Boots on the Ground at Mega Moldmaker Rexam

 

My tour guide, Rexam’s Business Unit Leader Len Graham.

Last month I paid a visit to Rexam Mold Manufacturing to see firsthand how the company is incorporating automation into its operations with the Mega-Cell—an automation station that involves a number of leading manufacturers and suppliers, which Len says will take the company to a whole new level of lights-out automation. “We will see automated mold building from start to finish!” he says. I was able to see robotic rail number one of five rails for mold insert manufacturing in place—with five machines in operation. After five additional rails are complete, a rail system to machine mold plates in an automated fashion will follow. It is a six- to seven-year, multi-million dollar plan, according to Len. This Mega-Cell is destined to be a game-changer for the company. Stay tuned to a future issue of MMT to learn all of the details about how industry suppliers like System 3R, Makino, Mitsubishi EDM, Delcam, SolidWorks, GF AgieCharmilles and Zeiss collaborated on rail number one of this project—and the competitive advantage it will undoubtedly bring Rexam.