The RoboDrill Med Cell is a fully integrated production machining cell that automates loading and unloading of medical device parts. It includes 5-axis machining capability for complex medical component manufacturing.

Challenging materials, complex shapes, and extremely tight tolerances characterize manufacturing challenges associated with medical devices. These same challenges present key opportunities for implementing lean practices in combination with automated manufacturing.

In the past, automation was typically associated with streamlining high-volume production. Robots performed a single task and changeovers were time-consuming, difficult, and costly. As the recession took its toll, firms were forced to rethink automated manufacturing. Machine tool builders and robotic integrators were compelled to work closely with fixture and tooling manufacturers to improve the changeover time to maintain the course of lean machining and to increase productivity of low-volume operations. One such collaborative effort took place between FANUC (fanucrobotics.com), Rochester Hills, MI, and Sudbury, MA-based Methods Machine Tools, Inc (methodsmachine.com), resulting in the development of a robotic cell for medical manufacturing and named the FANUC RoboDrill Med Cell.

The robotic cell is designed so that raw goods are staged for efficient in-feed flow and accurate part fixturing in the machine tool by the robot. The Med Cell provides 5-axis machining capability using a tilt rotary table. It is specifically geared toward short-run production requirements while maintaining a high level of unmanned operation. Med Cell provides lean automation as a complete pre-engineered, fully integrated production machining cell for automating the loading, unloading, and machining of medical device parts.

An off-the-shelf “EDM style” chuck utilizes a common fixture base, which holds the raw material. The part is mounted on a pallet, fixtured accurately and rigidly in a corresponding tooling chuck that is air-actuated, eliminating the need for new and redesigned fixturing. As machining begins, parts are machined completely for the application without interruption. Parts flow out of the cell for final packing or other required operations.

The entire process is automatic with minimal set-up required. When changeover is required for the next short run, simple modifications are made to the in-feed system and minor adjustments are made before the next run. Often, manufacturers can run several different jobs in a single set up with little or no changeover, increasing productivity and profitability of their small lot parts of varying sizes and materials.

The Med Cell commonly produces complex medical components manufactured from stainless and cobalt chrome materials on a short-run basis. In most cases these parts are exiting the machining cell completely finished, thereby providing U.S. medical device suppliers with an affordable alternative to outsourcing parts overseas.

Material flow and other considerations

Simply adding a robot to a manufacturing operation will not increase efficiency. Robotic loading in a cell requires significant consideration of raw material flow. Material handling can play a vital role in improving a manufacturing process and addressing this core issue is critical to implementing a lean automation cell.

Robot manufacturers have made material handling easy with simple-to-use software. Short-run production with robotic loading and unloading is now an affordable solution for the average job shop or a first- or second-tier medical device OEM. After tackling the raw material flow issue, handling, locating, fixturing, machining, and removal of the product from the cell need to be considered. Keeping a rapid material flow from raw goods to finished product will decrease product cycle times, increase productivity and capital equipment utilization, and decrease inventory. Smaller, customized part runs then become economically feasible.

Furthermore, when medical-device manufacturers add to their lean arsenal automation cells with capabilities such as 5-axis machining, their competitive advantage is strengthened.