Here’s the FMS that manufactures chimney pipes

TTEngineering has recently produced a fully automatic FMS on behalf of Domotechnika, the main Russian chimney pipes manufacturer. The present system provides for the just-in-time manufacturing of pipes and accessories such as single and double wall T-fittings, elbows and pipe sections.

This full factory plant, installed in Saint Petersburg, is the fifth one manufactured by the company from Lomazzo (Como) over the last four years and addressed to this sector, for which TTEngineering is definitely a well-established benchmark.

Due to both its prestige and production requirements, Domotechnika is one of the most impressive companies in this field; relying on a widespread network of distributors, agents and direct sellers, the company is indeed a market leader in the field of stoves, chimneys and materials for industrial and civil building in Eastern Europe. In particular, the plant commissioned to TTEngineering deals with the manufacturing of pipes and accessories addressed to the sector of chimney pipes, whose distributor is the brand named “Vulkano” and with whom the company is definitely the greatest Russian manufacturer.

Specifications and requirements were quite strict due to the need to increase both quality and throughput of the finished product, thus significantly reducing either production costs or the impact of the variables connected to manual activities. Therefore, the request dealt with the supply of a completely automated full factory plant capable to manufacture several types of workpieces just-in-time, from the easiest ones (single or double wall pipes) to the so-called “T-fittings” and elbows, working over two shifts a day, for an overall amount of around 4.000 hours per year and an annual production target of around 700.000 pipes.

Experience as a surplus value

It was indeed a very important and challenging order, which has been faced by TTEngineering nearly without any concern, since the company could rely on the experience gained over the latest years working on this type of plants.

As a matter of fact, the company from the province of Como has been able to turn the periods of market stagnation into new opportunities, thus making its own dimension a strong point to succeed in those fields, where even the most relevant competitors had some difficulties. “The confrontation with our competitors dealt with either engineering or return on investment for the customer” says the sales manager of TTEngineering. “For us this full factory plant is the fifth experience of this kind in a short time. We are currently the only company in the world with a complete know-how in the field of chimney pipes; this allows us to fully meet even the strictest and most challenging requirements, such as the ones expressed by Domotechnika.

Thanks to our knowledge and experience, we can design and manufacture the whole range of machines for the production of components addressed to the industry of chimney pipes and air conditioning; and that is exactly why we got the better of our German competitor for this order”.

The customer was able to evaluate the actual potential of the solution offered by TTEngineering not only through the usual videos or system layouts, but rather by watching closely a similar plant already installed by TTE at the Spanish production site of a German multinational corporation working in the same field: watching closely a full automatic plant working reliably over three shifts has been for sure a very important element for the decision taken by Domotechnika.

In balance between well-established solutions and novelties

The plant installed in Saint Petersburg relies on the widespread industry knowledge of TTEngineering: it integrates well-established machines and solutions, such as the roll-bending system Flexformer® with automatic set-up and the 2 kW Qswitch laser disk technology to be used for either pipes or T-necks welding, with brand new elements, such as the coil cutting line with double uncoiling reel, installed at the entrance of the FMS. This solution was developed and designed in order to grant the throughput required by the specifications, the variability of the materials used (316 and 304 stainless steel) and, above all, the necessary flexibility for just-in-time manufacturing of workpieces with different shapes, dimensions and features.

“The more than 40 m long plant is featured by a quite complex layout: six Fanuc anthropomorphic robots provide for workpiece grabbing and handling to feed the machine and are perfectly integrated within the production cycle” explains Claudio Pasquettin, owner and designer of TTEngineering. “In addition to the already mentioned Flexformer® system, there are two beading machines for the manufacturing of single and double wall pipes, each one with a well-defined production range in terms of possible diameters, but that’s not all: included in the FMS are also a laser cutting system for semi-finished processing, Class 1 stations for overlapped laser welding of T-fittings, several beading systems (dies designed by TTE included), production workcells for 2, 3 or 4-sector elbows and accumulation buffers”.

As a matter of fact it is a well structured and complex FMS, which has required the study and development of tailored solutions for both its mechanics and automation, balancing the latter in order to make the connection between machines easier”.

Handling the finished piece, not the semi-finished one

TTEngineering has provided its customer with a flexible, fully automated system, perfectly matching with its software system for production management, so that the production starts when the various orders are delivered, in compliance with the wished just-in-time philosophy.

“Thanks to the TTE Software Management, the programming main of the plant communicates with the entire company handling system and processes the information coming from the sales orders in real time, turning these data into either actual production orders or remarkable benefits” adds Mr Pasquettin. “Which benefits? First of all the fact that the plant handles the finished workpiece, not the semi-finished one; consequently, once the production order is launched, the result is granted for both piece quality and manufacturing time, thus allowing Domotechnika to easily estimate the deliveries. Throughput increase and quality of the pieces, absolute repeatability and flexibility are expected benefits. Another primary aspect is that with only one operator supervising and two workers dealing with both machines and dies set-up, it is possible to manage the whole factory production”.

“On top of that the just-in-time management of the finished product implies the reduction of both warehouse volume and its resulting costs, reducing delivery times and optimizing waste as well”.

The main reasons of TTEngineering satisfaction are the acquisition of another important reference such as Domotechnika and the fact that the customer itself has acknowledged both passion and enthusiasm showed by TTE during the pre-sales stage: this is a further proof that the reduced dimension of a company like TTE is not at all a limit, but rather the actual surplus value of this Italian reality, which is strongly focused on its customers’ satisfaction.