Customized safety light curtain system solves Midaco Corporation’s challengs of pinchpoints, misalignments and vibration. Results are safe machines, more up time and overall time and cost savings for their pallet changers.
Building relationships - just the start
Midaco Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of state-of-the-art pallet changers and supplemental items for CNC machining centers, has been using Pilz safety relays for their CE opportunities. After a few interactions, the Pilz sales representative, Pat Morrissey, wanted to look into other safety automation challenges that the Midaco Corporation was facing. “The light curtains we were using were leaving a gap which caused pinch points and we also had trouble with alignment with vibration,“ states Michael Cayley, Jr., VP of Manufacturing. “Since Pat had been very helpful to us in other areas, we approached him to see if Pilz had a solution.”
Shinning a ‘light’ on the opportunity
After a thorough look at the situation, the solution became clear – “I offered the solution of utilizing the Pilz PSENopt II light curtains, since no dead space is found on the light curtain meaning Midaco Corporation would get full coverage and the light curtains do great when dealing with vibration,” stated Pat Morrissey, Pilz Business Development, OEM Team. “As we become more involved with the opportunity, we were able to suggest providing an entire system solution that would include PSENoptII, mirror columns, cables and a compact safety relay. Midaco Corporation has different types of pallet changing machines so two different solutions were created that provided 450mm light curtains and 600mm light curtains.”
The Pilz PSENoptII light curtains are known for their robustness and protection against shock, collision and vibration as well as an absence of dead zones. These light curtains used in conjunction with PSENopt II mirror columns, provide an adjustable base unit that offers additional protection against strong mechanical impact and enables the mirror column to be adjusted in uneven conditions – thus solving all of Midaco Corporations challenges.
After reviewing and analyzing the solution presented by Pilz, Midaco Corporation began implementing the systems on their pallet changing machines. They are now reaping the benefits of a safer environment for employees, higher production in view of much less down time, and easy ordering of the light curtain systems.
In addition to adding light curtains on pallet changers in their own shop, Midaco is offering this guarding solution as an option on automatic pallet changers for their customers who require CE guarding internationally and per requests in the continental US. The pallet changer and light curtain added to vertical machining centers results in greater productivity, elevated safety and increased output, allowing machine shop customers to quote jobs more competitively.
The relationship continues – with Pilz services
Pilz and Midaco Corporation continue to work together to solve other safety automation challenges. Pilz has also provided Midaco Corporation with Risk Assessments on specific equipment to ensure their applications are not only as safe as possible, but are also in compliance with appropriate Standards and Directives. “Pat also suggested taking a look at the Pilz training portfolio for our engineering staff,” stated Mike, Jr. “Since we ship our products around the world and they need to be CE marked, we sent our Engineering Manager to the Pilz CECE training course to bring him up to a level so we could certify our machinery in house. A great time and cost savings.”
“Midaco Corporation has been a great customer to work with, and I look forward working with them on their next safety application,” stated Pat.
