A UK specialist in the design and manufacture of cable management solutions has invested in shop-floor automation as it looks to capture further market share and spur even more growth. Unitrunk, which is based in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, says recent investments in automated Amada technology are saving time and introducing greater levels of flexibility at this progressive and ambitious engineering business.

“Our growth over the past decade has been driven through production efficiency on the shop floor, as well as manufacturing automation, without any increase in additional labour,” states process engineer Mark Cartmill.
A recent case in point is the installation of the Amada CS stockyard automation system, linked to two Amada EM series punch presses (one existing and one new) that are fed by LIII loaders and unloaded by TK-3015R part picker/removal units.
“Previously we had stand-alone punch presses with Amada MP load/unload systems, but with the CS stockyard we now have no waiting for material to arrive or leave,” says Cartmill. “In addition, we can process a much wider range of material without any manual intervention whatsoever.”
The system offers full unmanned production, easy stock management, part picking/stacking and, with the addition of the new Amada EM-3612ZR T punch press, full automated tool selection in approximately 10 seconds (in hidden time while the sheet is running), providing high levels of flexibility.
Unitrunk completed a thorough review process, assessing a number of stockyard automation systems before opting for the Amada CS from a final shortlist of two. The company is currently in the process of writing upwards of 15,000 programs for the new system, but is hopeful this task will be complete within 12 months.
For further information www.amada.co.uk