Appliance Assembly Lines- Home Appliance Manufacturer

PROBLEM: The customer had two assembly lines feeding one test area and one packaging line. Operators were manually unloading a 40-pound chassis and assembly pallets were manually carried from one end of the line to the other.

SOLUTION: ABCO worked with the customer to develop functional specifications, line configuration, utility requirements, equipment specification, and subcontractor scope of work.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: ABCO disassembled two existing assembly lines and installed two new lines in a different location. A pallet return conveyor system was designed and installed. An additional test area and packaging line was installed, making two independent assembly lines and increasing throughput. The equipment from the old lines was to be refurbished, upgraded, and reused if possible. All other equipment was both designed and built by ABCO or specified and purchased by ABCO. ABCO integrated all equipment used in the project.

The assembly lines and new pallet return conveyors are over 300 feet long. The system interfaces with a robot that picks up a partially assembled chassis from a rack system. The robot orients the chassis and places it on the assembly pallet.

The control system featured three PLC's and four operator interface units. There were over 1,700 discrete I/O points in the system. The system interfaced to multiple cameras. The ABCO equipment also interfaced with downstream packaging lines and other manufacturing systems.

This turnkey project was installed and started up on time, with very little down time for the customer.