Their mission statement "forward is the way" is applied right up to the automation of the production processes. To this end, Van Hool works closely with Valk Welding in the field of welding robotisation. Of the 24 welding robot systems that Valk Welding has installed at Van Hool over the past 20 years, the majority are in use by the industrial vehicles department. The most recently delivered robot system is used for the welding of trailer chassis'.
Van Hool retains total control over all these systems with the Shop Floor Control software, which was newly developed by Valk Welding. SFC is a platform that uses intelligent logic to quickly provide the various robots with the right programs, and this by the operator himself. The work instructions are also immediately visible to the operator and he can also communicate directly with the programmers via a chat function. In addition, an operator can also independently exchange programs between different installations without the need for program corrections.
The SFC software is part of the ROSE (Robot Object Server) platform on which the MIS (Management Information System) also runs. This allows each robot to be monitored in real time and down to the last detail. With the MIS system, complete traceability of all process data is also possible.
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