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02-06-2021
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The historic assembly line with a great innovative future ahead
One of the manufacturing systems Rompa Group works with is the assembly line process. This process is a moving manufacturing system where the product goes from station to station. At each stop a new part is added or new assemblies take place. At the end of the line we have the finished product as requested by our clients. The assembly line divides the labor process into several steps, to create a finished product.
How it started
Some might say that the assembly line was invented by the company of Henry Ford, which makes sense as we firstly think of the automotive assembly line when we talk about assembly. But not only the automotive industry works this way, in the beginning of the 20th century many manufacturers started to explore this concept.
The development of this type of production process transformed organisations in a couple of ways. First the lines enabled workers to develop an expertise for their individual stations. In this way, each station became very efficient as the workers understood their station and knew how to work as quickly and easily as possible. The precision of each part became much better and resulted in higher quality cars, aircrafts and industrial machinery. It also gave manufacturers the possibility to produce on a much larger scale.
Nowadays the assembly lines are already quite automated and have, in most cases, staff at the end of the line for quality inspection.
Types of Assembly lines
The assembly lines vary due to the differences in purpose. We can divide the different types of assembly lines in the following 4 types:
- One type that Rompa Group uses is the automated assembly line. These lines are operated mainly by machines.
- The classic assembly line is the one as it started in the history books; stations of individuals making or adding one part at the time.
- Intermittent assembly lines produce products that are similar but not identical. This type of assembly line is for example seen in the furniture industry, for fabricating pieces of the same size and design but with different upholstery.
- Lean assembly lines move the parts mechanically to the assembly work and move the semi-finished assembly from workstation to workstation.
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Assembly of electronics
You can expect Rompa Group to put together your products by using different technologies implemented in our assembly lines. Our SMT line, for example, produces high-quality circuit boards for electronics. Rompa Group started running the SMT line in 2017 and has produced many printed circuit boards since then. We have developed efficient ways to produce elements for electronic devices. Would you like to know the process flow of our SMT line? Or the machinery we use for this type of line? Make sure to read all about it here.
Rompa’s global production footprint
Our assembly lines are available for our clients around the world thanks to our global footprint. We often talk about our global footprint, as this continues to be an important topic in today’s manufacturing processes. We have production sites all over the globe and our clients can easily deliver worldwide without having to ship their goods from one part of the world to the other. Producing locally means less delivery time, but this also has effects on stock as companies need less inventory due to production being so close by. This gives our clients lots of flexibility in the assembly process. In order to maintain the right inventory we set up an agreement with the number of deliveries per week, size of the batch and on which day the delivery will take place resulting in a smooth stockflow.
One of the many locations is Rompa CZ Transito located in the Czech Republic. We call this our main assembly location with 3634 m2 of production site. At this location we are able to assemble complex products. Think about engine parts and electronic components and connectors. With the usage of mechanical automation for assembly, which guarantees a high degree of accuracy, this facility is ready for the future.
What can we expect in the future?
While the assembly line already made the production process a lot more efficient, it’s human nature to search for even more improvement in the manufacturing process. Here comes automation! Automation is taking over the assembly lines and it started with taking over easy and repetitive tasks. As technology evolved, so did the automation of the assembly line. Some of these lines are already fully automated, but in most cases it is a combination of humans and automated work. Some of the assembly tasks are too complex for machines and this is where employees take over. While machines do the repetitive and dangerous jobs, our staff handles the complicated and sensitive tasks.
Will assembly lines be fully automated in the future? We will see how technology evolves, but you will always need trained staff to program and develop the process of assembly. It will always be a cooperation between humans and machines. But, we will see a lot more modern digital technology in the assembly lines, implementing IoT for example. You might think of IoT for your washing machine or refrigerator, but in manufacturing it can have a much larger impact.
Read more about the Internet of Things here.
Rompa Group puts it together
Not only can you contact Rompa Group for the assembly of products and parts, we can also help you with the design of your idea. We offer a full service from A to Z. This starts with translating an idea into a design, and ends with the delivery or even a stock solution. You can read our article about design for assembly here. In this article we explain the importance of the design considerations for assembly.
Would you like to know more about our services or about our assembly technologies? Make sure you contact us! Our specialists are always ready to give you the best advice.