Two robots paint

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22.000 m² per week Muehlhan has the world's most advanced surface- treatment plant for offshore wind turbine towers.

Three or four large offshore tow- er sections pass through Muehl- han's new factory in Give every day. The factory is located on the tower manufacturer Welcon's site, and it is basically a factory within the factory.

The production started approx. 1 year ago in the 6.000 square-me- tre plant, where two production lines treat approximately 22 tower sections per week. Each produc- tion line has three large cabins, where the towers are respective-

The metallization is achieved by spraying a molten layer of zinc onto the steel surface. All together, Muehlhan surface-treats 22 tower sections per week, where each section has a typical surface area of 10,000 sqf. One tower con- sists of three to four sections and may way up to 250 tons. Shown here is a painting robot in action. Photo: Muehlhan

ly sand-blasted, metallized and spray-painted.

The ton-heavy sections are trans- ported between the three cabins using rails, trolleys and a remote control.

The complete process - with the exception of the interior sand-blasting - is automated with robots. Each of the processing rooms has a wall mounted robot that moves back and forth, and carries out the process, without any man power in the rooms.

- 'We have come a long way with automation. The factory is the most advanced in the world. The robots are much faster than

a manual process. It is a produc-

tion line with a fixed flow through to achieve an optimum produc- tion flow, says Jens Mørk, Man- aging Director of Muehlhan A/S.

Photo: Muehlhan Saving on man hours and paint The high level of automation has not meant fewer employees. On

the contrary, the production vol-

ume has increased to the double, and as a result there are more employees. At present 55 em- ployees work at the factory. At the

same time, employees have now gone from being regular factory workers to being machine oper-

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ators, and by far the largest part of the process is now automated.

Muehlhan has jointly developed the technology with external part- ners, and of course Muehlhan owns the IP right of the automat- ed process.

- 'We have saved 8 men in the process through automation. The quality has improved because the robot operates accurately and consistently. It also means that the wastage of paint is mini- mized', explains Jens Mørk.

The ambitions demanded that the parties invested in a new plant. The investment is put together in such a way that Welcon owns the buildings while Muehlhan owns the equipment.

We have spent a huge amount of time finding the best equipment for each individual process. 'It's everything from sand pots to ro- bots', says Jens Mørk

There were also increased de- mands from the customers driv- ing the investment. For example, one customer required that all of the treatments had to be per- formed under one roof.

  • 'Welcon has also been good to secure orders, which there of course need to be, in order to be able to recoup such a large in-

    vestment', says the managing di- rector, adding that the entire tow- er production is undergoing rapid development, which amongst other things means that the fac- tory area is doubled in two years.

    The sixth newly built factory This is the sixth factory that Mue- hlhan has built from green field up. And although the surface treatment company has plenty of experience - also with paint- ing robots - it takes time to get an automated production up and running. It took three months be- fore the technology was fully im- plemented.

  • 'We started sand-blasting with the first robot, and once it was operational, we went on to met- allization. We spent a month on each robot', explains Jens Mørk.

Managing Director, Jens Mørk stands here in the heart of the factory, where a walkway divides the two production lines. All of the production equipment is assembled here. Photo: Dan S. Frandsen High ambitions are the basis for investment

It was the vision of being the leader in offshore towers, which originally provided the basis for the investment at Muehlhan and partner Welcon.

The onshore towers are still coated in Muehlhan's old factory halls at Welcon in Give. Onshore towers only need to be be sand-blasted and painted, and therefore do not come through the automated factory, which performs three processes. Photo: Dan S. Frandsen

Article from Jern & Maskinindustrien, 23. juni 2016, By Dan. S. Frandsen

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Muehlhan AG published this content on 12 September 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 12 September 2016 10:35:06 UTC.

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