JeWe Inexor automates with Xcelerate

JeWe Inexor is a family company that has been around for 55 years, supplying all kinds of machined components to various industries. JeWe Inexor has twelve DN Solutions machines and more or less everything else necessary to produce a complete product. Often, skilled workers, who can set up machines, spend all their time just loading and removing workpieces. This task can be done by an automated robot, allowing the skilled workers to make more use of their expertise while the robot does the routine jobs.

JeWe Inexor looked at a variety of robot cells before deciding which was most suitable. Dennis Houkes from JeWe Inexor explains: “Cellro was one of the few, if not the only one, able to make very specific adjustments. The other companies say that it is not possible to adjust their robot cell. With Cellro, you can use other grippers, other clamps, drawers can be divided differently, and so much more. That’s exactly what we need.” The diversity of options offered by Xcelerate from Cellro were what caused JeWe Inexor to opt for this robot.

Dennis Houkes continues: “You usually associate a robot with mass production, but we machine specific small batches of products, some in series of only 10 to 20 items, or a hundred at other times. After a great deal of hesitation, I contacted Cellro and we looked at our range of products there. After investigation, it turned out that 60% to 70% of that range was suitable for robot loading onto the machine. That begins to be worthwhile. You get to thinking about it and work out a budget.”

Process any product thanks to diversity

Xcelerate is suitable by default for many production processes such as turning, milling, grinding and measuring. Xcelerate is also ideal for machining small numbers of workpieces. You can continue production unmanned and for long periods. The robot’s ease of use and simple programming are major benefits to JeWe Inexor. They use Xcelerate to load and unload products. Dennis Houkes says: “We chose this robot because its options, such as the force, fixtures and lengths, are so diverse. Thanks to that diversity, we can process all our products with our robot.”

JeWe Inexor aims to have one worker oversee two or three machines. By adding a robot cell at the beginning, a single worker can operate the machine and only needs to check on the robot cell. JeWe Inexor has its employees trained on how to operate the machine and automation robot properly. Martijn Vink from JeWe Inexor completed this training course. He says: “It’s a fairly simple machine for me to operate. Everything is clearly shown on the displays, so it’s not that hard really. You set everything up using the display and things proceed automatically from there. The robot then knows its own position and where in the machine to grab the product.”

Xcelerate has changed the process at JeWe Inexor significantly. They can no longer imagine production without it and have even given it a name. “We call our machine Lex. He was a former colleague of ours who unfortunately died due to ALS this past January. We named Lex in his memory.”