When experiencing increased demand for specialized parts, Whippany Actuation Systems faced an important decision — purchase a new CNC machine, outsource production, or introduce automation with the Universal Robots’-based solution. For Whippany, the choice was clear. Whippany Actuations Systems makes electro-mechanical actuation systems for the aerospace and defense industries. The company needed to increase production quickly, preferred to manufacture in-house, and looked for an alternative solution to sinking a large expenditure into a new CNC machine.
The New Jersey based manufacturer started researching a robot that could tend their CNC machine. Having the robot work unattended overnight would increase production capacity enough to meet the increased demand.
The desired automation also needed to handle parts of different sizes so the ability to integrate with customized adaptive grippers, having both robot and gripper communicate with the CNC machine was imperative.