Microplastics Inc. (St. Charles, IL) integrated an automated conveyor system that produces insert-molded door latch components for an automotive supplier. This conveyor eliminated the high cost of labor and reduced production costs by 30 percent.

Microplastics purchased the conveyor system from Prodel Automation Inc. (Coppell, TX). The system has its own controls, and discrete inputs and outputs.

Prodel supplies flexible assembly systems to various industries. The company specializes in developing and producing automated transport systems and assembly technology for clients in the automotive, consumer goods and electrical apparatus industries.

Microplastics' engineers integrated robots into the system and designed the fixtures. They then programmed the robots to perform the various assembly steps.

After molding, the door latch component is assembled in 13 steps. Human intervention is only needed once-when the part is loaded into a "boat" that takes it through the system. The robots perform various tasks, including soldering, potting, gasketing, electrical testing, vision inspection and ultraviolet curing. Several tasks are done twice. The hermetically sealed part is made of polyester resin with plated metal inserts. The finished part includes switches, diodes and resistors.

Two parts are dropped off every 15 seconds, which adds up to a 1-day run of 11,520, or approximately 2.5 million parts per year, increasing turnaround time and dramatically improving return on investment for the customer.

For more information about conveyors, call 972-745-3350, visit www.prodel.net or Reply 5.

For more information about insert molding, call 630-513-2900 or visit www.microplasticsinc.com.