PS Autogrinding Ltd and the Polish Market:
Based in Scotland and formed in 2001, PSAG is the sole distributor of Koyama Automatic grinding machines across EMEA with its Subsidiary PS FoundryTech GmbH located in Germany. PSAG has built up an efficient network of agents over time. Paul Smith, the Founder, is proud to celebrate the 20 years old of the company. And it will not be 20 candles that we will blow out but more than 500 as the number of machines sold since its inception.
Providing machines for ferrous and non-ferrous foundries, service, training and spares PSAG & PSFT has grown from modest beginnings into the leading supplier of automatic grinding systems. PSAG has developed its own Robotic Loading Cell and machine’s options for a customization controlled and without unpleasant surprises.
With a first machine installed in 2007, the Polish Market isn’t the biggest with 28 machines installed in comparison of the 139 in UK, the 67 in Turkey or the 61 in Germany but it’s a fast-growing market with foundries moving ahead.
Eurocast Industries sp zo. o. sk, our agent, is an engineering company operating in two fields: casting production and foundry modernization. With a dazzling success supported by the spread of good reputation of efficiency and reliability of the machines already installed,
Victaulic Polska was tempted by the Koyama technology in 2018 and is currently equipped with 6 machines 400Si (One operator managing 2 machines and cylindricity test)
Customer Presentation:
Victaulic is a global manufacturer of mechanical pipe joining methods (fittings & couplings), flow control and fire protection systems and is the inventor of the grooved pipe coupling. The company build innovative technologies and provide engineering services that address complex piping challenges faced by engineers, contractors, distributors, site owners and property managers.
Patented in 1919, the “victory joint,” a revolutionary innovation that allows pipes to be coupled or joined without threading or flanging was adopted by a wide range of industries and, in 1925, Victaulic Company of America was founded. Derived from the words “victory” and “hydraulic”, Victaulic continues to craft unconventional solutions that exceed customer and industry expectations.
Victaulic Group has 13 Manufacturing Facilities, 3000 Distribution Centers, 5 Foundries and 4000 employees.
1999, Victaulic purchased the Polcast foundry, a supplier of ductile iron castings. Victaulic Polska sp zoo is located in Drezdenko (Poland), just 100km from the German border and is part of the Primary Metals Manufacturing Industry. The company has 581 employees at this location in the Victaulic Polska sp zoo corporate family currently.
Victaulic has high quality foundries in China, Mexico, Poland and the USA. For the Polish site, this corporate support that it got to the planning some new investment projects like the finishing shop “inline” with the P.S. Autogrinding Ltd offering The Koyama robotic grinding centers.
Some Victaulic’s technical aspect to understand the casting’s specification:
In our present Foundry’ case of iron fitting, the pipe groove is deburred into the ends of two pipes. A gasket wraps around and on top of the pipe ends, the housings wrap around the gasket and sit in the pipe grooves, and the bolts and nuts are tightened with a wrench to hold it all together. We can easily imagine the possible damage on the seal caused by any residual chips coming for the grinding wheel after the finishing operation…
Victaulic and a choice of automatization:
Automatization of the grinding tasks has almost become an obligation because of the recruitment issues in view of the demographic trend and cultural social changes.
After the reconstruction efforts of the second world war and the Thirty years of prosperity, a lot of countries dropped the manual work education and encouraged more intellectual trades. The candidates for grinding tasks are mainly “left out people of this system”. No one becomes a grinder by choice, this kind of job doesn’t attract on the long term.
The cost of labor is never the first argument, but rather the recruiting difficulties.
It’s also the bottle neck elimination in an inline organization.
