Excursion to the Moscow production of components for communication networks. Part two
In the previous part we talked about the products, and now it's time to look into the shop. We will go through unexpectedly high-tech zones, take a look at inconspicuous rooms and find out which processes are best left to robots, and where there is no way to do without people.
The plant has more than a dozen different workshops - from large-scale (plastic casting, metalworking, production of concrete products) to compact auxiliary (forging, packaging).
First we get to the plastic molding shop. There are manufactured couplings for optical and copper-core cables, as well as components for cross-connect cabinets. SSD uses only high-quality plastics from Russia (Ufa, Bashkiria) and foreign-made (the largest suppliers are DuPont, LG Chem) as raw materials.
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For the production of the plant uses different types of plastic - from ordinary polyethylene to ABS plastic. This is due to the specificity of manufactured parts. For example, the internal sockets should not burn or produce toxic smoke. The external requirements are increased in terms of reliability and durability: they must operate smoothly in difficult conditions with large differences in temperature and humidity. For some parts (for example, connectors) appearance is important - in such a situation, a higher quality and presentable plastic is used.
The heart of the shop is Korean thermoplastic automatic machines, which work almost autonomously, under the supervision of a single specialist. The accuracy and quality of the components provide the mold.
A mold is a three-dimensional shape that "turns" molten plastic into a desired part. Usually it is made of high-strength metal and consists of several parts that move relative to each other in the process.
Here are the molds for plastic parts
A mold is a structurally complex product. For example, the quality of the final product depends on how accurately the place and the rate of plastic supply are calculated. If the plastic spills too quickly, it will not have time to harden properly, and the part will turn out to be fragile. And if it is too slow, it will harden too early and will not fill the entire form. In addition, the design of the mold should provide for the release of parts without the participation of the operator - automatically or with a pusher.
The cost of the mold with the development fluctuates around 30-50 thousand dollars, and can reach up to 100 thousand.
Molds require a lot - as we have already seen, the assortment of couplings and other plastic products from “Stroysvyazdetal” is quite large, with one coupling consisting on average of three or four plastic parts, which also need molds.
Previously, the SSD ordered the manufacture of molds from third-party companies in specialized industries. However, this approach did not justify itself: the whole process from designing a mold to testing and eliminating flaws took from one to one and a half, and very few customers agreed to wait so long. In addition, the cost of the mold came out quite large.
Alternatively, shipments from China could be considered. But in such a situation, the company would be dependent on the complex and unpredictable delivery and customs clearance of the goods. In addition, Chinese manufacturers are not ready to work for the customer, they prefer to stamp a mass standard product, and at the same time they can change it on their own initiative without reference to the TK. Finally, the Chinese often use not quite high-quality metal, as a result, the finished mold can withstand, for example, only 100,000 castings, whereas it should - a million.
High-tech equipment for the production of molds: it’s definitely not worth saving
To reduce the time and financial costs, SSD switched to the independent manufacture of molds, creating for this special auxiliary production. It uses modern computer modeling tools that allow designing molds and high-tech machines with electronic control, allowing them to be quickly and accurately manufactured. The tangible cost of equipment for the production of molds pays off due to the high speed and high quality of the finished product. Now SSD can produce up to five molds per month.
The production of molds is provided by five SODICK machines - three electro-extrusion (wire-cut) machines and two multifunctional centers that allow cutting with the help of cutters.
Electro Extrusion Machine
The workpiece passes through 4 stages: first there is a rough, preparatory pruning, then more thin, then thermal, and then finishing.
By the way, the machines allow not only to make molds, but also independently produce the tools required for their processing.
The department for the production of molds serves only the needs of the MIC and does not cooperate with third-party customers. However, it is fully loaded and often works in two shifts.
From the world of plastic go to the world of metal. In the turning and milling shop, metal assemblies for couplings are made: collets for clamping cables or armor. The main for them are pipes and rods.
The electroplating shop is responsible for the protection of metal products. The estimated service life of the coupling is 25 years, and it is expected to work in an aggressive environment (extreme temperatures, temperature and humidity drops, possible chemical effects). In such conditions, the raw metal will lose its properties and begin to collapse.
Baths for electroplating. In the photo - only a small part of all the baths, about a quarter
For metal processing used baths with special reagents. There are more than 10 of them in the enterprise.
We go up to the second floor and get into the assembly shop of optical couplings. Here cars give way to people. The assembly of the couplings is done by experienced installers under the supervision of specialists from the technical control department.
