When Paccar were faced with quality issues on their truck bodies, they looked to ATS to review their ideas and turn them into reality. The problem was that the operation to apply the seals to the top of the trucks was prone to accidents and damaged body shells resulted.Full automation was not an option due the ever changing dimensional profile of the product; making robot based solutions impractical. The cost of reprogramming for future model changes was also a key factor. The ATS engineering team quickly set to work reviewing the process and jointly with the Paccar team devised a solution based on the concept of lifting the line operators into position to complete the required tasks.

Safety considerations were analyzed and a 3D simulation model constructed.
Difficult access constraints were overcome by fully retracting the lift to allow lift progression. With a rapid buy-off from the Paccar management, the project to turn the concept into reality was launched. Detailed design work was completed, equipment fabricated, electrical wiring installed and PLC programs written.

On-site commissioning and testing followed producing excellent results.
The whole process was completed “from start to fully working machine” in an amazing 3 week cycle. This project is now proceeding from the initial line to a multi-site roll-out – delivering high returns from applying the “design once, reuse many times” principle.

-Paccar-Man-Lift

Operator Lift Platforms for Difficult to Reach Assembly Operations