Increasing the Sustainability of Manufacturing Processes in Plastic Injection: Recovering Out-Of-Service Robots to Eliminate Manual Assembly Operations

Rúben Costa, Vitor Sousa, Francisco J. G. Silva (), Raul Campilho, José C. Sá, Arnaldo Pinto and João Pereira
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Rúben Costa: ISEP–School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Vitor Sousa: ISEP–School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Francisco J. G. Silva: ISEP–School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Raul Campilho: ISEP–School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
José C. Sá: ISEP–School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Arnaldo Pinto: ISEP–School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
João Pereira: ISEP–School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-23

Abstract: In the 20th century, there was a burst concerning the development of the automobile industry, which has become an essential asset for society. With its evolution, this industry created a foundation that based its competitiveness on satisfying people’s needs with the highest possible quality and always respecting the delivery deadlines. With the growth in demand, the improvement of certain processes was needed to achieve the desired production goals, accomplished through automation and robotics, as production and assembly lines increasingly used fully automated processes. In plastic injection lines, production is constant and carried out quickly, so it is desirable to perform component assembly steps that immediately support the output of the injection mould parts. This work consists of adapting an obsolete robotic cell to be implemented in one of the production lines to insert components into the injected parts, replacing labour work. Through a mechanical project and an automation design, the equipment was concluded and is currently in production, fulfilling the necessary requirements and improving the process’ cycle time. This proves that it is possible to recover old equipment, which is able to improve current tasks and common needs in modern industry, increasing the economic sustainability of the processes and saving resources.

Keywords: plastic injection; sustainability; robotics; automation; manufacturing cell (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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