Cellro sells 10. Elevates

In September 2018 Elevate was presented at the AMB in Stuttgart. Elevate is a robotic loading system characterized by a large capacity, small footprint and high flexibility. This proved to be a great success. Today, more than a year later, ten Elevates have already been sold by Cellro. Flowserve, a supplier of pumps, mechanical seals and valves based in Etten-Leur, was recently the tenth customer. This article looks back at Elevate’s development and looks to the future.

Demand for greater intake capacity

Before Elevate was developed, Cellro already had success with the flexible automation solution Xcelerate. It enables customers to flexibly automate small to medium-sized series. In practice, there was also an increasing demand for a loading system with higher intake capacity. This is particularly true for machining companies that manufacture their own products. These were the beginnings of Elevate.

From the stacker lift to the total solution

The predecessor of Elevate was Cellro’s storage lift. This could be coupled to a robotic cell and provided a greater storage capacity. However, the stacker lift could not be used as a stand-alone system. With Elevate, Cellro has developed a robot loading system in which the stacker lift is integrated. Due to the large magazine on the machine, production can easily be carried out in continuous operation. Due to a larger storage capacity there is often a greater variety of products that are processed automatically. This created the need for our customers to have a greater insight into or overview of the production. Cellro has succeeded in integrating this with additional functions in Elevate’s software.

Countless possibilities

Elevate is equipped with a large robot, which also enables pallet handling. You can also choose another robot, as it is separate from Elevate. This means that pallet and fixture can be chosen completely freely. It is also possible to load a pallet with a specific product. And last but not least: Elevate can be coupled to two machines at the same time, which is also possible at a later date. This also makes it a future-oriented automation solution. The result is a complete relief for our customers.

Practical experience

In general, customers like the fact that Elevate is a closed system that produces continuously and that can be loaded and unloaded during production. Since two operations can take place simultaneously, there is never any need to interrupt the production process.

Imminkhuizen Metaaltechniek B.V., the first Elevate customer, uses Elevate’s large intake capacity to prevent machine downtime. Previously Imminkhuizen, a supplier of machine parts, could only prepare a new series after the previous one had been completed. With Elevate, everything can already be scheduled. By automatically changing grippers and fixtures (with Fixture Exchange), products of different sizes can be processed one after the other unmanned.

Another customer praises Elevate especially for the software. It filters human errors carefully and specifically out of the process: if an error occurs, you can see immediately what goes wrong and where the error lies. Flowserve, Elevate’s newest user, uses the system for a multi-purpose machine in combination with the Collet Exchange function. The company produces small batches of a wide variety of parts to make its own product.

The future of Elevate

Elevate users can add various additional options to the robot loading system if desired. For example, a measuring station, a docking station for pallets or a cabinet with additional pallets or fixtures can be easily added. Elevate is also expected to be increasingly used by new customers with complex production planning. The possibilities offered by Elevate in combination with the user-friendly control system ensure that the production processes are smooth and straightforward.

For more information, please visit: https://cellro.com/en/