Scratch free to the tire shop

Anyone who accepts scratches in new rims can read over the following report. It's about alloy rims that can be customized and visually enhance any car. Swiss rim manufacturer RONAL GROUP goes to great lengths to achieve this: polishing, painting, gloss turning and milling ensure noble surfaces. MCR (Multi Color Rim) and pad printing bring additional color effects to the wheel. After final quality control, the rims are packaged and shipped. OEMs are supplied directly by the RONAL GROUP. The wheels for the aftermarket are distributed by the logistics and distribution company RONLOG in Forst, 25 kilometers north of Karlsruhe.

Since 2016, up to one million rims per year pass through the logistics center with space for 300,000 products. 45 employees take care of the 14- to 23-inchers. "From a weight of ten kilograms, we use vacuum tube lifters - since 2018 also for handling the individual rims," says Peter Kuppinger, Team Leader Packaging and Quality at RONLOG GmbH. A total of eight vacuum tube lifters Jumbo from J. Schmalz GmbH facilitate both packing and picking for the employees. The rims are delivered and stored on pallets. Five to six employees place the individual items in boxes on protective foam inserts according to the customer's order. "A 14-inch aluminum rim weighs six to seven kilograms. They are still packed by hand today. Until three years ago, however, we also had to lift the large 20-kilogram rims with pure muscle power and place them in the cartons. With 600 parts per day, that quickly goes to your back," Kuppinger describes. In 2018, RONOLOG was therefore looking for a solution that would make the work processes more ergonomic and thus protect the health of the employees.

Schmalz installed a smooth-running aluminum column-mounted slewing crane and a JumboFlex vacuum tube lifter. "The challenge was choosing the right gripper," Kuppinger said. "We can't have a single scratch on our rims. In addition, of course, we have many different designs with wide or narrow struts, with grooves or attached applications. A standard vacuum gripper reaches its limits here. " Although Schmalz did not have a rim gripper in its product range at the time, it was working on a solution that would allow the delicate products to be picked up and placed in the cartons safely. "We were allowed to join the development project as a field test partner and tested various gripper variants with different functional principles - both mechanical and pneumatic," explains the team leader. Schmalz has now brought the result to market: a rim gripper made of sturdy plastic with an amazingly simple as well as functional mechanism. As soon as the user has dipped the gripper into the center wheel hub opening and given the JumboFlex the command to lift, a folding mechanism locks the system in place. With one hand, the wheel rim can be moved horizontally and deposited in the foam bed in a targeted manner. As soon as there is no more weight on the vacuum tube lifter, the lower movable load-bearing element of the gripper folds back down and the operator can carefully guide it out of the hub. Schmalz has rounded off all edges so that no sharp edges can damage the polished, painted or polished rims. "The result of several years of development work is convincing," praises Kuppinger. "It significantly simplifies handling and demonstrably relieves employees. “

After sealing the boxes, the danger is averted - at least from scratches. Nevertheless, the heavy boxes have to be lifted, sorted and stacked until they are loaded. The largest packages measure 500 x 500 x 300 millimeters. They weigh up to 20 kilograms. For this reason, the logistics company also wants to protect the health of its employees here: "From twelve kilograms, which is how much a 17-inch rim weighs, for example, we stipulate the use of lifting aids. " RONLOG has therefore set up column-mounted slewing cranes at the various stations in the packaging and picking area, to which vacuum tube lifters JumboFlex with multi-grippers are attached. This gripper, which was only developed and launched on the market in 2020, is particularly lightweight thanks to 3D printing processes and can safely handle cartons of different sizes and qualities - without changing grippers and with a minimum occupancy rate of only 75 percent of the suction surface.

"In the order picking area, the recent conversion of the roller conveyor to a main and secondary conveyor meant that a larger working area had to be covered by the crane solution used," reveals the team leader. An aluminum suspension crane system provided the necessary freedom of movement. The smooth-running Schmalz crane systems made of aluminum are convincing because they support ergonomic and fatigue-free handling of the loads. Two vacuum tube lifters JumboErgo are used here as lifting aids. They pick up cartons and double cartons weighing up to 25 kilograms from the roller conveyor and place them safely on the shipping pallet. The vacuum lifters are equipped with long, movable operating handles that allow cartons to be stacked up to a height of 2.30 meters. This corresponds to the maximum possible loading height of pallets for transport in trucks.

"The use of vacuum lifting technology throughout the entire flow of goods pays off for us," Kuppinger sums up. "Our employees are fitter and drop out significantly less often due to aching joints. " So RONLOG can keep its promise: Anyone who orders a rim by 1 p.m. within Germany will receive it the following day. The first scratch is then exclusively the curb's fault.