One of South East Asia’s premier glass container manufacturers is among the world’s first to successfully embrace automated swabbing technology under production conditions.
Thai Glass Industries (TGI) has installed a Heye swabbing robot on a 10-section triple gob IS Machine producing NNPB bottles in Thailand.
This is the first installation of its type in the country and in the ASEAN region.
The robot is a cornerstone of Heye’ Smart Plant strategy as manual swabbing is one of the most important work steps for an IS machine operator. The robot allows precise and constant swabbing of the glass containers.
Benefits include zero rejects from swabbing, avoidance of section stops, substantial savings on lubrication and improved operator safety.
TGI personnel have been open-minded about this change to hot end working practices, embracing the swabbing robot innovation enthusiastically and this installation was immediately successful.
Full training for IS Machine operation was provided at TGI, where a dedicated IS training section from Heye is available.
The Heye triple gob IS Machine on which the swabbing robot is fitted was installed in 2017 and is the 13th IS Machine installed by Heye in Thailand in the past six years.
The country’s first swabbing robot is operating successfully and is generating a lot of interest. Stable and equal distribution of lubricants in the process has been realised, with more time for operators to focus on optimisation and defect correction.
“The swabbing robot is a great innovation and we are proud to have installed the first one in Thailand” said Pongdej Chamsawat, Assistant Vice President – Group Technical Service at TGI.
“We are satisfied with its performance on the Heye IS Machine.”
*Heye International is exhibiting on stand B05 at the Glassman Asia container glass exhibition and conference in Bangkok on January 24 and 25. It is also providing a presentation, titled Heye Smart Plant, at 12.05 on Wednesday January 24 at the event.*
