Abstract :
The recent installation of a new floor pan assembly line, the first of its kind in Europe at Nissan´s Sunderland plant, has effectively removed the need for framing jigs on initial spot welding operations. Core to the line´s effectiveness is the use of three Fanuc robots with intelligent control and integrated 3D laser vision systems. Each robot is a Fanuc R2000iA, a six axes 200 kg load capacity arm, fitted with a Fanuc V500iA 3DL vision system to locate the panel position. The robots enable the production of variants without lengthy tool change times. Variants are programmed into the robots and the NC tooling controllers, making conventional tooling and fixtures unnecessary.