The clutch itself consists of approximately 40 components. Almost all of them, as we told in the first part, are produced by the SJS independently - only a small part of the simplest parts is purchased from third-party companies.
Assembly is still a manual process. Too many different minor operations.
Fully assembled couplings are delivered to the packaging. There is nothing unusual here: the couplings are stacked in cardboard boxes, which are placed on wooden pallets and sealed with brand adhesive tape.
From the assembly shop go to a small packing shop. SSD itself is not engaged in the production of sealants and compounds - they are purchased from specialized chemical plants and packed in small packaging, which goes along with products for sealing joints on the ground.
A small shop for packing sealants
Another compact but rather unexpected room is its own forge. Interestingly, a separate spring foundation is provided for the hammer, which allows smoothing the vibration during forging. Forge may well be useful in the production of related hardware. For example, simple scrap.
Old reliable, time-tested technique - rarely used, does not fail
Or hooks with which installers open the covers of wells. After all, a hook is not just a piece of metal. Methane accumulates in the communication wells, and the items used by installers should not spark. To do this, the ends of the hooks are pressed. By the way, the Chinese often follow the simple way - they just sharpen the end of the hook, and when opening it can strike a spark.
A small lead-soldering compartment is used, for example, for the manufacture of lead braids for copper cables. As we said, for the construction of modern communication networks, mainly optical fiber is used, but copper cables have not yet been decommissioned and are actively used at secret sites.
According to the technology, the cable must be restored completely - all layers, so if it is damaged (or part of it was stolen), then it will have to be replaced completely.
Go to one of the main shops. Here are manufactured body products, i.e. cabinets - cross, street, anti-vandal. But if necessary, the production is able to issue any necessary metal parts.
Ready boxes. Next - welding and painting
Cabinets are made in several stages. The first - cutting, when the outlines of the cabinet are cut from a standard metal sheet. Cutting itself is also an art: you need to make a program so that there is as little waste as possible from the sheet. This is an important point affecting the cost.
General view of the shop. On the left are the cutting machines (in the left corner you can see a stack of metal sheets), in the foreground there is a bending robot cover
Left - metal sheets, right - laser cutting machine.
For cutting, two laser and two coordinate punching machines are used. The first ones are cut with a laser, and the second ones have a revolving drum with tools that they use for cutting. The laser machine does not require a tool, but it is slightly slower, so the cost of a serial product made with it is slightly higher.
Cutting machine operator
Laser machines are mainly used for the manufacture of samples and small-scale production, and the coordinate - for cutting typical products. However, in reality, the difference in cost is not very large; therefore, at high load all four machines are used for production.
The next stage is the bending of the pattern. This is done by a fully autonomous robot and bending semi-robots, working in the company of the operator who delivers the cut metal billet. The robot displays the sequence on the screen - what and where to bring.
Half-robots for bending workpieces. Those who watched Futurama - you understood whose ancestors are
The machine itself knows which tool is needed, and switches to the desired mode. But if the operator slips the part a little when the material is being fed, this may affect the final product: for example, the corners will not meet or the cabinet door will not close. Fully autonomous robot, which the company acquired, does not allow such errors.
The robot consists of a brain, an eye, a folding machine and two arms. The first hand takes the workpiece, weighs it, shows it to the eye - he understands that it is, selects the desired program. Next, the first hand lays the part on the intermediate table, from where it takes the other hand and sends it to the fold. In the robot, you can download blanks of any type known to him, even mixed up - he will select the right program for each one.
Fully autonomous robot for bending patterns. On the left behind the counter is the giving hand, to the right closer to the center are the templates, next is the main white hand, which brings the template to the folding machine.
The robot is serviced remotely: in the event of a breakdown, the specialists of the manufacturing company conduct online diagnostics, determine the type of malfunction, and send new details. After replacement and testing, the robot returns to service.
An autonomous robot is so technological and fast that it manages to do its part faster than other areas, i.e. download it for 24 hours fails.
The third stage is welding, it takes place in the company's own welding shop. There work two robots, each of which has two tables, on which the cabinet blanks are laid out in turn. While the robot cooks one, the operator removes the finished cabinet from the second, puts new sheets and so on in a circle. The robot can cook 24 hours a day.
