Contract announcement, September 2016. The company Sandstrahl Bay in Esslingen has commissioned H+H Herrmann + Hieber to supply an in-house automation system, which promises economic advantages for the customer.
The company Sandstrahl Bay, located in Essilngen, specialises in the mechanical and chemical treatment of surfaces, having processed and finished surfaces of the most varied types and designs for more than five decades. The company began operating in 1964 as a service provider for sandblasting – as the name of the company still expresses to this day. Nowadays however, the company offers a broad range of processes and technical options ranging far beyond “sandblasting”.
The extension of the technical process range available has entailed a corresponding development of plant and machinery. In the context of its continual extension programme Sandstrahl Bay now wants to automate the operation of its cleaning facilities for load carriers with the help of H+H.
The aim of the project is to prepare and automatically bring in and clear away box pallets and company-specific pallet designs (which, owing to their footprint geometry, are not always easy to transport). This automation step will produce a considerable rationalisation effect: pause times can instead be made use of, and the idle times of the cleaning unit are substantially reduced.
For that purpose the cleaning plant is, as it were, supplemented with a stand-alone conveyor track installed directly ahead of the unit. From this conveyor track the cleaning unit is automatically loaded and, after the end of the cleaning process, unloaded again. Buffer positions are provided before and after the transfer station, to enable continuous operation. Scissor lifts at the inlet and outlet sides of the conveyor track bridge the difference of levels up to the working height. Design provisions have been made to simplify refitting and maintenance work.