The lives of manufacturers would be so much easier if all their automation processes were homogeneous. Unfortunately, there are many that require customization to satisfy the unique requirements of an automated work-holding or material-handling application. This is the case for any application that involves some combination of manual clamps, end effectors, grippers and indexers.
At this point, it serves to acknowledge that there is a significant difference between a customized “product” and a customized “system,” and we must warn that using the terms interchangeably is not correct or recommended.