Bison Gear Sees Production Gains with Robotic Automation

Implementation of automation has transformed Bison's gear blanking operation

St. Charles, IL - Bison Gear & Engineering Corp., a leader in the power transmission industry and a high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) manufacturer, highlights production gains with robotic automation. Bison incrementally introduces automation solutions and targets specific steps in the production process where automation can have the greatest impact. This includes both fully automating certain processes and using systems to assist human operators where possible and practical.

An example of Bison's full automation includes its Fanuc robot, which turns slugs of steel into finished gear blanks without any human interaction. This process previously required two human operators, but it now can happen in a fully automated fashion. The Fanuc robot transforms raw materials into inspected finished parts. Bison also uses a Renishaw comparator, which automates the inspection process by continually monitoring system accuracy and performance, automatically adjusting parameters where needed.

This spring marks five years since Bison's robot was brought online. In that time more than 500,000 gears have been finished in this automated gear blanking cell saving thousands of man hours.

For more information about Bison, visit https://www.bisongear.com.

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About Bison Gear & Engineering Corp.

Bison Gear and Engineering began in 1960 by designing problem-solving gearboxes and gear motors for their customers. Today, the company has grown into an industry leader for fractional and low integral horsepower electric motor, gearmotor and gear reducer products by implementing innovative lean manufacturing processes, world class engineering and customer support teams driven by their Robusticity® design philosophy; allowing Bison to consistently expand its product line with new motion control and power transmission solutions. For more information on Bison or their products, please visit www.bisongear.com, or contact Bison directly at 1-800-AT-BISON (1-800-282-4766).

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