Waiting zone of the barrels in the ceiling area of the production line.

WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH, an internationally renowned manufacturer of varnishes, inks and adhesives for the graphic arts industry, is taking a further step towards automation with the expansion of its production plant for water-based coatings and commissioning of the new overhead conveyor system.

The system uses a smooth friction drive to transport the 150-liter barrels in pairs under the hall ceiling to the individual stations, saving space and at a speed of 12 m/min. The system already has 182 double carriers and can thus transport 364 barrels. Thanks to the modular design of the fully automatic transport system, this capacity can be expanded at any time if required.

Nino Sandner, Production Manager WB (water-based products) at WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH on the plant expansion: "Back in 2019, as part of the planning work for our new and groundbreaking production plant, we also started looking for suppliers for overhead transport systems. Frictionless drives were our preference here, as we wanted to run as few contamination risks as possible for our products due to abrasion and lubricants, so as not to jeopardize our very high quality standard of our products - not least for the food industry. We then found what we were looking for at the Swedish company OCS Overhead Conveyor System AB. In fact, according to our research, this company was the only European supplier of friction-driven conveyor systems over multiple levels and with transport loads of up to 500 kg/m. We then decided on the OCS 150 overhead conveyor system, which can transport loads of up to 150 kg/m over several conveyor tiers. In mid-2022, after a good yea r of planning, we started with the installation and integration of the new conveyor system. Of course, this work had to be done in parallel with our production and without any production downtime. This month, we have now completed the test phase and fully integrated the transport system into our workflows. Using sensor-based real-time tracking, the OCS transport system now knows exactly which barrels are where in the production flow. This enables us to fully integrate the new conveyor system into our ERP system, statistical and business evaluation and documentation, as well as extended planning reliability and documentation in quality management. In addition, we use this data to label all drums fully automatically and error-free by means of an additionally integrated labeling system from b+b Automations- und Steuerungstechnik GmbH. Thus, we are now able to produce our products via the modular plant system at the push of a button as well as to prepare them for shippi ng in a highly ergonomic and fully automated way."

Günter Korbacher, Managing Director of WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH on the subject: "Our aim when planning our new production facilities for water-based and now also UV-based coatings was quite clearly to extend our lead in this industry through this investment. Our modular and highly flexible production lines are today considered to be among the most modern plants worldwide in our industry sector. We see the overhead conveyor system now implemented as a logical extension of our planning goals. And of course we will not stop the expansion of our facilities at this point. The next extensions and additions are already in the planning phase."

Further information: www.weilburger.com