INDUSTRIAL Automated
Assembly
AUTOMATION Systems
CONTENTS
Fundamentals of Automated Assembly Systems
▪ System configurations
▪ Parts delivery of workstations
▪ Applications
Analysis of Automated Assembly Systems
▪ Parts delivery at workstations
▪ Multi-station Assembly Machines
▪ Single-Station Assembly Machines
INTRODUCTION
Automated Assembly
Mechanized and automated devices that perform various
assembly tasks in an assembly line.
Automated Assembly technology should be considered when
following conditions exist:
1. High product demand
2. Stable product design
The investments are generally less than for automated transfer
lines because
(a) Work units produced on automated assembly system are
usually smaller than those made on transfer lines
(b) Assembly operations do not have large mechanical force
and power requirements of processing operations such as
machining.
Comparing automated assembly system and transfer line with
small no. of stations, assembly systems tend to be physically
smaller which reduces cost of the system.
Automated assembly system consist of following subsystems:
One or more workstations where assembly steps are
accomplished.
Parts feeding devices that deliver individual components to
workstation(s)
A work handling system for assembly entity.
Control systems are same as that of automated production lines
(i) sequence control
(ii) safety monitoring
(iii) quality control
CONTROL FUNCTIONS
The control functions include:
▪ Sequence control coordinated the sequence of actions of the
transport system and associated workstations.
▪ Safety monitoring function ensures the production lines do not
operate in unsafe manner. Safety applies to both men and
equipment. Additional sensors other than sequence control are
required for complete safety feedback loop and prevent hazardous
operation.
▪ In quality control function, quality attributes of work parts are
monitored. Main purpose is to detect and reject defective work units
produced on the line.
SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS
Principal configurations are:
In-line assembly machine
Dial type assembly machine
Carousel assembly system
Single station assembly machine
IN-LINE AUTOMATED ASSEMBLY SYSTEM
DIAL T YPE AUTOMATED ASSEMBLY
SYSTEM
CAROUSAL ASSEMBLY SYSTEM
SINGLE STATION ASSEMBLY MACHINE
The workstation in each of these assembly systems
accomplishes one or both of the following functions:
a) A component is delivered to assembly work head and added
to existing base part in front of work head.
b) Fastening or joining operation is performed at the station to
attach components permanently to existing base part.
Task a) requires parts to be delivered to assembly work head.
PARTS DELIVERY AT WORKSTATIONS
The parts delivery system consists of following hardware:
Hopper: it is a container in which the components are loaded
at workstations. Parts are randomly oriented in the hopper.
Parts feeder: this is a mechanism that removes the
component from the hopper one at a time for delivery to
assembly work head. The hopper and parts feeder are often
combined into one operating mechanism.
VIBRATORY BOWL FEEDER
Selector: selector acts as filter, permitting parts in in correct
orientation to pass through and parts oriented incorrectly be
rejected back into the hopper.
Orientor: it allows properly oriented parts to pass through and
reorients the parts that are not properly oriented initially.
Feed track: a feed track moves the components from hopper
and parts feeder to the location of the assembly work head,
maintaining proper orientation of the parts during transfer.
▪ Gravity
▪ powered
SELECTOR
ORIENTOR
FEED TRACK
Escapement and placement device: it removes components
from the feed track at time intervals that are consistent with
the cycle time of the assembly work head. The placement
device physically places the component in the correct location
at the workstation for assembly operation.
Escapement and placement devices are sometimes combined
into singe operating mechanism while in other cases they are
two dif ferent devices.
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL DEVICES FOR
PLACEMENT OF PARTS ON INDEXING TABLE
ESCAPEMENT DEVICES
PLACEMENT DEVICES
PLACEMENT DEVICES
PARTS DELIVERY SYSTEM AT
WORKSTATIONS
APPLICATIONS
Typical products made by automated assembly
Alarm clocks
Ball bearings
Ball point pens
Electric plugs and sockets
Fuel injectors
Gearboxes
Lightbulbs
Locks
Printed circuit board assemblies
Pumps for household applications
Wrist watches
Spark plugs
Typical assembly processes used in automated assembly
systems
Automatic dispensing of adhesive
Insertion of components
Placement of components
Riveting
Soldering
Screw fastening
Spot welding
Stitching
Stapling
ANALYSIS OF AUTOMATED ASSEMBLY
SYSTEMS
This section will analyse following topics in automated
assembly
▪ The parts delivery system at workstations
▪ Multi-station automated assembly systems
▪ Single station automated assembly systems
PARTS DELIVERY SYSTEM AT
WORKSTATIONS
The parts feeding mechanism is capable of removing
components from the hopper at certain rate, f.
