Case Studies

The Challenge

A truck curtains manufacturer requested the transformation of our SM-321-HA for the automatic production of truck curtains into a machine to weld the horizontal and vertical anti-vandalism straps (PVC straps with steel cable insert).

On a standard truck curtain, 90 vertical anti-vandalism straps and 13 horizontal straps had to be applied. This was an extremely time-consuming process if done in the traditional manner. Our goal was to automate, and therefore significantly accelerate this process by continuously feeding the PVC panels into a machine with a conveyor belt while simultaneously welding the straps in X and Y directions with multiple welding heads.

The Solution

Our team built a conveyorized hot air welding station, the SM-325-HA, that feeds the fabric from a heavy duty motorized unwinding station with automatic edge correction and digital fabric tension control. Multiple high-power welding heads installed on the first tool bridge automatically apply the 13 horizontal straps. A second bridge with 4 welding heads then applies the horizontal straps on the top edge, then automatically adapts its position according to the CAD drawing of the curtain so that the vertical straps are welded in the exact position.

An additional challenge was to weld the anti-vandalism straps close to each other. To solve this problem, we redesigned our welding heads so that they can be welded at a minimum distance of 150 mm.

This machine was designed with a powerful vacuum turbine and the conveyor belt to work either from the jumbo roll or weld the anti-vandalism straps on (pre-printed) curtains, on which the standard horizontal and vertical reinforcing straps have already been applied.

State-of-the-art automation, improved efficiency.

As opposed to traditional machines which can require multiple operators, the SM-325-HA only requires a single operator to supervise the machine during the welding cycles. The SM-325-HA carries out all steps continuously and fully automatically, making it extremely efficient.

The combination of the motorized unwinder with electronic edge correction, digital fabric tension control and the vacuumed conveyor belt ensured that the straps are applied with absolute precision and the length tolerance of the finished product is close to zero.

The machine is currently employed in Romania in our customer’s factory.