Vacuum Tooling for Automotive Body-In-White Assembly

Modular Automation Tooling (known in short as PMAT) from Piab USA, Inc. (Hingham, MA) has been used mainly for years in North America by leading automotive manufacturers, where it has helped to quickly construct flexible and adjustable vacuum gripper/fixture tooling. “Experiences from the North American market show that PMAT is particularly advantageous when used for body-in-white (BIW) assembly, mostly in decentralized applications for greater up time, more reliability and ease in troubleshooting, but it can of course also be very useful when applied to general assembly stages,” says Josef Karbassi, the vice president of Piab’s Automation Division. Manufacturers can use PMAT to design robot end-effector tools, ergonomic tools or fixture tools for any type of automation equipment. This tooling offers both adjustability and rigidity to help producers to transform their assembly tools to meet their specific needs with minimal design time.

The tooling system features connecting parts for welded frames or extruded profiles and swivel arm assemblies with single bolt adjustment for ease of set up with a choice of attachments. Some of these include ejectors based on energy-efficient COAX® technology. The ejector units provide vacuum as well as a release function. For extra safety, the attachments may also be equipped with a Vacuum Check Valve in case there is an interruption of supply air and the energy saving unit Vacustat that saves up to 98 percent of air usage. The Vacuum Check Valve addresses both safety concerns and energy savings by securely holding parts in case of power loss or loss of compressed air. Also available are suction cup attachments that make it easier to correctly position suction cups on objects, especially when these are of varying geometries, as in the case of automotive parts.

The PMAT system is made of high rated aircraft grade anodized aluminum and is machined, not cast, for a quality assembly and fit. It is lightweight and easy to assemble on site without welding or use of special tools. A proven and reliable technology, PMAT is supported locally on a global basis.

Piab USA, Inc., 65 Sharp Street Hingham, MA 02043, 800-321-7422, Fax: 781-337-6864, [email protected], www.piab.com.