Assembly and Packing
Assembly and Packing
In addition to making different kind of metal parts we offer assembly and packing of ready products or subassemblies. In order to do those activities we need assembly operators with various skill levels. For example for simple operations like placing screw in nut or connecting 2 parts we need basic skills. On the other hand to run automatic assembly lines we need guys with Mechatronic education. As we have both assembly methods in house we have to train our operators for multitasking. Thus they have to perform well at manual assembling. And they need certain skills to run and maintain automatic and semiautomatic assembly lines.
Assembly
Manual assembly versus investments in automatic assembly lines.
When it comes to decision how to make our products ready there always comes dilemma. Should we assemble our product manually? Or should we consider to invest in certain level of automation? There is no proper answer to this. On the one hand with lover investment in manual assembling the cost of product might be to high for the market. On the other hand we risk with high investment and not sure would we get pay back. In addition as product’s life cycle nowadays is shrinking we prefer that modern assembly line are modular and flexible.
For example there are several automatic assembly lines in our company. As well as more than ten manual work stations. Firstly our automatic lines are dedicated to only one and specific product. We can’t switch those lines for other use. If there are low orders on those machines they stay idle and just occupies floor space. In conclusion we can’t use this space for other value adding activities. On the contrary if we finish oner order on manual assembling workstation we can change to other operation fast.
On the top of it the quality matter is important in both cases. For example at manual operation the human mistakes are very difficult to exclude. However there are methods to secure full prove operations like Poke Yoke and others.
On the other hand if set up guys do wrong programming on automatic lines the might produce mass scarp. Again there are different ways to avoid such situations in production. For example in line quality inspecting stations with trigger points. As well as inspection of components before we feed them to into the line.
Assembly cases
In order to support our customers we have capacity to produce various kind of jigs, details, conductors and other stuff. All of this go to assembly stations and we get better performance from them. For example axle and bearing assembling jig which we designed and made in house. In addition special assembling presses see in picture below withs Z axes support.
Secondly we have developed method to glue sealing tape in waterproof electrical cabinets. In addition we organized the simple method to check the leakage in welding joints. Those products are approved and goes to Scandinavian railway system. Our products replace the old generation of electrical boxes today.
Thirdly as we described above there are flexible workstations. We can make changeover in very short time. We just remove jigs for one product and install other production just in few minutes. Of course next production means must be ready beforehand.
Finally for growing volumes semiautomatic assembly lines are optimal solution. But we have to remember that in future it might need fully automated assembly lines. As a result of it we run 10 different semi automatic lines today. And we see that automation is the way to continue but it must be even more flexible in future.
In conclusion we have more than 10 operators in assembly shop today. They have different skill levels. Some of them can do simple operations by using instructions. And some of them are able to run and maintain automated assembling lines.