation to document that each rivet is being set correctly.
Choosing the correct automated solution - semi-automatic vs fully-automatic riveting
Like all automated systems, automatic rivet tooling is segmented into two groups - semi-automatic and fully-automatic.
Semi-automatic riveting systems are useful for companies that need to improve their rivet setting process but aren’t able to completely remove the operator assistance due to space restraints or particularly complex applications. Using a semi-automated riveting system such as GESIPA's GAV8000 or GAV HF with a standard pistol, allows the operator full control over the setting process, however, eliminates the need to manually feed each rivet into the tool and remove spent mandrels.
Fully-automatic riveting systems start the riveting process and finish it with no operator assistance whatsoever. Companies that opt for fully automatic riveting systems typically already operate automated equipment within their facilities, and are aiming to keep long-term costs low. GESIPA's full range of automatic riveting machines can be integrated and mounted to robotic technology reducing the need for any manpower.
This article was originally published here
