In the finishing process the benefits of Cimcorp’s flexible buffering and sorting solutions are easy to recognize. The systems have the flexibility to effectively handle changes in the production mix while maintaining perfect control and tracking on individual tire level.

From the curing presses tires are conveyed to trimming and visual inspection and from there to the robots. The robots pick the tires, sort them and stack them, by type, on the floor. When batches are ready for testing the robots pick entire stacks and place them on the conveyor in front of the uniformity testing machines.

The space, on the empty floor under the robots, is used in the optimum way always to suit your current production. There are no in-built restrictions such as fixed conveyor lines for each SKU or racking for storage. The robots can pick tires singly or in stacks and store them in stacks directly on the floor. When the production schedule and product mix change, the floor space can be dynamically used to accommodate different sizes and types of tires.

Depending on the inspection machine capabilities, either a pull or a push system can be used in this process. In a pull system tires are sorted in pre-planned sequences to suit the next process phase, ie palletizing or caging. This may still require a sortation buffer after the inspection machines to handle the different quality classifications. In the push system the tires are fed to the inspection machines in the order in which they come from the curing process. In this case the sortation buffer after inspection is an ideal choice for combining flexibility with efficiency.

Robots pick the tires and store them sorted by type and classification. The robots pick individual tires and build stacks on the floor – then pick complete stacks or whichever quantity is required for palletizing. When full pallet quantities are available the robots palletize loads or, depending on pallet construction, universal robots or manual palletizing are used.

Storage and picking throughout is by FIFO. The WCS controls the flow and the storage and maintains product tracking throughout. Its user-friendly graphical user interface makes it a convenient tool for the staff to control – rather than be controlled by – the operation. The material flow is constantly under control and can be run in any sequence allowing total flexibility.