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A home appliance manufacturer in China needed to upgrade its washing machine drum production from standalone machines to an automated line. The existing process required eight operators and ran at 20 seconds per drum. The customer wanted a 12-second production cycle and a direct connection to final assembly to reduce intermediate inventory space.
IDO Technology provided a washing machine drum lock-seaming line covering coil processing through spider screw fastening. The project reduced the required staffing to four operators, with automatic lock-seaming and high-speed transfer forming the core of the solution.
Project Overview
Details
Customer
A home appliance manufacturer in China
Application
Washing machine drum production
Joining process
Lock-seaming
Automation scope
Coil processing through spider screw fastening
Required staffing
Reduced from eight operators to four
Previous cycle time
20 seconds per drum
New cycle-time requirement
12 seconds per drum
Downstream objective
Direct connection to final assembly to reduce intermediate inventory space
The Production Challenge: Staffing, Cycle Time, and Material Flow
The main challenge was coordinating processing and workpiece transfer across the line. Meeting the 12-second cycle requirement meant that movement between stations had to keep pace with each operation.
The requested connection to final assembly also made downstream material flow part of the project scope, alongside staffing and cycle time.
IDO’s Solution: Coil-Fed Automation with Automatic Lock-Seaming
IDO brought material preparation, drum-body forming, and assembly into one production scope. The main process stages were organized as follows:
Production Stage
Main Operations
Sheet preparation
Decoiling and straightening, servo feeding, punching and forming, stacking and destacking
Drum-body forming
V-bending, lock-seaming, rolling and sizing, flanging
Assembly and unloading
Front and rear cover pre-assembly, seaming, spider screw hole piercing, countersinking, spider screw fastening, automatic unloading
The Auto lock-seaming machine performs the drum-body seam operation. Downstream operations cover front and rear cover assembly, seaming, spider screw hole piercing, countersinking, and screw fastening.
High-speed transfer was another key part of the solution. Workpiece movement between stations was designed to support the 12-second cycle requirement alongside the processing equipment. This addressed the performance of the complete line, including the time needed to move parts from one operation to the next.
Starting from coil material also extended the automation scope into the preparation stages, bringing upstream material processing into the same overall production plan.
Project Improvement and Key Technical Requirements
Required staffing reduced by 50%. The project reduced the number of operators required for the production process from eight to four. This allows the manufacturer to allocate fewer personnel to the line.
The line was designed around a 12-second cycle requirement. Automatic processing and high-speed transfer were combined to address the customer’s target, compared with the previous 20-second cycle.
Final assembly integration guided the production layout. The customer’s objective was to connect drum production directly to final assembly and reduce the space occupied by intermediate inventory. This requirement informed the organization of processing and transfer.
The line specification also defines quality, changeover, and safety requirements:
Item
Requirement or Provision
Product acceptance rate
Required rate of ≥99.5%
Lock-seam testing
A 50 mm specimen is cut from the lock-seamed sheet after lock-seaming for tensile testing to assess joint integrity
Same-diameter changeover
Full-line changeover within 30 minutes with four people
Safety provisions
Fencing, protective guards, interlocked safety doors, emergency stops, and photoelectric safeguarding devices
Protective functions
Low-air-pressure protection and electrical overload and short-circuit protection
Evaluating a Similar Drum Production Upgrade
This project is relevant to manufacturers using standalone drum-processing machines who want to reduce staffing requirements and coordinate production with downstream assembly.
The starting point is the existing production process: which operations require personnel, where workpieces wait between stations, and what cycle the final assembly line needs. These factors help define the appropriate automation scope.
IDO provides turnkey automation solutions covering design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning, training, and after-sales support, with the delivery scope defined for each project.
For equipment and process details, explore the Fully Automatic Washing Machine Drum Assembly Line (Lock-Seaming Type).
To discuss a similar upgrade, send IDO Technology your drum drawings, material grade and thickness, target cycle time, current staffing arrangement, and available floor space. These details provide the basis for evaluating the automation scope and the connection to your downstream assembly process.