Fitting ref. tested | Before | hours | Profit | speed up |
Medium monthly series on Aug 2020 | manual grinding (hr) | KOYAMA (hr) | (hr) | (factor x) |
3 1FL | 27,66 | 19,17 | 8,49 | 1,4 |
4 1FL | 16,89 | 7,60 | 9,29 | 2,2 |
76,1 1 FL | 50,83 | 31,95 | 18,88 | 1,6 |
11/2 No10 | 2,00 | 0,50 | 1,50 | 4,0 |
4 No10 | 6,36 | 3,04 | 3,32 | 2,1 |
3" - No10 | 2,73 | 0,81 | 1,92 | 3,4 |
11/2 No20 | 17,37 | 8,62 | 8,75 | 2,0 |
11/4 No20 | 31,94 | 7,91 | 24,03 | 4,0 |
2 1FL | 69,90 | 41,39 | 28,51 | 1,7 |
2 1/2 - 1FL | 33,95 | 23,34 | 10,61 | 1,5 |
76,1 2 FL | 9,64 | 2,11 | 7,53 | 4,6 |
76,1 - No10 | ||||
1 1/4 No10 | 14,51 | 9,24 | 5,28 | 1,6 |
3 No20 | 8,73 | 2,44 | 6,29 | 3,6 |
On the same sampling of references from the beginning of 2020 (including ramp up & production hazard)
Fitting tested 2020 | Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | Jun. | Jul. | Aug. |
3 1FL | 21 | 27 | 28 | 88,73 | 22,07 | 70,76 | 80,44 | 8,49 |
4 1FL | 212 | 131 | 85 | 138,5 | 155,3 | 124,2 | 167,5 | 9,29 |
76,1 1 FL | 144 | 72 | 73 | 50,19 | 58,07 | 44,87 | 76,09 | 18,88 |
11/2 No10 | 56,1 | 834 | 628 | 268,9 | 255,3 | 350,18 | 154,39 | 1,5 |
4 No10 | 39 | 5 | 15,86 | 4,33 | 6,14 | 34,07 | 3,32 | |
3" - No10 | 24,5 | 22 | 7,96 | 22,49 | 71,07 | 42,87 | 1,92 | |
11/2 No20 | 39,19 | 40,02 | 6,77 | 18,01 | 8,75 | |||
11/4 No20 | 83,43 | 70,11 | 90,77 | 84,28 | 24,03 | |||
2 1FL | 61,42 | 100,08 | 28,51 | |||||
2 1/2 - 1FL | 20 | 10,61 | ||||||
76,1 2 FL | 48,99 | 7,53 | ||||||
1 1/4 No10 | 27,83 | 2857 | 28,78 | 5,28 | ||||
3 No20 | 6,9 | 35,75 | 6,29 | |||||
Reduction of hours | 496,6 | 1069 | 856 | 692,8 | 704,5 | 3710,9 | 822,3 | 134,4 |
Month cumulatively | 496,6 | 1565,6 | 2421,6 | 3114,4 | 3818,9 | 7529,7 | 8352 | 8486,34 |
PS Autogrinding Ltd has created the “3TOOL” for brushing:
From the first pool of machine, Victaulic had found its own layout. The Koyama cycle time was good and the working organization defined at 1 operator for 2 machines.
Loading and unloading weren’t the single tasks given to the operator, he has also:
• to remove the small residual chip caused by the diamond wheel, on each ends of the fitting.
• to check unitary the cylindricity by gauge diameter Go/No Go on each ends of the fitting.
• If necessary, to straighten out the wrong end by hydraulic press and test again.
PSAG has developed an additional horizontal third tool with spindle for brushing but it could be also for small tool or drill…
The result after a brush selection was convincing and the brush durability of several shift (the brush live time could be more profitable on several diameters of fitting.
With the 3TOOL option, the operator he is stressed less and he no longer worries to keep waiting for the next the grinding cycle of one of the both machines. he removes his individual work protections since he no longer has any tools in his hands apart from the gauge and the hydraulic press.
All machines are equipped nowadays.
Next step: Robotic Loading Cell front on the both machine
We made all qualification test for the fittings with a very good speed of random position of flat picking on conveyor.
the next step is to integrate the RLC (robotic Loading Cell) for 2 machines including:
• the control step of Go / No Go by the 2D vision system
• the program decision to drop it to the final product or to straighten out the wrong end by hydraulic press and test again.
With this step of investment, 4 Koyama(s) will be feed by one single operator through two conveyors belt. With a length of 4 meters the Cell will work with a full autonomy for more than 1 hour depending of the size of the fittings.
