News

Dover Precision Components is proud to announce the activation of robotic tuggers to improve product flow and advance Lean manufacturing at its Inpro/Seal® manufacturing facility in Rock Island, Ill. The robotic tuggers mark a strategic expansion of the use of manufacturing automation by Dover Precision Components.

The Inpro/Seal facility will be using the robotic tuggers to move raw materials, in-progress parts and completed products around the facility, eliminating safety risks associated with manual material handling. The system will also help regulate production cell pacing to reduce work-in-progress (WIP) and achieve lead time reductions.

The adoption of the autonomous tuggers is part of a long-term manufacturing strategy at Dover Precision Components that aims to improve safety, ensure quality, optimize productivity, and quickly scale manufacturing volume in response to customer demand. From a safety perspective, the adoption of the tuggers will remove heavy lifting, pushing and tugging from human operation. From a Lean manufacturing perspective, the robotic tuggers will eliminate waste associated with moving materials and parts, improve workflow and optimize lead time.

“Dover Precision Components is committed to its continuous improvement journey,” says Dave Brown, the company’s Vice President of Operational Excellence. “The strategic implementation of automation in our manufacturing processes is targeted at eliminating the ‘seven types of waste’ and focusing our energies on activities that add value to customers.”

Previous automation upgrades at Dover Precision Components manufacturing facilities have also focused on the elimination of manual material handling. They include the introduction of automatic bar feed at the Inpro/Seal facility and the use of an articulating arm for loading material into CNC machines at the Cook Compression® facility in Jeffersonville, Ind., among others.

Dover Precision Components is committed to the ongoing evaluation of manufacturing technologies for opportunities to improve processes and ensure product quality, and will continue to analyze capital projects for automation opportunities.