How automation can improve quality in medical manufacturing industry

Regardless of the type of machine tool technology they use, medical manufacturers demand that it provides 24/7 unattended production. The overall goal is to lower the price per part by reducing the need for operator intervention as much as possible as well as increase process stability. The medical manufacturing industry demands automation that ensures process consistency, improves quality, helps lower overall costs, and reduces the risk of scrap while also boosting the output of existing workforces and manufacturing capacity to meet production demands.

Automation, as it pertains to part machining operations including those in the medical industry, comes in various sizes, forms, and configurations. Most, if not all, provide the speed and flexibility to adapt to any production application, including high-mix/low-volume and high-production scenarios.

Within the medical industry, automation ranges from simple barfeeders and overhead gantry systems to two-pallet changers, pallet pulls, load/unload robots, and full palletized systems. That automation can also include in-process measurement and surface scanning probes for part inspection and traceability.

Because medical applications/parts can run extended periods of time because of extensive contouring of surfaces and complex features, manufacturers will operate multiple machines either fully unattended or with one person overseeing multiple machines thanks to automation ascendance. Their goal is to eliminate the need for operators to interrupt machining cycles to perform offset adjustments, tool changes, or other related tasks.

For one large OEM medical manufacturer, gantry-type robot automation along with special workholding/fixtures proved critical in the company’s small-size part production. Such gantry automation, often used on multi-tasking machines can pick up fixtures loaded with multiple parts from conveyors and move them into the machines.

The fixtures designed with special V-flanges serve as a common robot pickup point. This means the automation handles/loads the same simple shape as opposed to developing special fixturing and trying to load difficult-to-handle individual part shapes. This common V-flange fixture system offers exceptional chucking repeatability and part clocking while allowing for part setups outside of the machines to eliminate having to change fixturing for various part numbers.

In addition to incorporating factory gantry automation, another medical manufacturer applied stand-alone robot automation to feed multiple machines. The gantries load and unload workpieces into multi-tasking CNC turning centers with dual turning spindles and dual turrets with milling tools and Y-axis off-centerline capability, while the stand-alone robots serve another multi-tasking machine that features a C-axis turning spindle and B-axis milling spindle. Plus, both machines include proprietary changes that help overcome specific processing challenges.

For most medical manufacturing companies, multi-tasking machines are inherently automated or automation ready. The machines mill, turn, drill and perform full 5-axis profiling of part features with high accuracy and precision, but most importantly for medical manufacturers, they significantly reduce setup time with their ability to perform most, if not all, of a workpiece’s machining features in one cycle. Additionally, the combination of operations achieved with a multi-tasking machine dramatically reduces the risk of inaccuracies that occur when workpieces travel across multiple workstations, as well as eliminates work-in-process (WIP) inventory that might otherwise wait between stand-alone machine tools.

Without the need to transfer workpieces from one machine to the next, multi-tasking machines require minimal human intervention and can operate unattended for longer periods of time. They allow medical manufacturers to accomplish more with fewer machine tools on their factory floors, which saves valuable production space. Fewer required machines, in turn, result in lower production costs and shorter job turnaround times.

Cost per part reduction is the main driver of automation and advanced machine tool technology like multi-tasking machines in the medical industry because those manufacturers are under constant medical insurance pressure to reduce their prices. In addition to cost pressure, the medical industry has essentially become a high-volume production industry because of the aging population requiring implants and other medical procedures.

It is for these reasons that medical manufacturers want more built-in automation in their machine tools along with in-process probing. They strive for the ability to produce parts on one machine and in single-part setups. Machine consistency, reliability, and accuracy along with service support from machine tool suppliers are all critical, as are complete processes with all the necessary tooling, workholding, and automation that allow those manufacturers to achieve specific target cycle times.

Levels of automation for medical manufacturers
For immediate increases in productivity, integrated bar feeders and a parts catcher or simple unloader are a basic low-cost form of automation. They help shops maximize material utilization and ensure the highest levels of throughput and quality from turning machine operations.

Factory gantry loaders provide fast loading and unloading for high-volume manufacturing, while also delivering more versatility, flexibility, and productivity for chuck and shaft work through various variety loading stations and robotic hand options. The systems are easy to install and operate and are a quick, turnkey solution for immediate lights-out solutions.

On the automated palletized system side, compact multiple-pallet stocker designs are ideal for medical manufacturers who require basic automation to increase productivity and/or have limited floor space that prevents the installation of a system with a horizontal pallet stocker.

Full palletized systems bring high-levels of flexibility/scheduling and efficiency to high-mix, low-volume production as well as high-volume operations in medical manufacturing. Such systems are often fully compatible with a range of horizontal machining centers and multi-tasking machines and are available in single, double, triple-level pallet stocker configurations and with mixtures of different pallet sizes as well. The most effective of these types of systems are those that are modular, pre-engineered constructions that easily expand along with growing production needs. Such systems also offer advanced cell controller technology that allows medical manufacturers to configure the system to their ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, which is a game changer for those manufacturers.

An advanced alternative to traditional production, articulated robots provide automation for one or multiple machines as well as part transfers to peripheral operations. Collaborative cobot systems, for example, are basically rolled-up to multiple machines and offer cost-effective machine loading and unloading.

Regardless of automation type, medical manufacturers look to machine tool OEMs that engineer all their machines for easy automation integration and to match the right automation to the application at hand. These OEMs often provide medical manufacturers with a comprehensive range of scalable automation solutions, whether standard or custom. Through the use of in-house automation experts, OEMs can design and develop automation solutions for new machines as well as for retrofitting to existing equipment. Medical Product Outsourcing