How Screw Feeders and Air Motors Cut Costs in Repetitive Operations
Manufacturers are continually seeking ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs in their production operations. One area where significant cost savings can be achieved is in repetitive assembly and material handling processes. Devices like screw feeders and air motors allow manufacturers to automate the feeding of screws, bolts, nuts and other small parts, eliminating the need for manual labor and optimizing the speed of repetitive tasks.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the ways screw feeders and air motors help cut costs by:
- Automating repetitive processes to reduce labor expenses
- Speeding up assembly line times
- Improving quality control with reliable, precise part feeding
- Allowing flexibility and easy changeovers between product variations
- Reducing downtime from jams and misfeeds
- Enabling lights-out manufacturing with 24/7 unattended production
By understanding the capabilities and benefits of modern smart feeder and motor technologies, manufacturers can modernize their factories to achieve quicker ROI on automation investments.
The Challenges of Manual Small Parts Feeding
Manually feeding screws, bolts, nuts and other small parts into assembly processes has been a common practice across many industries for decades. But as labor rates and turnover increase over time, this repetitive task becomes more problematic and costly. Beyond the financial downsides, there are also quality, ergonomic and throughput issues that arise.
Some specific pain points manufacturers experience with manual small parts feeding include:
- Slow: Human feed rates cap out around 700-1,200 parts per hour depending on part sizes, limiting line speeds.
- Inconsistent: Quality varies between shifts and individual operators. Mistakes also rise with repetitive motion fatigue.
- Expensive: Even in low-wage regions, labor probably accounts for 5-20% of total operating costs.
- Inflexible: Changing over between different parts or products requires downtime for retooling workcells.
- Unreliable: People get sick, take breaks or have varying levels of attention. That affects throughput.
- Ergonomically Taxing: Repetitive motions like picking and placing small parts for hours lead to strain and injuries.
It’s clear that manual feeding of small component parts has always been a necessary evil for manufacturers rather than an optimal solution. Thankfully as automation technology continues advancing, there are now better options to upgrade your systems.
How Smart Feeders Automate Repetitive Pick-and-Place
Modern screw feeders like Flexibowl® and Flexdunk® from Flexible Assembly Systems use advanced vibration and vision systems to reliably deliver specific part orientations at extremely fast feed rates. Instead of relying on fallible human operators, these “smart” feeder machines finally provide a consistent automated approach to part feeding.
Here is a quick overview of how they work:
- Bulk parts are loaded into a hopper bowl lined with a custom engineered track for the specific components.
- Variable vibration frequencies fluidize parts to the bowl edge, while the friction-free tracks orient the pieces.
- Integrated vision systems confirm and guide the precise sequenced delivery of parts.
- Escapement mechanisms like Flexibowl or Flexdunk then eject parts as needed by the main system.
- Rapid toolless changeovers between different components take only 0-15 minutes depending on feeder size.
This automated pick-and-place process handles anything from micro-fasteners to large injection molded plastics. Feed rates range widely from 10 pieces per minute to over 3,000 ppm depending on part sizes and equipment selected.
Benefits of Automated Screw Feeding
Upgrading from bowls, bins and operators to automated screw feeding improves manufacturing operations in a few key ways:
- 10-100x faster feed rates enable drastically higher throughout to slowest nodes
- 24/7 runtimes with extremely high consistency and reliability
- Rapid changeovers between component variables like sizes and materials
- Flexibility to handle wide vibratory/orientation needs
- No more staffing labor, costs, risks or constraints
- Prevent employee strains from repetitive manual motions
Beyond the feeding process itself, automated feed systems integrate seamlessly with complementary equipment like multi-axis robots and escapment self-sorting devices for targeted industry cost savings.
Let’s explore some of top examples…
Optimizing Automotive Light Assembly Ops
Automotive manufacturing has historically relied upon manual labor for stuffing sub-assemblies like wire harnesses, controllers and mufflers. But given rising regional wages and throughputs beyond human capabilities, smart feeding systems serve as the perfect automation solution for component presentation.
Some of the ways screw feeders and air motors improve automotive light assembly operations include:
- 400-800% faster feeding speeds for wires, pins and metal inserts vs hand assembly.
- Inserting specialty screws at impossible orientations for operators.
- Higher assembly quality through repeatable precision and quality confirmation.
