Page 43 - EDM Today Winter 2025

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Review of Safety

With traditional automation systems, safety guarding is a critical requirement to prevent any harm to an operator.
These safety devices protect the entire area where the robot can move, including the areas inside the machine work
zone – see Figure 9. While there are many forms of safety devices that can be used, they are designed to be redun-
dant and are interlocked into the machine and robot so that any safety fault results in stoppage of the entire system.

While safety devices are a necessary element of an automation system, many operators fi nd these items to be
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restrictive to the operation of the machines. Some forms of guarding can prevent direct viewing of the machining
process during operation, and others can impede access to the work zone. The design and purpose of these safety
devices is to prevent an operator from getting hurt during the automatic and unannounced movements of the robot,
so no matter how inconvenient a safety barrier may be, an operator should never tamper or defeat a safety device.
Safety guarding can include one or more of the following:

Aluminum channel hard fencing or clear plastic walls
Light curtains/laser scanners

Safety pressure mats
Drip pans to prevent the spillage of water, coolant, or EDM dielectric oil onto the fl oor (slip hazard) through
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the movement range of the robot

Changing Operator Responsibilities
Manufacturing never yields a one-size-fi ts-all
approach to processing methods, so it is realistic
to understand that implementing automation
requires careful planning and customization to
effectively apply it to a shop’s operations while
meeting all part quality requirements. The prior
Part 1 article (Fall 2024 issue) covered the
critical steps required in establishing a stable
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and reliable process BEFORE automation can be
considered. Once a stable process is confi rmed
and an automation plan is designed, the operator
remains the principal superstar in executing and
managing the cell.
Implementing automation is like the next-level of
Figure 9
a video game…things may seem harder or more
complex at fi rst! This serves as both a warning
and encouragement when making a shift to automation; it is a fruitful journey of improvement, but a shop’s
expectations must be to embrace change, and this includes a transition of engineering and operator skill sets.
The daily tasks and responsibilities of the operator will see the most abrupt changes, but the end-goal with
automation is to work smarter – not harder to gain greater levels of productivity.
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The operator remains the centerpiece and heartbeat of the automation cell, so automation does NOT remove
the human element and thinking out of the manufacturing equation. Implementing automation does not eliminate
the process intuition of the operator, but it does shift the planning and preparation timing to the very beginning
of the process. The operator is still required to create the total manufacturing recipe ahead of time (this includes
part pallets, tooling, programming, etc.), and these complete instructions are provided to the automation cell
for execution.
It is critical that the operator be involved in the automation planning and implementation process so that they
fully understand the manufacturing targets and can properly identify any potential training needs. It is highly
recommended to talk and work with your machine tool and automation OEMs and try to extract as much of their
experience and help with implementing automation to your operations. There are many process decisions and
potential pitfalls in planning and executing an automated cell, so it requires a collaborative and blended effort
of both engineering and operator skill sets to arrive to a productive solution that maximizes the unattended
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operation of the equipment.
(Continued on next page)
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EDM Today, Winter 2025 Issue