Atlantic builds custom kitting station for high tech company
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| Looking through an illuminated magnifying glass, Atlantic employee Jim Mansfield loads fasteners into the cut outs of a kitting template. Once he verifies that the quantities and fastener finish are correct, he pulls on the brown sliding door to the right. The completed fastener "kit" drops down the front metal chute and into plastic bags |
Recently, a high-tech customer asked for help in reducing fastener kit rejections. Atlantic responded by designing and building a custom kitting station.
"Annually the customer supplies over 11 thousand kits to some very particular end users," notes Atlantic's Technical Service Director, Don Mahall, a mechanical engineer who designed and built the station himself. "They can't tolerate the inclusion of a single human hair or discolored fastener. Yet an automated kitting machine isn't practical because the customer is faced with random, short runs of 14 kit varieties."
Mahall met with the customer several times to discuss requirements. Then he designed a wooden assembly station with 14 templates, one for each kit. The templates contain cut outs to hold the fasteners that make up the kits. Next to each cut out is a number signifying the correct quantity for the fastener and a glued on sample. A sliding door fits snugly under the templates.
Atlantic employees who assemble the kits place the correct fasteners and quantities into the cut outs then slide out the trap door. The fasteners drop to an aluminum hopper for collection into plastic bags.
To aid in spotting fastener plating imperfections or unwanted material, Mahall outfitted the station with an illuminated magnifying glass.
As a result, the customer's kit rejection rate has dropped and end users are once again satisfied.
