Pe-Ma
Washing facility and drying oven for the procedure automation: Increase in productivity, quality and efficacy.
The firm
Pe-Ma is an important, young and dynamic group with headquarters in the Padova area. It operates in the field of mechanical and precision works.
The group is made up of three societies:
- Pe-Ma carries out mechanical and precision works for third parties specializing mainly in articles coming from fusion and bar
- Pe-Ma supplies complete design particulars through working of metals on CNC turns
- Unimetal, in Croatia, which carries out burr work, polishing, painting and assembly.
The problem to solve
Pe-Ma’s clients of finished articles and semi-finished articles required that the articles be supplied already washed.
The washing phase hence became a most important process because, on the one hand it constituted a true finishing process and on the other it was a propaedeutics phase until the client actually received the semi-finished pieces, ready for the following procedure.
The washing phase previously used by Pe-Ma utilized a washing roundabout which did not, however, guarantee the level of quality and productivity required.
Dollmar Group’s solution
To fulfil the requests for high quality and productivity during the washing phase, Dollmar Meccanica supplied an automatic system that was able to increase both the production capacity and the productivity of the department.
The new Finep washing system worked without the constant presence of a workforce and completed a constant cycle at all times: it worked 24 hours per day on three shifts and had a load autonomy of 45 minutes.
Technical characteristics of the installed industrial washing machine:
- equipped with drawer that relocates the articles inside the washing cabin and pliers that transferred the articles one by one to the drying oven
- it carried out a hot spray washing phase of 15 seconds with detergent for the inter-operational washing in aqueous solution
- it carried out a blowing phase with compressed air
- it washed the pieces with maximum dimension of 160 mm diameter and 50 mm
thickness.
At the end of the washing phase the drawer returned to the external platform and pre-arranged the piece ready for the automatic unloading. From here a pneumatic plier transferred the article into the drying oven.
The drying oven was equipped with a special mat that moved forward with a jerking movement and was able to transport up to four articles side by side.
Conclusion
Also in the mechanical precision production industry, washing is now a role of primary importance: it is considered a phase which is able to add value to the products manufactured.
The solution proposed by Dollmar Meccanica allowed Pe-Ma to improve its production process in terms of quality and efficiency.
Extract from “Lavaggio industriale”