The Challenge
Manual Sanding Operations Were Inefficient and Labor-Intensive
The customer’s production line required significant manual effort to sand and flip doors, inspect finish quality, and clear them for shipping. Their goals included:
- Loading and unloading doors for single- and double-pass sanding
- Avoiding manual flipping and handling of heavy doors
- Ensuring consistent finish quality and surface inspection
- Reducing operator fatigue and simplifying workflow
MWES was selected to design an automated system that would handle door sanding end-to-end with minimal labor and enhanced ergonomics.
The Solution
Robot-Guided Conveyor System with Dual-Pass Sanding and Flip Handling
MWES engineered a fully integrated sanding cell that automates door flow, sanding, inspection, and unloading:
- Robot picks doors from infeed conveyor and loads onto closed-loop sanding conveyor
- Two sanding passes per door: first one side, then flip, and re-sand
- Operator visually inspects while robot continues to process next door
- Robot unloads finished door onto outfeed conveyor in standard orientation
The system supports continuous flow by overlapping robot actions and inspections—significantly increasing throughput while minimizing operator involvement.
The Results
Higher Throughput, Safer Operation, and Consistent Finish Quality
The automation solution delivered measurable gains across performance, safety, and quality:
- Eliminated manual handling and door flipping in the sanding process
- Reduced direct operator exposure to sanding dust and heavy door handling
- Maintained consistent finish quality across varied door sizes
- Enabled overlapping robot and inspection tasks for greater uptime
By automating this traditionally labor‑intensive and repetitive stage, MWES helped the customer boost production efficiency and improve workplace ergonomics—while maintaining visual quality control in-process.
