When Did Rework Become Part of Your Process?

From cell phones to farm tractors, more and more modern products are being assembled coated with advanced highly automated dispensing systems. Automating the dispensing process eliminates variations caused by operator fatigue, distraction, etc. and seems like a no-brainer.

That being said, in spite of the repeatability that robotics bring to your process, your outcome is still determined by the physical properties of the fluids you are dispensing. And though these fluids are well-engineered in the laboratory, even the most carefully crafted formulation and dispensing system can create unacceptable results due to uncontrolled variables in the application process – and one of the most critical is viscosity. Strangely enough, a common “solution” is to add a manual “touch-up” operator into the process to “correct” the deficiencies of the automated system.

In this presentation we examine how variations in viscosity impact a fluid’s performance in application, its intractable relationship with temperature, and how these factors affect modern automated fluid dispensing systems. From this perspective, we examine how fundamental control techniques can be applied to achieve the consistent and repeatable results originally sought when the process was automated in the first place – without the need for manual operations.