Smart automation applications about shoemaking
Let’s introduce smart automation into the traditional shoemaking industry!
Shoe manufacturing is a labor-intensive industry, and shoes are frequently updated with a wide variety of products. Traditional automation is also difficult to cope with the changing demands.
CENZ has developed a variety of intelligent automation equipment for shoe production! We have developed atmospheric plasma systems, intelligent glue spraying machines, and Martin shoe hemming machines. Let's take a look at the above cases!
Fully automatic intelligent shoe upper glue spraying machine
"Smart trajectory planning" and "variable glue spraying technology" can effectively prevent glue seepage problems caused by overspraying at corners
Traditional upper glue spraying machines have problems with acceleration and deceleration and track overlap at the corners, which may cause glue overflow in the subsequent bonding process, reducing production quality and stability.
Through CENZ's innovative intelligent trajectory planning and variable glue spraying technology, the problem of overspray can be greatly reduced, making the glue spraying more uniform, thereby producing better and more stable quality.
In addition, in response to customer needs, CENZ has integrated a loading and unloading system, allowing the machine to load materials by itself. Before unloading, the two uppers to be glued are swapped, allowing the next gluing process personnel to pick them up and glue them. The personnel only need to replenish materials occasionally and regularly, reducing the manpower required for the glue spraying process.
Using atmospheric plasma to roughen the soles of shoes
Among the many processes in shoe manufacturing, one of them is the rubber sole that needs to be bonded to the shoe leather. However, the bonding strength of glue alone is not enough, so traditionally, sandpaper is used to roughen the sole and a treatment agent is applied to bond the rubber sole to the shoe leather. This process generates a lot of dust and consumes a lot of sandpaper.
However, CENZ uses the latest atmospheric plasma technology to roughen the soles and increase the strength of the bond, achieving the same effect, and the process is free of consumables and dust pollution! The original roughening and treatment agent application process is changed to atmospheric plasma spraying! Greatly speeding up production!
In addition, through CENZ's visual scanning system, the soles can be placed on the conveyor belt at will, and the robot arm trajectory can be corrected according to the actual position of the soles, greatly reducing the dependence on the jig during loading, and effectively reducing the cost of jigs!
Note: Although atmospheric plasma has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages. The treatment of atmospheric plasma is time-sensitive. If the glue is not removed and bonded within a few hours after spraying, it will become ineffective. In addition, there is no obvious change in appearance after atmospheric plasma spraying, and it is easy to be confused with unsprayed soles. It is not suitable for mass production and is suitable for assembly line production mode.
Martin shoe hem system
There is a special straight groove on the side of the sole of Martin shoes, but due to the variability of the edge contour of the shoe, this process is traditionally operated by manpower. This is a process called Goodyear. Workers will hold the shoe in contact with the high-speed rotating side milling cutter, and at the same time need to rotate the shoe to cut out the straight groove. This process is dangerous and unstable.
The intelligent robotic arm system developed by CENZ has been successfully applied to this kind of difficult process!
As long as the soles of the same model of Martin shoes are 3D scanned first, through 3D model calculation, the corresponding robot arm processing trajectory can be planned!
With the special scraper mechanism developed by us, it can effectively compensate for the absolute error of the robot arm! It can automatically cut out the beautiful patterns of Martin shoes!
Customized Assessment Cases
We have evaluated customized shoemaking solutions for many factories. The following are some of the cases we have evaluated:
Roughening of shoe soles
The atmospheric plasma mentioned above can make the original process more environmentally friendly, but it also has other limitations. For example, the atmospheric plasma treatment is time-sensitive. The soles treated with atmospheric plasma must be sent to the next process for bonding within a certain period of time, otherwise they will become ineffective. Therefore, the soles cannot be sent for bonding tomorrow.
To do this, the factory must change its original production habits, which is not an easy task for the factory. Therefore, we have also evaluated the use of robotic arms to replace the original manual roughing process.
How to customize shoemaking equipment to meet your needs
Times change, and those who stick to the old ways will only be surpassed by others. CENZ can help your factory upgrade, but if the shoemaking equipment you need is not the above services, perhaps it is loading and unloading, glue coating, treatment agent coating, etc., we can also conduct an assessment first!
If you need this service, please provide the following information:
1. The original operation process (including operation method, positioning method and single operation time)
2. Original material loading and unloading method
3. The process of the workpiece to be processed, the difference between the workpiece before and after processing, and the types and differences of the workpiece
4. Original inspection standards, methods, instruments, tolerances and types of inspection tools
5. Estimated space size and floor level where the work will be performed
6. Budget and expected results (man-hours, quality, manpower savings, etc.)
Please send the above information to our mailbox by email or call us for explanation. We will conduct a preliminary evaluation. If you think it is feasible, we will need to know the material, weight, size and other information of this workpiece. Please also provide us with the 3D file and sample of the workpiece, as well as other relevant details, and we will process it as soon as possible.