Case Study

Factory-proven robot packout cells for a Tier 1 drivetrain manufacturer’s CNC lathe line.

Industry: Transportation

A Tier 1 automotive drivetrain manufacturer operating Kitako CNC lathes for net shape gear production at its western New York facility needed to automate the outfeed of multiple lathe cells. Han-Tek designed and built modular Nachi robot packout cells at Han-Tek’s facility, running each system at production rate for 20 hours under customer supervision before shipment and delivering a plug-and-play installation across three production cells.

Their Challenge:

The customer needed to automate the outfeed of multiple Kitako CNC lathe cells, removing manual part handling from a process that required consistent, precise loading of finished gear components onto standardized trays.
Each robot packout cell had to interface directly with the Kitako lathe’s take-away conveyor at the robot pickup station, requiring tight mechanical integration with equipment supplied by a separate manufacturer.
All conveyor and rack specifications had to match the customer’s existing material handling standards, ensuring new equipment integrated without modification to downstream processes already in place at the facility.
Multiple cells were required across the facility, making a repeatable, modular design essential so the same proven system could be replicated cell to cell without reengineering each installation from scratch.
The customer required a 20-hour production rate run at Han-Tek’s facility under their supervision before any equipment shipped, setting a rigorous factory acceptance standard that left no room for unproven systems leaving the builder’s floor.

Our Solution:

Han-Tek designed a modular robot packout cell for each Kitako lathe outfeed, with infeed and outfeed roller conveyors, four-position tray accumulation, a pneumatic squaring device for precise tray positioning, and a lift assist for ergonomic empty and full tray handling.
A Nachi SC06F-02 AW11 robot with a custom end effector handled all part transfer within each cell, picking finished gear components from the Kitako take-away conveyor and loading them onto trays queued on the infeed side, with full trays accumulating on the outfeed conveyor for lift-assist removal.
Han-Tek developed all PLC and robot programming for each system, including conveyor indexing logic, tray squaring sequencing, robot pick-and-place routines, and operator panel status output, with the control panel built to the customer’s electrical specifications and all devices wired to junction boxes before shipment.
Each system was fully assembled, wired, and guarded at Han-Tek’s facility before shipment, then run at production rate for 20 hours under customer supervision. On-site support following acceptance included 40 hours of installation supervision, 40 hours of site debug, 24 hours of operator training, and a dedicated resource for 25 days of production run support at each cell.
Three systems were delivered across two purchase orders using the same proven modular configuration, scaling the automation across the Kitako lathe line without reengineering each successive deployment.

The Results:

Factory-proven equipment at every cell: Every system completed a 20-hour production rate run at Han-Tek’s facility under customer supervision before shipment. No cell went to the plant floor without a completed, customer-accepted acceptance test.
Plug-and-play installation across three production cells: The build-at-factory approach compressed on-site work to structured supervision, debug, and training rather than open-ended mechanical and electrical completion. Each system arrived ready for connection and startup.
Scalable, repeatable design: The same modular cell configuration was replicated across three Kitako lathe installations under two separate purchase orders, reducing engineering overhead with each successive deployment.
Zero downstream disruption: All conveyor and rack specifications matched the customer’s existing material handling standards, eliminating the need for modifications to downstream processes during the installation period.

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