Main photo: before and after INASELEC machine.
Organic growth and commitment to the environment are now an inherent part of Gurpea’s strategy, increasingly linked to sustainability that we intend to establish as the company’s innovation axis.
In line with this sustainable objective, Gurpea’s projects already incorporate the philosophy of “circular machinery”, whose objective is to reuse between 30% and 35% of the parts and materials of the machines we manufacture, when they reach their productive end, in future client projects. In this way we increase their lifecycle, accommodating the manufacturing of new products without having to rebuild the machines 100%, and we favor the profitability and sustainability of the project itself.
Advantages of machinery “retrofitting”.
In the “retrofitting” process, the integration of new technologies in machines with already obsolete systems represents an important differential value provided by Gurpea, which allows its clients an update in terms of safety, ergonomics, productivity and product quality, without the need to resort to new manufacturing.
As a result, the client reduces their costs by 15% – 20%, and decreases the time for machine delivery deadlines, by not being subject to the supply and availability of new parts and materials.
In addition, Gurpea guarantees total adaptability to the client’s production needs, minimizing production stops with exhaustive planning and prior assessment of the work, carried out by a team of specialist engineers.
The reduction of the carbon footprint of manufactured machinery, Gurpea’s acquired sustainable objective, is added to the list as a fundamental advantage of the entire “retrofitting” process, during which we seek to reduce environmental impact through reuse and recycling.
More advantages:
- Reduction of machine downtime.
- Optimization of its productivity and precision.
- Increase in its reliability.
- Facilitation of its handling.
- Reduction of its maintenance
- Improvement of its final product.
- Improvement of safety and ergonomics for the operator.
In short, machinery “retrofitting” represents a logical complement to the technical assistance and industrial maintenance service of companies.
Inaselec Case Study
As an example, we show one of the most recent “retrofitting” cases, executed for INASELEC at our facilities.
INASELEC’s screwing machine showed, mainly, deficiencies regarding operator safety and ergonomics, and new productivity improvement technologies.
To this end, Gurpea’s engineering team evaluated a proposal for tuning and improvement that included the incorporation of:
- Safety systems, such as enclosures and barriers, that favor operator safety, complying with current regulations in this regard.
- Operator stations equipped with weightless systems, for the benefit of worker ergonomics.
- LED signaling, as a visual support system for the operator, reducing errors and improving productivity.
- Traceability system through RFID, which allows data analysis and control.
- Re-work station with “Poka-Yoke” system, as a quality technique to avoid errors in system operation.
And it recycled, in addition to the structure, parts such as automatic screwdrivers and product transport pallets.
