Local automation experts Sewtec has been helping market leading welded wire mesh manufacturers, Siddall & Hilton, invest in two automation projects to streamline processes and accelerate their journey to being world-class in their industry.
Based in Brighouse Siddall & Hilton are market leaders for the manufacture of welded wire mesh for high-security fencing including industrial and construction applications. Founded back in 1895 as a wire-drawing company, Siddall & Hilton has evolved enormously and today is on a journey to become one of the industry leaders of welded wire mesh globally.
In order to reach this global goal, Siddall & Hilton recognised that automation was an important part of the puzzle. Investing in automation has allowed the company more time to focus on driving the business forward and keep ahead of competitors.
Siddall & Hilton approached Sewtec with a requirement for a robot to automate the process of packaging and banding their finished product. When mesh fencing panels are manufactured, they sit on a pallet and are secured to the pallet by either steel or plastic banding. The robot picks up the fencing panels from an existing welding machine, places them onto the pallet and then once full, the pallet is automatically transferred through to an automated banding part of the process. Whereas previously operators would have had to undertake each of these steps manually, a fully packaged product is dispensed at the end of the line.
The second project that Sewtec are also working on for Siddall & Hilton is an automated pallet assembly system to complement the packaging and banding of the wire mesh.
Andy Dawson, Operations Director at Siddall & Hilton says, “We looked at three different companies to help us undertake this automation project, however, Sewtec were by far the standout in terms of their presentation, concept, level of know-how and their communication. They have been so professional from the beginning of the relationship, right through to today. This is pretty much the first step into robotics for Siddall & Hilton. This project is more sophisticated than anything we’ve done before and, all being well, this is only the beginning of what we can achieve together with Sewtec”.
Andy Perks, Head of Sales at Sewtec commented, “We’re absolutely delighted to be working with Siddall & Hilton. The two businesses align perfectly and we’re off to a great start on this automation journey. With so much scope for future endeavours together, watch this space.”