By Fiona Vernon
Many companies from Mesa, Arizona, to Providence, Rhode Island, who would like to improve their production processes rely upon the expertise and special custom machinery from Berran Industrial Group. Their extensive knowledge regarding ultrasonic welding machines and leak testing and air testing devices can be seen with their products that have endured for many years. Many industries that employ the use of assembly lines and anticipate a custom robotic machine solving their production problems, can consult with Berran about the immeasurable possibilities that they can provide with their PLC programming. Many industries, from automotive parts to food and drink, from San Jose, California, to Huntsville, Alabama, have depended upon the experience and knowledge of Berran Industrial Group, Inc. to improve their practices.
While there is a significant amount of publicity about the effectiveness of robots from San Jose to Providence, Berran Industrial Group’s vice president of the Engineering Group, Paul Zuzik, states that robots can assist in many applications; however, they can be misapplied as part in the production process. For instance, when working with plastics, the tooling change over time for different cutters can actually prevent the robot from keeping up with processing the part at the point of molding. He states that they have made numerous custom robotic machines capable of interchangeable tooling, and they do serve a purpose for low volume; however, for many companies they are not the cure-all for actual part processing. In many cases, they see the future of robots more applicable to handling the parts in and out of the machines rather than as part of the actual fabrication process itself.
Berran Industrial Group, Inc. recognizes a substantial use for robots from Mesa to Huntsville where a single tool usage capability exists as part of the process. One example is in ultrasonic welding, where they have developed and sold numerous robots with the appropriate fixturing, guarding, and controls. The key is in the cycle times that are demanded from the machine on whether robots can perform the job efficiently. On quite a number of occasions, management has believed that they can cut costs by using universal robots, but they ultimately discover that robots possess limitations in terms of rigidity, quality of the process, and rate that can prevent them from doing the job correctly. Everyone wants to save money and tooling costs, but the fact of the matter is that the machine must be ready to do the job quickly, accurately, and reliably for many years. Sometimes robots are the answer, but sometimes they are not. Berran has witnessed a vast array of robotic cells at their customers’ facilities that ended up gathering dust because they simply didn’t get the total job done. Berran promises that they will provide whatever is essential to get the job done correctly, efficiently, and quickly.
Berran has acquired a substantial amount of expertise in the ultrasonic welding industry. They have made special custom machines with rapid indexing tables utilizing as many as 25 ultrasonic welding heads throughout the process. These machines allow for operator loading, unloading, and cycling while the machine is actually performing welding in safety zones. The welded part is approximately 3 ½ feet long, and Berran processes the part on a machine with a footprint of about 12’ x 14’. Mr. Zuzik is very proud of the fact that their manufacturing operation is able to take a one-of-a-kind design that has been in operation for six or seven years, put that many heads inside it, and get it functioning and delivering a superior quality of performance with rarely a modification necessary. He also notes that Berran is one of the few builders that actually engineer machines and custom-tune the ultrasonic heads. They work very closely with a number of the ultrasonic welding machine manufacturers.
Berran Industrial Group, Inc. also possesses a substantial amount of expertise in both third-party leak testers and their own leak and mass air testing devices with respective PLC programs. Mr. Zuzik states that the applications requiring high speed depend upon third-party devices, because they are PC-based and have a substantial amount of speed and structure available to them; however, for the vast majority of industrial leak testing applications, the PLC program can be established to do an excellent job without the cost and complexity of a third-party unit. There’s also the benefit of seamless notifications between the leak testing process, the PLC, and the screen — causing much more useful information to be delivered to the operator interface for the technician. Mr. Zuzik jokingly states that Berran likes to keep the number of brains in a machine to a minimum, because that’s when it gets more complicated.
Industries from Huntsville, Alabama, to San Jose, Arizona, who are looking to streamline their processes can call Berran Industrial Group, Inc. to decide whether a custom robotic machine for their mass air and leak testing devices is the best option. The main element that creates the smooth process is in the special custom machinery’s PLC programming. Berran is very proud of their machine design and creation with multiple heads in their ultrasonic welding machinery, which also has produced for many years with rarely an issue. Any sporting equipment or parts manufacturer from Mesa, Arizona, to Providence, Rhode Island, can count on the reliability and reputation behind everything that Berran produces.
Berran Industrial Group, Inc.
570 Wolf Ledges Pkwy
Akron, Ohio 44311
330.253.5800
berranindustrialgroup.com/