Initially, welding was carried out manually. It was inconvenient - slowly, expensively, one had to keep a large number of welding stations, qualified welders, who, despite their specialization and experience, still sometimes made mistakes. After purchasing robots for cutting and folding, it was decided to automate the welding. But for some reason, new welding machines produced a marriage.
It turned out that due to the semi-automatic bending there are often small differences in the blanks. The person notices this and can somehow get out of the situation, and the robot cooks as it is. To minimize the defect, the company acquired a full-cycle bending robot, which produces the same billet.
Assembled and welded cabinets are delivered to the paint shop.
Alexey shows that the holes that are not necessary to paint over are closed with special plugs
First, the operator processes and closes those holes that do not need to be painted. Then the product is put on the conveyor, which passes through different chambers. They degrease the metal, phosphate, washed with demineralized water and dried. After that, the wardrobe is completely ready for painting.
Metal billets are conveyed by primary conveyor.
Due to its magnetic properties, the powder adheres to the prepared metal and then hardens in a special furnace. The one that is not stuck falls down and can be reused.
In front of the camera for proper painting
The powder is sprayed from a two-dimensional form and may not fall on some places of the workpiece. If necessary, the operator manually tint these places before sending the part to the furnace.
Products that will be used on the street, are five stages of processing. Designed for indoor - three. In principle, the painting technology does not require a primer, but at the request of the client it can be applied.
This is how sealant should be applied.
After painting, a sealant is applied to the product. This also deals with a special machine. The polymerization takes about 10 minutes, after which the sealant becomes elastic and well seals the gap between the door and the cabinet body. The sealant is ordinary polyurethane, it is of two types - for internal and external use.
Above the metalworking and welding shops there is another assembly shop. Here is the final assembly of cabinets.
Install small parts here.
And here - they assemble cabinets and hang doors.
To improve the efficiency and organization of continuous production in the assembly hall, the kanban system is used. The bottom line is that each part has its own, named container, from which the collector easily pulls it out.
Open racks with the necessary accessories. All neatly signed
A special employee controls the number of components and, if necessary, replenishes stocks.
On the way, look at the stamping compartment. Here, by stamping, simple and cheap products are produced: one hit and that's it.
Stamping is the cheapest method of production, so it is used in situations where the low cost of the finished product comes to the fore.
A similar detail created by the cutting method would have to go through 3–4 processing steps, and this, naturally, would have made it more expensive.
The production of concrete products (mainly we are talking about communication wells) is one of the oldest activities of the SSD, which has existed since Soviet times. It is provided by two workshops - reinforcement, in which the frame is made, and reinforced concrete, where they make the well itself.
Reinforcement shop
Products in the reinforcement workshop are made by hand using relatively simple equipment, or using an automatic 3D-cutting machine that allows you to create parts by bending them in three dimensions.
Powerful machine that almost instantly makes the desired detail of complex shape
The plasma cutting machine works quickly and efficiently with metal sheets five millimeters thick or more (laser cutting machine functionality is limited to 3 mm sheets). So, the plasma machine spends only six seconds for cutting one cover. For comparison, earlier hatches were cut out one by one on the guillotine - and it took about an hour.
Armature for a cover of wells. True, the familiar form?
Concrete production has its own characteristics. SSD uses 2 methods. The first is traditional: after mixing all the components, water is added to the tank, and the concrete becomes fluid. On the one hand, water in traditional production is indispensable, on the other hand, water is the main enemy of concrete, which reduces its characteristics.
Forms of wells for pouring concrete. From the top right is a crane that moves them around the workshop.
The form for a sewer well is put on a vibrating table, in it the fittings are put. Then the distributor starts pouring the concrete into the mold, after which the vibrating table is turned on, allowing the concrete to evenly distribute the shape and release all the bubbles from it. The cycle is repeated until all the concrete has settled. Without a vibrating table, when drying, the concrete will gradually settle, the product will become lower, and a new solution will have to be poured over the already dried solution, which will markedly reduce the strength of the finished product.
The distributor pours the concrete into the mold. Then a short session of vibration and more concrete is added.
Steam chambers are used to remove water, which heat the product to speed up the release of moisture. Thanks to them, the elements of the well are ready for use after four hours. Without a steaming chamber, the production of one well can take up to 3 days, which dramatically reduces the turnover of the casting molds.
Steam Chamber Control
During the “hottest” periods, wells are often loaded straight from the steam-cooking chamber into the car and taken to the site.
