Automated Plastic Assembly for Maximum Efficiency with E.FLEX

With E.FLEX, all steps of plastic part assembly are automated: Precise handling, reliable quality control, and smooth sorting increase efficiency and productivity.

Initial Situation

An automotive supplier manufactures plastic parts for vehicle components. The process has so far been as follows: An injection molding machine produces four components and places the parts on the conveyor belt to cool after the manufacturing process. An employee picks up the parts and performs a quality control to detect contamination or deformation. After inspection, they place the flawless parts in the designated buffer area, while defective parts are sorted out.

This process is time-consuming and error-prone. To ensure quality and simultaneously utilize resources more efficiently, this work step will be automated using E.FLEX.

Solution

Assembly of Plastic Parts Automated by E.FLEX

1. Manufacturing

An automotive supplier manufactures plastic parts for vehicle components.

The injection molding machine produces the parts and places them on the conveyor belt to cool.

2. Picking

The cobot on E.FLEX BASE automatically picks up the plastic parts and precisely positions them for the next work step.

3. Quality Inspection

The cobot positions the parts under a camera system for quality control. The application-specific toolkit is responsible for quality control and evaluation, reliably detecting deformations.

4. Sorting and Provisioning

The inspected parts are automatically sorted: The cobot places flawless parts into the containers provided by the E.FLEX FEEDER, while defective parts are deposited into the reject bin. The E.FLEX FEEDER then takes over container management, providing empty containers and buffering full containers, thus ensuring a continuous material flow.

Benefits

By using E.FLEX, time-consuming manual work steps are significantly reduced, thereby relieving employees and making processes more efficient. The precise picking and quality inspection of plastic parts minimize errors and rejects, while automatic sorting and container management ensure a continuous material flow. As a result, the automotive supplier not only increases productivity but also simultaneously ensures consistently high quality of vehicle components.

E.FLEX Potentials at a Glance

Precise Part Picking: E.FLEX positions parts precisely.
Automated Quality Control: Deformations and contaminations are reliably detected.
Continuous Material Flow: Containers are automatically provided and buffered.
Resource-Efficient: Less manual work saves time and costs.
Flexible Adaptation: E.FLEX can be adapted to different components.

Through the automation of assembly and quality inspection with E.FLEX, not only are monotonous work steps alleviated, but valuable potential is unleashed – for greater process reliability, consistently high quality, and the targeted deployment of skilled workers where their expertise creates real added value.

Andreas Enhuber
Head of Smart Robotics
at our partner company
SPIE ESCAD Austria

Do you already have a project in mind?

We’re happy to assist you with planning and implementation.