PANalytical (Almelo, the Netherlands) and Fanuc (via their Fanuc System House E&S Automation GmbH in Baesweiler, Germany) have agreed upon an exclusive supply to PANalytical of automated Fanuc Robodrill milling machines for the automated laboratory environment in the metals industries.

At various steps in the production process of metals (like iron, steel, copper and aluminium), samples are taken from the process and submitted to the analytical laboratory for analysis to control the production process. For the preparation of these samples milling machines are increasingly applied as these provide cost-effective, fast, non cross-contaminated samples, suitable for X-ray and/or optical emission analysis. The samples are handled by industrial robots, and the whole analytical process can be performed without human intervention.

Within the PANalytical – Fanuc partnership numerous unique automation features (based upon the standard Fanuc system) have been engineered and implemented to satisfy the needs of PANalytical’s demanding customers in the metals industry.