Special attention is paid to quality control. In particular, the workshop has its own quality laboratory, into which the castings from each batch of concrete fall. They are tested for durability, compliance with temperature, resistance to shock and vibration.
The second production method is cold vibropressing. In this case, a practically dry mixture without water is poured into the molds. One of the advantages of such a scheme is the absence of excess moisture in concrete. The well does not need to be dried, it is immediately ready for installation and is much stronger at the exit: if, using the traditional method, a concrete ring should be 10 cm thick, then the same strength is achieved with a thickness of 5 cm.
Ready-made fittings for pouring concrete
The second advantage is the speed of production: it is much higher than when using the traditional method. Up to 25 wells can be made per shift, and up to 70 units per day with three shifts.
Installation for cold vibropressing. Very high speed and excellent quality, but expensive
Thinner concrete ring, but with good density and strength
In addition, the traditional method requires a team of skilled workers (including the crane operator), so when working around the clock at the factory there should be three full brigades. When using vibropressing for continuous production, all three operators need only to undergo rapid training.
Ready wells. It is seen that the concrete is different from the traditional casting. Products can be used almost immediately.
The main disadvantage of the second method is the high price. Installation for vibropressing expensive. In addition, complex molds are used for work, in which different parts vibrate at different times under pressure ... The cost of such a mold is 65-70 thousand euros.
Form for vibropressing. Very tech and sophisticated. Therefore dear
We leave outside. On the street are "banks" - large containers for components. They contain two fractions of crushed stone and two types of sand.
Traditional industrial landscape
To work "banks" you need to constantly warm up, otherwise you can not only freeze bulk materials, but also damage the equipment. Therefore, even if there are no orders and production is idle, the cost of heating still goes.
Storage of finished products
In winter, the open space on the premises of the enterprise is used to store ready wells. These stocks will be needed in spring and summer, when the demand for such products will increase dramatically.
More finished products
However, shipments are carried out in the winter.
Loading. The truck is owned by SSD
In general, look at the work of the SSD was interesting. The company has managed not only to preserve the production base since Soviet times, but also actively modernize and develop it. High technological effectiveness of production, the desire to work for the future and concern for the quality and relationship with customers allow the company to create high-quality products that are competitive not only in the domestic market.
The plant has more than a dozen different workshops - from large-scale (plastic casting, metalworking, production of concrete products) to compact auxiliary (forging, packaging).
Plastic casting shop
First we get to the plastic molding shop. There are manufactured couplings for optical and copper-core cables, as well as components for cross-connect cabinets. SSD uses only high-quality plastics from Russia (Ufa, Bashkiria) and foreign-made (the largest suppliers are DuPont, LG Chem) as raw materials.
')
For the production of the plant uses different types of plastic - from ordinary polyethylene to ABS plastic. This is due to the specificity of manufactured parts. For example, the internal sockets should not burn or produce toxic smoke. The external requirements are increased in terms of reliability and durability: they must operate smoothly in difficult conditions with large differences in temperature and humidity. For some parts (for example, connectors) appearance is important - in such a situation, a higher quality and presentable plastic is used.
The heart of the shop is Korean thermoplastic automatic machines, which work almost autonomously, under the supervision of a single specialist. The accuracy and quality of the components provide the mold.
Press forms
A mold is a three-dimensional shape that "turns" molten plastic into a desired part. Usually it is made of high-strength metal and consists of several parts that move relative to each other in the process.
Here are the molds for plastic parts
A mold is a structurally complex product. For example, the quality of the final product depends on how accurately the place and the rate of plastic supply are calculated. If the plastic spills too quickly, it will not have time to harden properly, and the part will turn out to be fragile. And if it is too slow, it will harden too early and will not fill the entire form. In addition, the design of the mold should provide for the release of parts without the participation of the operator - automatically or with a pusher.
The cost of the mold with the development fluctuates around 30-50 thousand dollars, and can reach up to 100 thousand.
Molds require a lot - as we have already seen, the assortment of couplings and other plastic products from “Stroysvyazdetal” is quite large, with one coupling consisting on average of three or four plastic parts, which also need molds.
Previously, the SSD ordered the manufacture of molds from third-party companies in specialized industries. However, this approach did not justify itself: the whole process from designing a mold to testing and eliminating flaws took from one to one and a half, and very few customers agreed to wait so long. In addition, the cost of the mold came out quite large.
