TranTek Automation Corp. president John Wenden said the new line “is truly one of our success stories – increased throughput with precision quality control.”
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A Michigan automation system developer engineered and installed a series of fully automated “material handling and error-proofing cells” for GM Powertrain’s Bay City, MI, engine and transmission components plant. They will be used in the production of GM’s 1.4-liter engines, which will power the new Chevrolet Volt that debuts this fall.

The Chevy Volt is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle based on GM's new Voltec electric car platform. It will have an electric power source from an on-board lithium-ion battery, to be charged via a residential electrical hook-up. The four-cylinder engine will take over as the power source after the first 40 miles of travel.

TranTek Automation Corp. developed the fully automated manufacturing line to handle “raw casting- to- finished part processing” for camshafts. “We exceeded our own expectations with this new application,” TranTek president John Wenden said. “We have designed and built completely integrated part-handling systems for rotating engine components before, but this one is truly one of our success stories– increased throughput with precision quality control.”

The camshaft line is a completely integrated process, incorporating robotic cells, conveyor systems, gantry systems, and integrated vision/quality inspection equipment. The system was conceived, developed, built, and programmed by TranTek Automation.

Camshafts arrive at the processing center as raw castings, and then are unpacked from pallets and bar coded “robotically.”

Next, they are automatically presented to each manufacturing operation cell, moving from milling, machining, and heat-treating to grinding and polishing.

GM Powertrain’s fully integrated camshaft line features robotic cells, conveyor systems, gantry systems, and integrated vision/quality inspection equipment.
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After polishing, the camshafts enter a robotically controlled cell where a series of quality inspections are conducted. Each camshaft is rotated so vision systems can identify them by barcode, check each lobe for correct dimensions, and check the thread and milling dimensions.

From the inspection cell, the camshafts are conveyed to an overhead gantry system that takes each one to a spray tank, where final lubrication is applied before shipment. Finally, the finished camshafts are re-palletized for shipment.