Agile assembly systems allow manufacturers to react quickly to shifting customer demands and shorter product life cycles. With flexible automation, manufacturers can produce a wider variety of products; alter the mix of options or features; add new processes or assembly stations easily; and change volumes with minimal investment and changeover loss. Flexible assembly also allows manufacturers to implement production closer to a desired product launch date, with lower changeover costs and shorter timelines for those changeovers.
A flexible assembly system typically consists of a standard platform and a series of interchangeable process and test modules that can be removed, modified and replaced quickly and easily. It allows for the future assembly of similar, possibly unrelated or currently undefined products.