All items move through the process together and at one speed; this is an excellent approach for converting single products where the time at each station is balanced (the time to operate at each station is the same).

The individual stations operate independently of one another and each product only moves after production has completed at each station. A buffer is between each station; provided that each of the products being moved through the manufacturing line is a combination of product types, or has different manufacturing times at each of the stations where the products are being manufactured.

The modular structure permits expansion by simply adding conveyor segments and workstations to your system. If an additional drive unit is required or changes to drive units are needed, these can be easily added as well (typically taking 2 – 4 weeks for expansion).

When moving heavier items, we recommend using a plate chain conveyor or a double speed chain conveyor, whereas belt conveyors should only be used if the products do not exceed 50kg. We could also use roller conveyors to move material.

The I/O ports come standard and Ethernet connections can be supplied for Modbus TCP and Profinet. There are different ways to have a robot pick and place or trigger a start for test or pick, place and test. There are systems that we can do full integration services for.

Lead times for manual assembly lines without any type of automation are forty to forty-five days; for semi automating materials through PLC and smart tools expect lead times between forty to sixty days; and fully automated assembly lines will have a typical lead time as a general rule of thumb of sixty to ninety days.