The world's first fully automated, unmanned roller door production line

Background

Tractive Motion Technologies was founded in 2016 and launched in 2021. Initially based in Australia, the venture set out to develop the world’s first fully automated, unmanned roller door production line.

The challenge

Traditional roller door manufacturing requires 80–150 minutes per unit, with significant manual intervention at every stage — from coil handling to forming, assembly and quality control.

The work undertaken

In partnership with Bunka, one of Japan’s largest door manufacturers, the team developed an automated line that integrates automated coil handling, robotic production and complete quality control and traceability systems. The line can interrupt production to complete a custom order in 1.5 minutes.

Outcomes

• Production time reduced from 80–150 minutes to 4 minutes per unit
• Coil changeover capability in under 20 seconds
• Custom order interruption and completion within 1.5 minutes
• Complete quality control and traceability systems

The innovation earned a Japanese robotics innovation award.