I.O. Systems, one of Ireland's leading materials handling companies, has used modeling software from AutoLogic Systems to significantly increase the capacity of a customer’s production line.

Masonite leads the world in manufacturing quality moulded door facings, supplied direct to thirty two countries. Their state of the art production facility in Southern Ireland is exclusively dedicated to Europe, guaranteeing volume supply to satisfy increasing demand.

And it is that rise in sales that I.O. Systems’ automated conveyor systems in the facility are continuously adapting to.

I.O. purchased Demo 3D modelling software from AutoLogic Systems initially as a sales tool to help them demonstrate designs to prospective customers.

A few months on and I.O. are also using the software to test new equipment configurations, production quantities, controls and new designs for existing clients such as Masonite.

It was identified that the Masonite door mould press could actually cope with the additional demand but capacity and limitations further down the production line meant that the press volumes were always restricted.

The production line had to be stopped for every door to be manually weighed to meet their strict quality control. The motor control to achieve this was a hard stop which made the door skins fairly hard to handle.

To improve the efficiency throughout the line, I.O. needed to install a new automated motor for the weigh point which was much smoother and faster.

I.O. systems were able to use Demo 3D to test the controls and conveyor layouts against increased press quantities before installation. By testing the various configurations, I.O. and Masonite were able to select the design that would allow their press and production line to operate at its’ optimum capacity.

Tom O’Farrell at I.O. Systems comments: “Demo 3D allows us to confidently test unlimited lay outs and ideas without having to stop the production line. It improves the communication process with our customers as we are able to clearly demonstrate our proposed solutions and the projected outputs. Customers also benefit from being able to test other variables such as the number of operators and alternative processes. The Masonite production line is now working at 20% more capacity than it was before.”