Alternatively, shipments from China could be considered. But in such a situation, the company would be dependent on the complex and unpredictable delivery and customs clearance of the goods. In addition, Chinese manufacturers are not ready to work for the customer, they prefer to stamp a mass standard product, and at the same time they can change it on their own initiative without reference to the TK. Finally, the Chinese often use not quite high-quality metal, as a result, the finished mold can withstand, for example, only 100,000 castings, whereas it should - a million.
High-tech equipment for the production of molds: it’s definitely not worth saving
To reduce the time and financial costs, SSD switched to the independent manufacture of molds, creating for this special auxiliary production. It uses modern computer modeling tools that allow designing molds and high-tech machines with electronic control, allowing them to be quickly and accurately manufactured. The tangible cost of equipment for the production of molds pays off due to the high speed and high quality of the finished product. Now SSD can produce up to five molds per month.
The production of molds is provided by five SODICK machines - three electro-extrusion (wire-cut) machines and two multifunctional centers that allow cutting with the help of cutters.
Electro Extrusion Machine
The workpiece passes through 4 stages: first there is a rough, preparatory pruning, then more thin, then thermal, and then finishing.
By the way, the machines allow not only to make molds, but also independently produce the tools required for their processing.
The department for the production of molds serves only the needs of the MIC and does not cooperate with third-party customers. However, it is fully loaded and often works in two shifts.
Lathe milling and electroplating shops
From the world of plastic go to the world of metal. In the turning and milling shop, metal assemblies for couplings are made: collets for clamping cables or armor. The main for them are pipes and rods.
The electroplating shop is responsible for the protection of metal products. The estimated service life of the coupling is 25 years, and it is expected to work in an aggressive environment (extreme temperatures, temperature and humidity drops, possible chemical effects). In such conditions, the raw metal will lose its properties and begin to collapse.
Baths for electroplating. In the photo - only a small part of all the baths, about a quarter
For metal processing used baths with special reagents. There are more than 10 of them in the enterprise.
Coupling assembly
We go up to the second floor and get into the assembly shop of optical couplings. Here cars give way to people. The assembly of the couplings is done by experienced installers under the supervision of specialists from the technical control department.
The clutch itself consists of approximately 40 components. Almost all of them, as we told in the first part, are produced by the SJS independently - only a small part of the simplest parts is purchased from third-party companies.
Assembly is still a manual process. Too many different minor operations.
Fully assembled couplings are delivered to the packaging. There is nothing unusual here: the couplings are stacked in cardboard boxes, which are placed on wooden pallets and sealed with brand adhesive tape.
Auxiliary shops
From the assembly shop go to a small packing shop. SSD itself is not engaged in the production of sealants and compounds - they are purchased from specialized chemical plants and packed in small packaging, which goes along with products for sealing joints on the ground.
A small shop for packing sealants
Another compact but rather unexpected room is its own forge. Interestingly, a separate spring foundation is provided for the hammer, which allows smoothing the vibration during forging. Forge may well be useful in the production of related hardware. For example, simple scrap.
Old reliable, time-tested technique - rarely used, does not fail
Or hooks with which installers open the covers of wells. After all, a hook is not just a piece of metal. Methane accumulates in the communication wells, and the items used by installers should not spark. To do this, the ends of the hooks are pressed. By the way, the Chinese often follow the simple way - they just sharpen the end of the hook, and when opening it can strike a spark.
A small lead-soldering compartment is used, for example, for the manufacture of lead braids for copper cables. As we said, for the construction of modern communication networks, mainly optical fiber is used, but copper cables have not yet been decommissioned and are actively used at secret sites.
According to the technology, the cable must be restored completely - all layers, so if it is damaged (or part of it was stolen), then it will have to be replaced completely.
Metalworking shop
Go to one of the main shops. Here are manufactured body products, i.e. cabinets - cross, street, anti-vandal. But if necessary, the production is able to issue any necessary metal parts.
Ready boxes. Next - welding and painting
Cabinets are made in several stages. The first - cutting, when the outlines of the cabinet are cut from a standard metal sheet. Cutting itself is also an art: you need to make a program so that there is as little waste as possible from the sheet. This is an important point affecting the cost.
General view of the shop. On the left are the cutting machines (in the left corner you can see a stack of metal sheets), in the foreground there is a bending robot cover
Left - metal sheets, right - laser cutting machine.