In case of selector a certain proportion of components will be
correctly oriented initially and will be allowed to pass through.
In case of orienter incorrectly oriented components will be
reoriented resulting ideally in 100 % rate of components
passing through.
Let θ be proportion of components passing through the
selector and orienter process.
Ef fective rate of delivery of components from hopper into the
feed track is fθ. The remaining proportion (1 - θ) is
recirculated back into the hopper.
The delivery rate of components to work head must be
suf ficient to keep up with cycle rate of the assembly machine.
Assuming delivery rate of components fθ greater than cycle
rate R c of assembly machine, the system should have means
of limiting the size of the queue in the feed track.
A limit switch or optical sensor be placed near top of feed
track whose location defines active length L f2 of the feed
track.
If length of component in feed track is L c , then no. of parts
that can be held in feed track is n f2 = L f2 /L c .
n f2 is the capacity of the feed track .
At some distance from first sensor another sensor placed
along feed track restarts feeding mechanism.
Location of this low level sensor is defined as L f1 , no. of
components in the feed track at this point is n f1 /L c .
The rate at which parts in feed track are reduced when high
level sensor is actuated = R c which is cyclic rate of automated
assembly work head.
On average, rate at which quantity of parts will increase upon
actuation of low level sensor (which turns on the feeder) is fθ
– R c.
MULTI-STATION ASSEMBLY MACHINES
Assumptions:
Assembly operations at the stations have constant element
times, although times are not necessarily equal at all
stations.
Synchronous parts transfer is used.
No internal storage.
MULTI-STATION ASSEMBLY MACHINES
Defective parts occur with certain fraction defect rate q (0 ≤ q
≤ 1 .0).
Let m = probability that a defect results in a jam at the
station and consequential stoppage of the line.
q and m are subscripted as q i and m i for dif ferent stations.
where i = 1 , 2, 3, ……… n (n is no. of workstations on the
assembly machine)
At a particular workstation, three possible events might occur
The component is defective and causes station jam.
Probability is fraction defect rate (q i ) x probability that a
defect will cause station to jam (m i ). For an assembly machine
p i = q i m i. The probability of two consecutive defects is very
small, equal to q i 2
The component is defective but does not causes station jam.
Probability is (1 - m i )q i.
The component is not defective. Probability that a part added
at the station is not defective is equal to the proportion of
good parts (1 - q i ).
The probabilities of the three possible events must sum to
unity for any workstation, i.e.
m i q i + (1 - m i )q i + (1 - q i ) = 1 (1)
For the special case where mi = m and qi = q for all i, this
equation reduces to
mq + (1 - m)q + (1 - q) = 1 (2)
Although it is unlikely that all mi are equal and all qi are
equal, the equation is nevertheless useful for computation
and approximation purposes.
For complete distribution of possible outcomes that occur on
an n-station assembly machine, the terms of eqn (1) are
multiplied for all n stations
ෑ 𝑚 𝑖 𝑞𝑖 + 1 − 𝑚 𝑖 𝑞𝑖 + 1 − 𝑞𝑖 =1
𝑖 =1
(3)
In the special case where mi = m and qi = q for all i, this
reduces to
[𝑚𝑞 + 1 − 𝑚 𝑞 + (1 − 𝑞 )] 𝑛 = 1
(4)
MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE
Proportion of acceptable product coming of f the line:
𝑃𝑎𝑝 = ෑ(1 − 𝑞 𝑖 + 𝑚 𝑖 𝑞 𝑖 )
𝑖=1
(5)
Where, P ap can be thought of as the yield of good assemblies
produced by the assembly machine.
