Automated Green Manufacturing | Green Energy News

April 14, 2009 – Vol.14 No.4

AUTOMATED GREEN MANUFACTURING.
by Bruce Mulliken, Green Energy News

Automation in manufacturing: good or bad?

In one point of view, automating a manufacturing production process – replacing men (or women) with machines – eliminates jobs.

In another point of view, automating production reduces manufacturing costs, making end products less expensive so more can be sold while saving money for consumers, money that could be spent elsewhere thus increasing jobs.

In a third point of view, jobs on the production line are lost with automation, but some new jobs are created by the manufacturers of the production automation equipment, the people who make the machines that put others out of work.

In a fourth point of view, the ability to automate production processes may attract newcomers into the end product business, creating more competition and pushing prices down further.

Green energy is not immune to automation. Production processes for solar cells are automated, as are production processes for the mechanical bits of wind turbines. Now there’s more automation with wind.

MAG Industrial Automation Systems is now offering automated manufacturing systems for wind turbine blades. Currently, wind turbine blades are made with considerable human input. MAG’s machines will cut back on the number of craftsman needed to build those blades. There goes some of those skilled green collar jobs, correct?

Maybe not.

Less labor input for turbine blades will reduce the costs of the blades, thus reducing the cost of wind power. Lower wind power costs will make wind energy more attractive, thus more capacity could be built, creating more jobs. The more attractive wind energy gets, the more businesses will get into the wind energy businesses creating still more jobs. Finally, as automated manufacturing of turbine blades increases, new jobs will be created in manufacturing, installing and maintaining the automation equipment. All green jobs, by the way.

According to MAG, the new systems can automate composite wind-turbine blade fabrication, double production line throughput and increase quality. The company's new Rapid Material Placement System (RMPS) and quick-cure molding system for wind blades combine to reduce labor content by two-thirds and produce a consistently high-quality blade from the start of a shift to the end.

MAG describes RMPS as “an automated blade molding facility unto itself, capable of spraying in-mold coatings, dispensing/lay-up of glass and carbon fiber materials, and dispensing/application of adhesive. It brings 3 meters per second (10 feet/sec) lay-up speed to placement of materials in blade skin, spar cap, and sheer web molds, with laser- and vision-based wrinkle detection in cross or longitudinal directions. Depending on the laminate schedule, the system can reduce lay-up time 85 percent on a 45-meter (150 foot) blade.

“The CNC-controlled (computer numerically controlled) system consists of a gantry system with multi-axis end effectors capable of manipulating spray heads and adhesive applicators, as well as tooling for spooling and placing materials. Two such gantry systems adjacent to one another can each produce a 45-meter blade-shell half in less than two hours, with half the manual labor of conventional methods. The gantry system rides on rails that are flush with the floor. It also carries bulk supply systems for gel-coat and adhesive.”

MAG has also developed a new, patent-pending quick-cure mold system utilizing tooling it also will supply. The molds are produced using the customer's CAD (computer aided drafting) data. The system yields a finished blade to spec with each cycle. It can be infused with resin in an hour, followed by a two-hour cure, about half the normal time, according to the company.

On the finishing side of blade automation, MAG plans introduce a five-axis machining system for root drilling/milling/sawing. For metalworking production of wind-power parts, MAG is introducing a new line of horizontal turning centers (HTC's) in the U.S. that combines a wide array of unusual capabilities for finishing a large part in one setup.

MAG is the leading supplier of composites processing technology for the aerospace industry.

There’s a fifth point of view: Automation adds a new level of high-tech skills to manufacturing that is evident in MAG’s description of its automated manufacturing of turbine blades. It’s those kinds of high-paying green jobs that today’s workforce is seeking.

Links:

MAG Industrial Automation Systems
http://www.mag-ias.com