Washbasin production

Polishing wheel is replaced by digital pen

Lottmann Fensterbänke employs a total of 120 people. The company in Reichraming also manufactures washbasins under the helopal brand - up to 50 per day.(Bild: Simlinger)

The work step should be much easier for her employees and also take much less time than before - Erika Lottmann expects these benefits from investing in a robot. In future, the entrepreneur from Reichraming will leave the polishing of the washing tables to a machine.

"How can we automate something in the area of packaging?" Erika Lottmann attended the KUBINA initiative event organized by the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce at Profactor in Steyr with this question in mind.

During a tour of her company, a window sill specialist in Reichraming, it later became clear that there is much greater potential for automation in polishing. "That was more of a coincidence," the entrepreneur recalls.

Helmut Nöhmayer (right) from Profactor and Alois Keplinger (left) from the Chamber of Commerce support Erika Lottmann.(Bild: Simlinger)

Lottmann also produces around 8000 washbasins per year under the helopal brand. Each item is checked before packaging. If a defect is discovered, it is polished out by hand. This work step takes up to 30 minutes - "and is strenuous," says Lottmann, who will hire a robot to assist her employees.

Criteria are defined, then the robot arm takes over
In future, employees will swap the polishing wheel for a digital pointer pen, which they will use to mark the areas on the washbasin that need to be repaired. "The robot arm then polishes there according to previously defined criteria," explains Profactor project manager Helmut Nöhmayer.

Enormous time saving
The work step should only take around one minute for the employees. The project was submitted to the EU digitization programme "Test before Invest" on the initiative of the Chamber of Commerce's innovation management team.