Increased efficiency and productivity thanks to customized production line

Operators can be engaged in other places

Working faster, even unmanned, and reducing the error rate. These are two crucial aspects within today's manufacturing industry. Customers are becoming more and more demanding in terms of quality and delivery times, and it also remains difficult to find suitable personnel. At Robin Ducrot Métallerie, a metalworking company in Pourrain, near Auxerre (France), they therefore invested in a customized production line from Soenen Hendrik. This allows all profiles to be processed on one machining center and multiple operations to be realized in one run. And, of course, this is done efficiently and productively.

We are writing the year 2000 when Mr. Robin and Mr. Ducrot decide to join forces as specialists in steel and aluminum and found the company "Robin Ducrot Métallerie". Today, with 30 employees and its own engineering department, their company has a strong reputation for the design and production of elements in metal: stairs, ramps, platforms, handrails, furniture, gates, frames, shutters, awning systems and conservatories, as well as columns, load-bearing beams, floors and facade elements for the realization of buildings. 

"Everything we do revolves around our service to the customer: the quality of our finished products, reliable delivery times, the flexibility to respond to market demands, .... This is why we continue to invest continuously in our facilities, people and machines," the managers explain. "The machinery was recently expanded with a custom machining center: an important step with a view to further growth in the future. We didn't take this lightly and compared different systems on the market. Finally, we met the people at Soenen Hendrik. We were immediately impressed by the quality and performance of their high-tech production lines for profile processing. Their no-nonsense way of working with short, direct lines of communication was also a decisive argument for us."

Fast and efficient

As for each project, the team at the West Flanders machine builder developed a "smart" production line for Robin Ducrot Métallerie that was specifically tailored to the customer's needs and capable of machining all the necessary profiles. 

"Whereas in the past several machines were needed, today at this metalworking company they can perform all operations, e.g. sawing, milling, drilling, ..., in one run. As soon as the operator places the profiles on the feed table, they are recognized by the system, after which the requested operations are performed automatically," explains Jean-Marc Ramadier, technical-commercial consultant for France at Soenen Hendrik. 

"Cameras are provided that check the color and contours of the profiles, so that any error during production is excluded. Machine downtime is also avoided at all times, as a tool break is immediately detected, after which another available tool takes over the job. This machining center will therefore significantly increase speed and efficiency on the shop floor and further reduce the risk of errors."

Unmanned

The production line has now been operational for about two months. The management and operators at Robin Ducrot Métallerie are satisfied. Of course, they still have a lot to discover, but they already notice that with this machine the machining time is considerably shorter and the error rate extremely low. Moreover, the system can run autonomously and unmanned for long periods of time. 

"Our operators place the profiles on the feed table and can then be deployed at another post in the production process, for example in assembly. A working day also lasts longer, because just before closing time we can load another set of profiles, and then the production line processes them when everyone has already left for home. Our efficiency and productivity increase and we can guarantee our customers even better quality and faster delivery," Robin and Ducrot state unanimously. 

"At the end of December 2021, we sat around the table with Jean-Marc to start the project in concrete terms. This was followed by a visit to the factory in Belgium and we were able to share experiences with companies that already had such a production line on the shop floor. During the project, aspects were fine-tuned and finally a lot of tests were carried out, before the system was finally delivered and installed at our premises. The support from Soenen Hendrik does not stop with the delivery and commissioning, by the way, because even now we can still contact the manufacturer directly with all our questions, without intermediaries."    

More information can be found at: www.soenenhendrik.com.