Automation seekers specify quality, then speed

Quality that is driving most manufacturers to consider automating previously manual assembly and not necessarily speed, said an automation systems builder, while continuous inspection is essential.

According to Modular Automation from Birmingham, UK, it's quality that is driving most manufacturers to consider automating previously manual assembly - not speed.

This drive for quality is, remarkably, allowing those same manufacturers to compete in markets that have been denied to them for many years.

Production speed is still important.

Manufacturing systems need to meet the required cycle times to ensure a realistic price for the product and adequate supplies for the market.

But where people sometimes make mistakes, causing quality to suffer, said Modular Automation, machines do not.

It's this reliability and precision that is allowing companies to meet their 'Zero defects' manufacturing requirements with ease.

The virtually faultless quality achievable from modern assembly equipment is derived from two different aspects of its manufacture: precision engineering and continuous inspection.

Precision engineering comes from experience and top quality components.

"It doesn't make any sense to redesign everything from scratch," said Mark Hendry, sales manager for Modular Automation.

"It's much better to perfect a technique then reproduce it time and again to achieve a similar operation.

This modular approach to engineering design allows the best quality engineering on even the simplest assembly systems without blowing the budget".

* Continuous inspection - continuous inspection is vitally important too to prevent errors from creeping in.

It's impractical to check manual assembly at every stage however innovations such as vision technology now allow assembles to be checked after every assembly station as part of the process.

Assemblies that are found to be faulty can be eliminated from the production line immediately to prevent unnecessary work being done, or returned to the previous operation for corrective action.

The result is a virtually guaranteed flow of perfect assemblies that would be impossible to achieve by manual methods alone.

There is also a switch in the dynamic of the marketplace that is encouraging British companies to invest in automation to ensure quality.

In the past, the developing world has become the global manufacturing centre benefiting from cheap labour to prevent Western companies from competing.

Today it's different.

Today health and safety requirements are putting quality before quantity.

As the quality required can increasingly be achieved only by mechanical means, the benefit of an inexpensive labour force is diminished.

Now, British companies, historically talented in design and innovation, can compete on virtually equal terms with any country in the world.

Recent high profile cases of product recalls have brought sharply into focus the fact that high quality production cannot be taken for granted.

The enormous financial cost, possible litigation and loss of reputation caused by faulty product batches is a major risk for all manufacturers.

Investing in automation to reduce that risk makes sound business sense.

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