How one manufacturing company gained back floor space and increased throughput

About the client

A leading medical device manufacturer in North America. Their original process consisted of two linked processing cells, utilizing traditional conveyance methodology. Nested fixtures interacted with robots to load and unload a part nest to processing stations throughout the system. The two cells were linked with a buffer conveyor between them resulting in a limited amount of decoupling of the two automated processes. Their goal was to add an additional line without increasing their factory footprint.

The challenges

As product demand continued to increase, the customer sought to quickly ramp up production but didn’t have additional space on the manufacturing floor to add additional machinery in the incumbent design. While willing to invest in automation, the technology had to be flexible enough to adapt to their business needs and show a greater ROI than the initial process.

The solution

By combining two critical processes and maintaining a line rate of 60 PPM, the customer could reduce their factory footprint and make room for additional lines, thus increasing output. As they continued to develop their processes and production rates stabilized, they realized the need for higher speed operations and ultimately invested in SuperTrak GEN3™ as the primary foundation for their automation. The flexibility of the SuperTrak CONVEYANCE™ platform allowed the customer to ramp up production as needed and control their capital expenditures.