For cutting, two laser and two coordinate punching machines are used. The first ones are cut with a laser, and the second ones have a revolving drum with tools that they use for cutting. The laser machine does not require a tool, but it is slightly slower, so the cost of a serial product made with it is slightly higher.
Cutting machine operator
Laser machines are mainly used for the manufacture of samples and small-scale production, and the coordinate - for cutting typical products. However, in reality, the difference in cost is not very large; therefore, at high load all four machines are used for production.
The next stage is the bending of the pattern. This is done by a fully autonomous robot and bending semi-robots, working in the company of the operator who delivers the cut metal billet. The robot displays the sequence on the screen - what and where to bring.
Half-robots for bending workpieces. Those who watched Futurama - you understood whose ancestors are
The machine itself knows which tool is needed, and switches to the desired mode. But if the operator slips the part a little when the material is being fed, this may affect the final product: for example, the corners will not meet or the cabinet door will not close. Fully autonomous robot, which the company acquired, does not allow such errors.
The robot consists of a brain, an eye, a folding machine and two arms. The first hand takes the workpiece, weighs it, shows it to the eye - he understands that it is, selects the desired program. Next, the first hand lays the part on the intermediate table, from where it takes the other hand and sends it to the fold. In the robot, you can download blanks of any type known to him, even mixed up - he will select the right program for each one.
Fully autonomous robot for bending patterns. On the left behind the counter is the giving hand, to the right closer to the center are the templates, next is the main white hand, which brings the template to the folding machine.
The robot is serviced remotely: in the event of a breakdown, the specialists of the manufacturing company conduct online diagnostics, determine the type of malfunction, and send new details. After replacement and testing, the robot returns to service.
An autonomous robot is so technological and fast that it manages to do its part faster than other areas, i.e. download it for 24 hours fails.
The third stage is welding, it takes place in the company's own welding shop. There work two robots, each of which has two tables, on which the cabinet blanks are laid out in turn. While the robot cooks one, the operator removes the finished cabinet from the second, puts new sheets and so on in a circle. The robot can cook 24 hours a day.
Initially, welding was carried out manually. It was inconvenient - slowly, expensively, one had to keep a large number of welding stations, qualified welders, who, despite their specialization and experience, still sometimes made mistakes. After purchasing robots for cutting and folding, it was decided to automate the welding. But for some reason, new welding machines produced a marriage.
It turned out that due to the semi-automatic bending there are often small differences in the blanks. The person notices this and can somehow get out of the situation, and the robot cooks as it is. To minimize the defect, the company acquired a full-cycle bending robot, which produces the same billet.
Paint shop
Assembled and welded cabinets are delivered to the paint shop.
Alexey shows that the holes that are not necessary to paint over are closed with special plugs
First, the operator processes and closes those holes that do not need to be painted. Then the product is put on the conveyor, which passes through different chambers. They degrease the metal, phosphate, washed with demineralized water and dried. After that, the wardrobe is completely ready for painting.
Metal billets are conveyed by primary conveyor.
Due to its magnetic properties, the powder adheres to the prepared metal and then hardens in a special furnace. The one that is not stuck falls down and can be reused.
In front of the camera for proper painting
The powder is sprayed from a two-dimensional form and may not fall on some places of the workpiece. If necessary, the operator manually tint these places before sending the part to the furnace.
Products that will be used on the street, are five stages of processing. Designed for indoor - three. In principle, the painting technology does not require a primer, but at the request of the client it can be applied.
This is how sealant should be applied.
After painting, a sealant is applied to the product. This also deals with a special machine. The polymerization takes about 10 minutes, after which the sealant becomes elastic and well seals the gap between the door and the cabinet body. The sealant is ordinary polyurethane, it is of two types - for internal and external use.
Final assembly of metal products
Above the metalworking and welding shops there is another assembly shop. Here is the final assembly of cabinets.
Install small parts here.
And here - they assemble cabinets and hang doors.
To improve the efficiency and organization of continuous production in the assembly hall, the kanban system is used. The bottom line is that each part has its own, named container, from which the collector easily pulls it out.
Open racks with the necessary accessories. All neatly signed
A special employee controls the number of components and, if necessary, replenishes stocks.
Punching compartment
On the way, look at the stamping compartment. Here, by stamping, simple and cheap products are produced: one hit and that's it.
Stamping is the cheapest method of production, so it is used in situations where the low cost of the finished product comes to the fore.
A similar detail created by the cutting method would have to go through 3–4 processing steps, and this, naturally, would have made it more expensive.