Proportion of assemblies containing at least one defective
component P qp is given by
𝑛
𝑃𝑞𝑝 = 1 − 𝑃𝑎𝑝 = 1 − ෑ(1 − 𝑞 𝑖 + 𝑚 𝑖 𝑞 𝑖 )
𝑖 =1
(6)
In case of equal mi and qi, these two equation become
respectively
𝑃𝑎𝑝 = (1 − 𝑞 + 𝑚𝑞) 𝑛 (7)
𝑃𝑞𝑝 = 1 − (1 − 𝑞 + 𝑚𝑞) 𝑛 (8)
Frequency of downtime occurrence per cycle
𝑛 𝑛
𝐹 = 𝑝𝑖 = 𝑚 𝑖 𝑞𝑖
𝑖 =1 𝑖 =1
(9)
If m i = m and q i = q for all stations, I = 1 , 2, 3,….., n, then (9)
reduces to
𝐹 = 𝑛𝑚𝑞 (10)
The average actual time per assembly is given by
𝑛
𝑇𝑝 = 𝑇𝑐 + 𝑚 𝑖 𝑞 𝑖 𝑇𝑑
𝑖 =1
Tc = ideal cycle time of assembly machine, min (11)
T d = average downtime per occurrence, min.
For case of equal m i and q i
𝑇𝑝 = 𝑇𝑐 + 𝑛𝑚𝑞𝑇𝑑
(12)
The production rate is reciprocal of average actual production
time
1
𝑅𝑝 =
𝑇𝑝
(13)
Production rate of acceptable product
𝑃𝑎𝑝 ς𝑛𝑖=1 (1 − 𝑞 𝑖 + 𝑚 𝑖 𝑞 𝑖 )
𝑅 𝑎𝑝 = 𝑃𝑎𝑝 𝑅 𝑝 = =
𝑇𝑝 𝑇𝑝
(14)
Where all m i are equal and all q i are equal
𝑃𝑎𝑝 (1 − 𝑞 + 𝑚𝑝) 𝑛
𝑅 𝑎𝑝 = 𝑃𝑎𝑝 𝑅 𝑝 = =
𝑇𝑝 𝑇𝑝
(15)
Line efficiency is ratio of ideal cycle time to average actual
production time.
𝑅𝑝 𝑇𝑐
𝐸= =
𝑅𝑐 𝑇𝑝
(16)
General cost formula
𝐶𝑚 + 𝐶𝑜 𝑇𝑝 + 𝐶𝑡
𝐶𝑝𝑐 =
𝑃𝑎𝑝
(17)
Where,
C pc = cost per good assembly, Rs/pc
C m = cost of materials (base part + component added), Rs/pc
C o = operating cost of assembly system, Rs/min
T p = average actual production time, min/pc
C t = cost of disposable tooling, Rs/pc
P ap = proportion of acceptable product coming off the line
Effect of denominator is to increase cost per assembly; as quality
of individual components deteriorates, average cost per good
quality assembly increases.
SINGLE STATION ASSEMBLY MACHINES
Let n e = number of distinct assembly elements that are
performed on the machine.
Tej = element time for each element
The ideal cycle time for the single station assembly machine
is sum of individual element times of the assembly operations
to be performed on machine and handling time to load the
base part into position and unload the completed assembly
Ideal cycle time can be expressed as:
𝑛𝑒
𝑇𝑐 = 𝑇ℎ + 𝑇𝑒𝑗
𝑗 =1
T h = handling time (18)
The inclusion of downtime resulting from jams in the machine
cycle gives:
𝑛𝑒
𝑇𝑝 = 𝑇𝑐 + 𝑞 𝑗 𝑚𝑗 𝑇𝑑
𝑗 =1
(19)
For special case of equal q and equal m values for all
components added, eqn. (19) becomes
𝑇𝑝 = 𝑇𝑐 + 𝑛𝑚𝑞𝑇𝑑
(20)
𝑇𝑐
Uptime Ef ficiency, 𝐸 =
𝑇𝑝
WHAT THE EQUATIONS TELL US…
The parts delivery system at each station must be designed to
deliver components to the assembly operation at a net rate
that is greater than or equal to the cycle rate of the assembly
work head.
Quality of components added have significant effect on
system performance. Poor quality as represented by fraction
defect rate can result in station jams and yield of good
assemblies and product cost.
As number of workstations increase, uptime ef ficiency and
production rate tend to decrease due to parts quality and
station reliability ef fects.
The cycle time of multi-station assembly system is determined
by the slowest (longest assembly task) in the system.
Compared with a multi-station assembly machine, a single
station assembly system with same number of assembly tasks
has a lower production rate but higher uptime ef ficiency.
The multi-station assembly systems are appropriate for high
production application and long production runs. In
comparison, single station assembly systems have a longer
cycle time and are more appropriate for mid range quantities
of product.
An automated station should be substituted for a manual
station only if it reduces the cycle time suf ficiently to of fset
any negative ef fects of lower reliability.
Thanks
