Vacuum area gripping system FMC for the Controlled Handling of Tiles

As the work had to be performed manually, handling tiles used to be unergonomic, extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming. In order not to break any tiles or to prevent edges being broken off, only a small quantity of tiles were transported at a time. A solution to increase efficiency and to make work easier had to be found. The area gripping system from Schmalz provided this solution. To handle the tiles in layers, a vacuum area gripping system with five FMC-SW large-area vacuum grippers combined with an industrial robot, is used. The use of the gripping system allows multiple tiles to be lifted simultaneously and positioned in layers. A foam is used as the sealing element for the interface between the workpiece and the gripping system, so that the workpieces are handled gently and without damage. Today, thanks to the installation of the new vacuum area gripping system the tiles can be handled safely and gently and the process no longer requires additional monitoring.