- Drastic labor cost reduction with lights-out capabilities after shifts end.
- Quick product model changeovers using vibratory feed bowls vs. bins.
Inseat air motor screw driving inside automotive seats showcases smart feeders combined with automated precision electric/pneumatic drivers. It highlights how manufacturers assemble larger modules faster by moving repetitive downstream processes upstream first.
Revolutionizing Electronics Manufacturing
Nowhere is small parts automation more beneficial than the electronics industry. Printed circuit board (PCB) assembly along with wiring processes still rely heavily upon manual labor across much of Asia. But once again, rising wages and throughput needs make that unsustainable long-term.
Using screw feeding, parts ejection and escapment sorting unlocks major potential wins:
- 10x+ faster automation vs. technicians’ soldering and assembly rates
- 97%+ first pass quality yields with machine vision confirmation
- Changeover flexibility with adjustable tooling and feeders
- Significantly lower operational costs cutting labor
- 24/7 lights out production without staffing constraints
As volumes scale up, offsetting repetitive tasks to equipment like feeders provides electronics firms with reliability and speed impossible through manual means.
Driving Down Medical Device Assembly Expenses
Lastly, medical device production needs enormous flexibility between various components across product families and models. This leads to lots of potential downtime for changeovers. It also raises costs keeping staff on hand for slower sub-assembly steps.
In this industry, flexdunk feeders deliver cost savings through:
- Streamlining the presentation of tiny device fasteners without jams
- Ensuring highest quality parts sequencing to avoid contamination
- Eliminating manual pick-and-place steps upstream of precision driving
- Quick changeovers with toolless adjustments to tracks and vision systems
- Just-in-time feeding from vibratory hoppers holding small inventories
In addition to material handling, Stäubli and Modeas robotic integrations automate the precision screwdriving. This allows medtech companies to scale complexity without rising expenses.
Additional Operational Savings Opportunities
Beyond dramatically faster component part feeding, integrating screw feeding with secondary equipment unlocks additional unique benefits:
- Air feed motors accurately drive controlled torque assembly like medical power tools for hips, knees and cranial drills.
- Escapment sorters grade and sequence custom fastener kits tailored to each product type for just-in-time use on the line.
- Siemens, Epson and Stäubli robots team with feeders to flexibly automate repetitive motion assembly tasks 24/7.
- Universal robots grab sequenced parts from vibratory bowls to stuff sub-assemblies.
- Permanently mounted camera systems confirm proper placements, key for high-mix lines.
- Quick-change tooling adapts between component variables without pausing production
While smart feeding automation delivers the fastest ROI, combining flexible screw presenting with pneumatic motors, articulated arms, self-sorting parts kitting and quality controls take things to an even higher level for lights-out manufacturing.
Why Choose Flexible Assembly Systems?
As highlighted throughout this article, Flexible Assembly Systems offers the industry’s leading flexible feeding technology for small component automation.
We provide full turnkey packaging with complementary equipment like:
- Adjustable feeders handling 10 to 10,000+ ppm rates
- Quick changeover vibratory bowls for optimal flexibility
- Linear feed tubes delivering custom assembly orientations
- Vision and measurement systems confirm proper part sequences
- Precision air feed screw drivers with managed torque range
- Escapement sorting for kitting fastener sets by product type
- Robotic and hard automation integrations available
Our specialized application engineers help identify where automation fits across your product lines to achieve rapid ROI. No matter what screw sizes, geometries or sequences you handle, we have proven solutions to optimize your processes.
Want to learn more? Contact us online to start a conversation around where smart feeding automation could take your production efficiencies and profit margins to new levels!
Conclusion
In repetitive assembly and component feeding processes, leveraging screw feeders, air driver motors and robotic technologies provides modern manufacturers with game-changing cost reductions.
Considering rising labor wage rates across nearly all regions and throughput speed constraints of operators, now is the ideal time to evaluate where these automation solutions could benefit your operations long term.
Flexible Assembly Systems offers industry-leading vibratory feeding, screwdriving and secondary equipment integrations purpose built for the unique needs of electronics, automotive and medical device companies.
Contact us today to discuss where lights-out component feeding and assembly could take your manufacturing performance goals. Our team looks forwards to helping you evaluate where automation fits best across your product lines and production environments.