The one constant thing about technology is that it is constantly changing and evolving. Don’t think so? In that case, ask the people who rushed out to buy the latest iteration of a smartphone, but then find themselves standing in line waiting to purchase the latest new-and-improved version just six months later.

Designing and building a multistation automated assembly system takes time. A simple project might take 12 to 14 weeks. A complex one could take three or four times that long.

Midwestern automotive supplier uses servo-driven presses to install sleeves, bearings and plugs in transmissions on an automated assembly line. Precision and data collection are key benefits of the system.

Vision-guided SCARA robot picks and places delicate ceramic parts.

Systems integrators wrestle with the notion of flexibility in multistation automated assembly systems.

Manufacturing engineers have two options for obtaining an automated assembly system. They can get each component—an automatic screwdriver, a rotary indexing dial, a gripper—from individual suppliers and integrate the parts themselves. Or, they can ask one supplier to deliver a turnkey machine.

NORDLINGEN, Germany—Six-axis robots and a rotary indexing table are the heart of a high-speed automated assembly system that produces 200,000 automotive sensors daily.

Premixed, ready-to-drink, functional beverages are certainly convenient, but that convenience comes with some trade-offs.