Having the Right Tool Makes All the Difference
Achieving your goals in today’s fast-paced production environment requires leaders to make strategic investments and improvements in equipment and processes that enable them to achieve more, work faster, produce with less waste, and rely less on human involvement. For organizations that produce a variety of horizontal parts such as tubes and bars, automatic bar feeders are an absolute must.
Automatic bar feeders are exactly what they sound like: an industrial automation solution for the rapid, consistent feeding of various bar- and tube-shaped parts. There are a number of configurations available depending on your production needs ranging from small-diameter feeders for a wide variety of parts to magazine-style bar feeders for more efficient loading and facility operations.
Related Reading: How a Magazine Feeder Saves Time, Money & Resources
While there are countless types and configurations of automatic bar feeders to support different applications, their ability to feed a variety of part sizes is only the beginning. This versatile piece of industrial automation equipment is — and should be — designed to provide ample benefits to those willing to invest in a custom solution. Let’s take a look at several ways this machine raises the bar for production environments worldwide.
How Automatic Bar Feeders Impact the Bottom Line
More Loading Options Expands Integration Capability
Just as with many other pieces of equipment in your production line, it’s important to fully understand where automatic bar feeders fit into the process. The processes and equipment that precede one step should be considered just as the processes and equipment that are triggered in the next step. Minimizing disruption between these steps is critical — even a few moments of downtime or human effort needed between them translates into significant costs and production impact over time.
Fortunately, automatic bar feeders allow for numerous types of loading. Bars, tubes, and other horizontal parts can be hand stacked (if manual loading is a necessity), bundle loaded, or loaded via a conveyor bringing the parts over from a previous operation. With greater flexibility in loading, you’ll be able to configure your production environment in the most automated and efficient way possible — saving time, energy, and money.
Ready for a more flexible solution? Let’s discuss your application today.
They’re Ideal for Non-Marring Applications
Throughout part production, you’ll eventually have finished parts or those that are nearly complete and must be heat treated. As you know, it’s critical to product quality that these parts not suffer any damage, unneeded modification, or other alteration as they continue to move throughout your production cycle. Automatic bar feeders are ideal for feeding these parts because they’re non-marring, meaning they don’t cause damage.
There are a few features of the feeder that contribute to this. First, the part elevator and cleat system are designed specific to the parts being fed. The parts are kept safe as they’re lifted from the hopper and fit their custom-designed cleat perfectly without risk of coming loose or falling back. But most important is the fact that there is no recirculation of parts. Whereas some conveyors are designed to cycle parts until they escape the system, automatic bar feeders discharge parts neatly and without error into the next phase. In the end, this helps to preserve the quality of your parts, preventing damage, throwaways, and other costs.
They Keep Your Environment Productive
Production managers and shop workers will understand the hazards of any manufacturing environment. Occupational hearing loss is a real threat for people working in manufacturing facilities and other industrial environments. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 50% of all manufacturing workers have been exposed to hazardous noise. And nearly 20% of those exposed have hearing problems that affect their daily work.
If your application involves feeding bars and other horizontal parts, automatic bar feeders are a great solution because they feature incredibly low noise during operation. This is thanks to zero recirculation of parts, which can produce high decibel levels as metal clanks repeatedly against metal. Because these systems are highly automated, there’s little need for workers to engage with them apart from the occasional manual part loading. With workers’ ears and hands protected, the risk of short- and long-term injuries, increased insurance, production downtime, and other costly problems is avoided.
Raise the Bar on Your Next Industrial Automation System
Your production environment is the lifeblood of your organization’s success. You’re likely already exploring ways to make it more efficient, cost-effective, and safe for your workers. Automatic bar feeders are a worthwhile investment toward these strategic efforts.
For decades, Feedall Automation has been custom-designing, engineering, manufacturing, and supporting automatic bar feeders and countless other industrial automation systems. We have more than 100 custom feeders for industrial applications — all of which can be further customized to suit your specific application.
We’ve been investing heavily in our systems and internal capabilities and are ready to help you do the same with an industry-leading automatic bar feeder.
Get in touch with us today to discuss your material handling needs.