New and live. Agathon's Neo laser processing machine was presented at EMO 2019 for the first time with an automation unit in operation. Companies that choose a Neo with automatic loading and unloading are able to make optimum use of their personnel resources, both during the shifts with few operators and during the full shifts. In this way, they reduce their parts costs and significantly increase the productivity of the machine. Although the investment costs increase by about one third compared to the manual solution, the financial benefits increase by a much higher factor. Another plus point: Like the machine, the automation unit has a small footprint of around one square meter. The Neo machine and the automation unit together offer a productivity package with a total footprint of around two square meters.
Despite its compact design, the automation unit offers space for two pallet carriers. Thus, the user can choose whether to process the order unattended or less attended over a long period of time or to separate raw and finished parts in different pallets, in order to further increase process reliability. Speaking of design: The automation of the Neo and the Agathon grinding machines are widely harmonized. This means that the same tools and add-on parts as well as the same prevalent pallets are used and do not necessarily have to be procured by existing Agathon users. In addition, this ensures a quick transfer of the roughed parts to the grinding machine and thus a seamless roughing/finishing process chain. The HMI of the automation unit has the same appearance as on the Agathon grinding machines. For the operator with experience on the corresponding machines, the training effort is therefore reduced to a minimum
Ergonomics. The machine operator can conveniently set up and control the entire system from different positions using the newly designed hand-held control. Loading and unloading the automation unit from the side rather than from the front is also safer and convenient. Compared to the manual variant, the Neo with automation has another advantage: Because the machine does not have to be opened after each part, the temperature in the interior is not subject to any fluctuations. The resulting higher thermal stability leads to an even higher processing quality.
Customers who are not sure whether they want to operate the Neo with or without automation can upgrade the machine at any time. This gives the customer the opportunity to invest as required and to first gain initial experience with laser processing in general and with the Neo in particular
What about you? When will you be ready to invest in a state-of-the-art, highly productive solution for machining superhard materials? More information at sales@agathon.ch
