The customer requested a fully automated system to feed and assemble three parts: a wick, plastic holder, and a small nail for a home fragrance collection. The system needed to meet their production capacity requirements while ensuring the accuracy of all parts and assemblies.
SDC designed and built a custom system to automatically feed and assemble a 3-part assembly for a home fragrance collection.
The automated assembly machine takes a cotton fragrance wick and inserts it into a plastic holder. A small nail is then inserted to hold the assembly together. The indexing table fixture consists of a precision bore to hold the plastic sleeve, as the remainder of the assembly is built in the sleeve.
Each component is bulk fed using automated vibratory bowl feeding systems. Customized pick-and-place and/or press modules are used to transfer the component parts onto the assembly dial fixture for assembly. All assembly operations are performed on the indexing dial.
After every assembly operation, there is a verify sensing operation to sort good versus bad assemblies. Final “good assemblies” are removed from the dial fixture and unloaded into bulk collection bins. There are two “good part” unload stations, the first of which collects an exact count of parts. Then, the other “good unload” station is activated, and the first bin can be removed and replaced. This process repeats indefinitely.
Head tracking software is included to track the actions and results of each operation on each head. In the event of a failed verification, no further action is performed on that particular head throughout the remainder of the indexing sequence, and the components from that head are removed from the indexing dial and isolated into a dedicated “reject” container.
Machine Rate: 140 parts per minute
