Assembly Line for Utility Trailers
Fori Automation recently provided a turn-key automated assembly line for the build of utility trailers for a customer. Fori provided (4) duplicate assembly lines to support their facilities in GA, VA, TX & IA.
The utility trailer assembly line included a variety of improvements over the customer's traditional assembly lines, including overhead lift assists, automated transfer utilizing rail guided carts (RGCs) and DC electric tools for fastening and traceability. Fori was responsible for supplying (4) systems, each system comprised of (6) RGCs, (5) overheads with custom lift assists and (11) DC Electric Tools.
The customer wanted to ensure a flexible assembly system that can be leveraged across all their plants. The RGCs provided were able to be used at their four facilities by modifying the track layout based on floor space, building columns and ceiling heights.
Tooling pallets were designed with quick change features to accommodate (16) trailer variations ranging from 4’ x 5’ up to 6’ x 12’. To lift the various components such as frames, axles, gates and tongues, custom overheads with lift assists were provided to improve ergonomics for the operator.
Another design consideration was traceability for fastening, this was completed with the implementation of DC electric tools and ToolsNet from Atlas Copco. With the integration of barcode scanners, the trailers fastener torque data is saved on a database linked to the trailer serial number.
The lines were installed during the first quarters of 2021.