Final Assembly and Test Automation

IPACT upgraded the Level 1 (PLC) automation on the final assembly and test line in the transmission plant of a major auto manufacturer. The line consisted of 51 stations, and transmissions were moved from station to station on pallets with radio-frequency (RF) identification tags. The Level 1 system read the RF tags, sequenced the automated operations and tests at each station, interfaced with operators doing manual assemblies and tests, and collected MRP data which was reported to a higher level system when each transmission left the line.  The upgrade consisted of the following:

• Added communication from the previous line.  Before the upgrade, information about each transmission from the previous line was printed on a bar-coded tag, which was read by the final assembly and test line. IPACT designed and installed Level 1 software to get the information on incoming transmissions directly from the previous line, while using the bar-coded tag system as an automatic backup, such that if the link to the previous line was down, the bar-coded tags would be used with no intervention necessary from the operator.  The only time the operator was alerted and action was required was if both the link and the bar-code reader were malfunctioning.

• The automated functions of several of the stations were modified to improve their performance and simplify the required operator actions.

• Some stations on the line were "repair loops" where transmissions that had failed any test would be automatically diverted. Before the upgrade, repair loop operators only had access to the information for the last transmission to enter the loop (which could hold three pallets).  IPACT designed and installed Level 1 software to allow the operators to view information for any transmission in the loop, as well as to delete the records for transmissions which were taken off the line at that point.

• IPACT made the necessary changes to the Level 1 data structures to allow several new types of transmissions to be processed, with new parts to be added at several stations.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies