AFS Corporate Member Franklin Bronze Precision Components (Franklin, Pennsylvania) has upgraded its shell room with new robotic technologies––earlier this year, it upgraded the robotic arm and supervisory system in its Shell Room 2.

Additionally, the company’s operating platform––SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system––has been upgraded to the newest version available. The upgrade allows for unlimited future growth and flexibility of Franklin Bronze’s investment cast shell room processes.

The new operating system provides more accurate identification of molds and parts with less manual manipulation, essentially allowing for quality protection of products during the production process.

Franklin Bronze is implementing Industrial 4.0 technology with the installation of first-of-its-kind, automatic laser level adjustment, a technique brand-new to robots and automated investment casting foundries.

“The new robot arm, with the laser level adjustment, can automatically and instantly determine the level of slurry tank and will stop if it’s too low,” said Chris Barber, operations manager. "It senses the levels on its own and is a great example of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with its interconnected sensors triggering the robot to respond. It's a game-changer and keeps us way ahead of the competition."

In addition to the groundbreaking laser level adjustment, RFID scanning was also installed, which equips the robot to recognize and group like products together for the most efficient mold shelling process in the shortest run time necessary.