In a transport system, a gripper includes long-side grippers aligned in a long-side direction of a workpiece which is cut, by machining/cutting, into a product and a skeleton including an outer frame with an overall rectangular shape and a crossbar inside the outer frame, so that both ends thereof are connected to two shorter sides facing each other, and extending in the long-side direction, the long-side grippers gripping longer sides of the outer frame of the skeleton, and short-side grippers aligned in a short-side direction with respect to the workpiece and that grip shorter sides of the outer frame. At least one of the short-side grippers moves in the short-side direction and grips the shorter sides of the outer frame. A lifter lifts or lowers the gripper gripping the outer frame and the product to separate the outer frame and the crossbar from the product.

An automation cell for performing a plurality of secondary operations on manufactured parts is for use with a manufacturing machine operable to perform primary manufacturing of the parts. The automation cell includes a cell housing, a robot with a gripper mechanism capable of loading and unloading a part between the manufacturing machine and the automation cell, a gauging station being a secondary operation device and operable to gauge a parameter of a manufactured part, a marking device for marking the manufactured part, and a vision system for verifying the marking of the manufactured part.

A rotary headstock positioner assembly for rotatably supporting a workpiece includes a headstock positioner having a support for supporting a workpiece off the ground, where the support has an axis of rotation in a first plane at least substantially parallel to the ground. The rotary headstock positioner assembly also includes a gearbox fixedly connected to the headstock positioner for precisely rotating the support. The rotary headstock positioner assembly further includes a support frame for supporting the headstock positioner, where the support frame has a support surface spaced apart from the axis of rotation of the at least one support at a first precise, predetermined distance. The support surface is also positioned in a second plane at least substantially parallel to the first plane and spaced apart from the first plane at a second precise, predetermined distance.

A manufacturing apparatus (2) for components (3), which has at least one movable loading station (20) designed as a tool magazine (13) and having reception points (39) with different tools (4, 5, 6, 7) for different component types A-I. The loading station (20) is connected to one or more machining stations (20, 22) at which at least one machining device (23) and at least one handling device (24) for handling and releasing the components (3) from the tool (4, 5, 6, 7, 8) are arranged. The selected Figure is FIG. 5.

An automatic loading and unloading processing system includes a material storage assembly to store workpieces; a positioning device on a worktable; and a transport mechanism to transport the workpiece from the material storage assembly to the positioning device and transport the processed workpiece into the material storage assembly. The material storage assembly includes a material tray; fixing bases; a motion mechanism; and holders on the fixing base for fixing the workpiece, and the motion mechanism controls the movement of the material tray. The transport mechanism includes an auxiliary loading and unloading system arranged at a worktable to grab the holders and move horizontally; and a main loading and unloading system arranged on a main spindle to grab the holders and move vertically.

An automation cell incorporating elements for performing secondary operations on a machined part is adapted to be disposed adjacent to a machining center for performing the primary operations on the part. The cell incorporates a robotic arm capable of being moved into position with respect to the machining center so as to load machined parts into the machining center and unload primarily machined parts for the performance of secondary operations in the cell. In a preferred embodiment the automation cell performs roll check operations on the primarily machined gear by bringing it into meshed engagement with a master gear and rotating the meshed gears and employing a sensor to monitor the roll-out of the machined gear.

A machine tool system is provided that includes at least one machine tool for machining workpieces. A workpiece holding device is provided that holds one or more workpieces during machining using an adapter. A positioning device positions workpiece blanks on the adapters. An adapter loading and transporting device, which has an adapter gripping device that acts on the adapters and moves adapters that are provided with workpiece blanks from the positioning device to the at least one machine tool, loads the at least one machine tool and unloads adapters that are provided with machined workpieces from the at least one machine tool. A workpiece transporting device is provided which has a workpiece gripping device that acts on workpieces. After machined workpieces have been unloaded by the adapter loading and transporting device, the workpiece transporting device takes the workpieces up from the adapter loading and transporting device and removes them.

An automation cell incorporating elements for performing secondary operations on a machined part is adapted to be disposed adjacent to a machining center for performing the primary operations on the part. The cell incorporates a robotic arm capable of being moved into position with respect to the machining center so as to load machined parts into the machining center and unload primarily machined parts for the performance of secondary operations in the cell. In a preferred embodiment the automation cell performs roll check operations on the primarily machined gear by bringing it into meshed engagement with a master gear and rotating the meshed gears and employing a sensor to monitor the roll-out of the machined gear.