Assembly - April 2009 - (Page 10)

Automation Proﬁles that startup, changeover and recovery from abnormal conditions were straightforward. Devising simple, robust controls and programming structures were essential to enable the customer’s technicians—some of whom had no robotics experience—to easily understand and support the equipment. The agile approach enabled the customer to take on nearly a dozen new production programs in the ﬁrst year of operation with minimal tooling cost and zero additional capital investment. Agile features don’t always pass strict return-on-investment tests. Some manufacturers, particularly those practicing lean techniques, realize that there is a less quantiﬁable, yet equally tangible, return to be had by investing in ﬂexibility. Responding quickly and economically to major changes in product mix and production volume is essential to the reality of today’s market. The success of this approach is probably best measured by the customer’s order for a second system to meet their growing demand. A This nine-station asynchronous assembly system produces 200 car wheels per hour. minimizing work in process. In addition, modular tooling put few, if any, constraints on the customer’s designers as product designs evolved. Another challenge was the customer’s difﬁculty in ﬁnding and retaining skilled maintenance technicians. That meant the equipment had to perform 24 hours a day with minimal maintenance and no onsite process engineering. We created a rich touch-screen interface so Editor’s note: Whether you’re a systems integrator or the in-house automation team of an OEM, if you’ve designed a system that you’re particularly proud of, tell us about it. Send an e-mail to John Sprovieri, editor of ASSEMBLY, at sprovierij@bnpmedia.com, or call 630-694-4012. For reprints of this article, please contact Cindy Williams at williamsc@bnpmedia.com or 610-436-4220 ext. 8516. ® MEDI-CAM MEDI-CAM ® Move it smoothly…Position it perfectly…Do it Fast!! Reliable performance everyday…24/7! Medi-Cam Precision Link Conveyors have been medical device manufacturer's choice for more than 15 years and are designed for precision, high speed assembly and packaging of pharmaceutical & medical devices. *Complies to “Clean Room” & GAMP standards *Unmatched positional accuracy +/-0.002” *High Speed - 200 per minute index cycle rates MINI PRECISION LINK CONVEYOR Medi-Cam Part Elevators are designed to improve the pre-feed flow of individual component parts presented for assembly and installation on automated machinery. Providing controlled flow for optimal production performance and are ideally suited in feeding parts for pharmaceutical and medical devices. * “Clean Room” & GAMP Compatible. * Allows fast production changeovers. * Ergonomic floor level part loading. Innovative Conical * improved part flow.Hoppers for * All Stainless Steel construction. 125 LITER HOPPER SERVO LINK CONVEYOR 200 LITER HOPPER LINEAR PRECISION TRANSFER CHASSIS PRECISION LINK CONVEYOR CLEAN ROOM COMPATIBLE Call Today! 973-300-0090 ISO 9001:2000 Certified Call Today! 973-300-0090 ISO 9001:2000 Certified 10 ASSEMBLY / April 2009 www.assemblymag.com http://www.cdsindexers.com http://www.cdsindexers.com http://www.cdsindexers.com http://www.cdsindexers.com http://www.assemblymag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Assembly - April 2009

Assembly - April 2009 Contents Editorial Automation Profiles New & Noteworthy Assembly Plant of the Year Down the Line Welding Beads Quality in Assembly Assembly Lines Assembly in Action Standard Helps Suppliers Take Flight Plastics Under the Hood Leak Testing Auto Parts Press for Success Products Advertisers Index Classified Leading Lean

Assembly - April 2009

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