Reinforced concrete and reinforcement shop
The production of concrete products (mainly we are talking about communication wells) is one of the oldest activities of the SSD, which has existed since Soviet times. It is provided by two workshops - reinforcement, in which the frame is made, and reinforced concrete, where they make the well itself.
Reinforcement shop
Products in the reinforcement workshop are made by hand using relatively simple equipment, or using an automatic 3D-cutting machine that allows you to create parts by bending them in three dimensions.
Powerful machine that almost instantly makes the desired detail of complex shape
The plasma cutting machine works quickly and efficiently with metal sheets five millimeters thick or more (laser cutting machine functionality is limited to 3 mm sheets). So, the plasma machine spends only six seconds for cutting one cover. For comparison, earlier hatches were cut out one by one on the guillotine - and it took about an hour.
Armature for a cover of wells. True, the familiar form?
Concrete production has its own characteristics. SSD uses 2 methods. The first is traditional: after mixing all the components, water is added to the tank, and the concrete becomes fluid. On the one hand, water in traditional production is indispensable, on the other hand, water is the main enemy of concrete, which reduces its characteristics.
Forms of wells for pouring concrete. From the top right is a crane that moves them around the workshop.
The form for a sewer well is put on a vibrating table, in it the fittings are put. Then the distributor starts pouring the concrete into the mold, after which the vibrating table is turned on, allowing the concrete to evenly distribute the shape and release all the bubbles from it. The cycle is repeated until all the concrete has settled. Without a vibrating table, when drying, the concrete will gradually settle, the product will become lower, and a new solution will have to be poured over the already dried solution, which will markedly reduce the strength of the finished product.
The distributor pours the concrete into the mold. Then a short session of vibration and more concrete is added.
Steam chambers are used to remove water, which heat the product to speed up the release of moisture. Thanks to them, the elements of the well are ready for use after four hours. Without a steaming chamber, the production of one well can take up to 3 days, which dramatically reduces the turnover of the casting molds.
Steam Chamber Control
During the “hottest” periods, wells are often loaded straight from the steam-cooking chamber into the car and taken to the site.
Special attention is paid to quality control. In particular, the workshop has its own quality laboratory, into which the castings from each batch of concrete fall. They are tested for durability, compliance with temperature, resistance to shock and vibration.
The second production method is cold vibropressing. In this case, a practically dry mixture without water is poured into the molds. One of the advantages of such a scheme is the absence of excess moisture in concrete. The well does not need to be dried, it is immediately ready for installation and is much stronger at the exit: if, using the traditional method, a concrete ring should be 10 cm thick, then the same strength is achieved with a thickness of 5 cm.
Ready-made fittings for pouring concrete
The second advantage is the speed of production: it is much higher than when using the traditional method. Up to 25 wells can be made per shift, and up to 70 units per day with three shifts.
Installation for cold vibropressing. Very high speed and excellent quality, but expensive
Thinner concrete ring, but with good density and strength
In addition, the traditional method requires a team of skilled workers (including the crane operator), so when working around the clock at the factory there should be three full brigades. When using vibropressing for continuous production, all three operators need only to undergo rapid training.
Ready wells. It is seen that the concrete is different from the traditional casting. Products can be used almost immediately.
The main disadvantage of the second method is the high price. Installation for vibropressing expensive. In addition, complex molds are used for work, in which different parts vibrate at different times under pressure ... The cost of such a mold is 65-70 thousand euros.
Form for vibropressing. Very tech and sophisticated. Therefore dear
We leave outside. On the street are "banks" - large containers for components. They contain two fractions of crushed stone and two types of sand.
Traditional industrial landscape
To work "banks" you need to constantly warm up, otherwise you can not only freeze bulk materials, but also damage the equipment. Therefore, even if there are no orders and production is idle, the cost of heating still goes.
Storage of finished products
In winter, the open space on the premises of the enterprise is used to store ready wells. These stocks will be needed in spring and summer, when the demand for such products will increase dramatically.
More finished products
However, shipments are carried out in the winter.
Loading. The truck is owned by SSD
In general, look at the work of the SSD was interesting. The company has managed not only to preserve the production base since Soviet times, but also actively modernize and develop it. High technological effectiveness of production, the desire to work for the future and concern for the quality and relationship with customers allow the company to create high-quality products that are competitive not only in the domestic market.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/324202/
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