Company's automated shutter machines make use of DirectLOGIC 205 PLC technology to meet diverse
application needs
Jennifer Gerborg
AutomationDirect
Lance Reed
G&L Technologies
Gordon Himes
G&L Technologies
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If you have a home with plantation shutters, you may find it interesting to know that it is likely your shutters were made using an automated process that takes advantage of PLC technology. Until about six years ago, shutters were made completely by hand. Each part of the shutter had to be cut and sanded by hand, and then the pieces were assembled to form the shutter. It often took several people working at once to complete each shutter.
Gordon Himes and partner Lance Reed, who both had extensive experience in the robotic welding industry, recognized the need for automated machines in the woodworking industry. They decided to investigate building automated machines for the shutter industry that would drastically reduce the amount of time and manpower it took to produce shutters. They began talking to people in the industry to find out how they were making shutters and determine which processes might be good candidates for automation. They discovered that each process , from cutting to final assembly, took extensive time and precision -- from cutting to gluing, to attaching the whole piece together final assembly . As a result of their research, Himes and Reed saw an opportunity to design and build an array of machines that would focus on automating each specific task within the process of shutter manufacturing.
Together they formed G&L Technologies in 1995, in a small building in Alpharetta, Georgia. They began considering all the functionality that would be needed for their machines, and knew immediately that they wanted to include a PLC in the design. Since their machines would require features like counters and timers, Himes and Reed realized that all the pieces the components purchased separately would cost more than a PLC and would offer fewer features. Having been exposed to PLCs at previous jobs, they knew what the products were capable of and felt a PLC would be a good fit for their designs.
Himes and Reed looked to AutomationDirect (then known as PLC Direct ), a relatively new company at that time as well. They were intrigued by the company's Direct LOGIC 205 PLC. With a DL205 PLC, Himes and Reed were able to create a machine that met the industry's needs, and do it for a reasonable price. " The DL205 PLC offered the right variety of discrete I/O modules along with high-speed counting , stepper motor control, and Modbus RTU serial communication s , all in a micro-modular form factor suitable for a small machine enclosure ," says Himes . They The company were was also attracted to AutomationDirect 's ability to deliver the products they needed very quickly.
Ease of programming was another important feature for the company. Himes wanted to do the software development himself, but as a novice, he was looking for a PLC that offered a user-friendly programming interface. "I found that the Direct SOFT package used to program the DL205 was very easy to use, and it had detailed online help menus to assist me when I needed it," he says.
It wasn't long before Himes and Reed had built their first machine, the LPS-36T, a machine that controls louver production. Louvers are the pieces that go across each shutter frame that can be manipulated with a tilt rod to open and close the shutter. The machine uses a DL205 PLC to manage the operation of all electro- mechanical components and software communication, including index speed and distance, system stapling, drill and pin sequencing, and parts infeed coordination. An operator interface provides the operator with information such as louver width and machine status.
The PLC is programmed so that a range of production parameters is supported on the louver production machine. Therefore, many different manufacturers can take advantage of the automated systems, regardless of the shutter size and style they are manufacturing. The raw louver stock comes in many different lengths and can be produced in various wood types, as well as plastics and composites. The LPS-36T system accommodates raw louver stock lengths between 18 inches and 16 feet and allows the operator to enter louver length, width and thickness using the operator interface panel.
In the LPS-36T system, the raw louvers are loaded into the machine's feed hopper and pivot pins are loaded into the pin feed hopper. The operator then enters parameters for the specific shutter to be built and the sequence is enabled. When the machine starts, the louvers are center stapled and positioned at each of the sanding, drilling and pinning stations with the PLC-controlled indexing system. Each of the operations is then performed and the louvers are indexed out. Photoelectric sensors on the system ensure that the louvers are the proper size and also detect if louvers are not moving through the machine, which may indicate a jam. The machine will shut down if any errors are detected. Emergency shut down is also possible with an emergency stop button.
When the first LPS-36T machines were built, the benefits became apparent very quickly. The machine offered many features that made it valuable to the industry. The ability to perform multiple jobs at once allowed operators to be freed up to complete other tasks. Automated louver production resulted in improved shutter closure quality and the improved consistency of staple and pin locations. And, surprisingly, the automated system actually took up less floor space than manual systems.
Only six years later, G&L Technologies now builds four machine s models for use in the shutter industry, as well as custom machines. In addition to the louver production machine, the rail production machine bores the dowels in the rail (i.e., the top and bottom pieces), injects glue, inserts the dowels and routes the tilt rod relief notch. A stile production machine bores the louver pins in the stiles (i.e., the side pieces), performs tension and construction screw boring, mortises the hinges and cuts the stiles to length. The newest addition to their line, a material-processing machine, offers an automated saw for programmable cutting of louvers. Tandem blades on this machine eliminate edge fraying on the louvers, an issue that often means time-consuming sanding in manual applications. With these automated machines to perform the steps of shutter production, multiple tasks can be performed with one machine, and the entire process can be completed with the installation of all the machines.
All of G&L's automated machines continue to benefit from the flexibility and programmable capabilities the DL205 PLC brings to their machines. " The excellent service we receive from AutomationDirect , along with the ease of programming, flexibility and small size of the DL205, are the reasons we continue to choose this PLC for our machines," says Reed.
G&L Technologies now has customers across the U.S. and Canada and hopes to add customers in other countries soon. Some of their larger customers include Avalon Shutter in San Bernadino, California and Lafayette Shutter in Lafayette, Indiana. Keeping in mind that they may soon saturate the shutter industry in terms of installations, the company has their sights set on building machines that can be used in other industries in addition to the wood working industry. Reed predicts that they will be successful. "We are strategically planning future products so that we can wrap up our delivery to the shutter industry while developing technology that will be well suited for other industries as well."
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