Vibratory bowl feeders have long been the go-to device for supplying parts in automated assembly systems. Their sole drawback is that they are not all that flexible. They are custom-made to feed one specific part. That’s all well and good for low-mix, high-volume production, but for higher mix operations, the economics become harder to justify.
This was the problem faced recently by a Tier 1 automotive supplier. The company needed an economical way to precisely feed two different parts for an automotive subassembly—and adapt to future needs. To meet a cycle time of 7.5 seconds, the supplier needed to feed each part at rate of eight components per minute. Designing a vibratory bowl for each part was not economically feasible.