May, 2020
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Automated Component Storage: the Key to the Industry 4.0 Warehouse
By Robert J. Black, Jr., Essegi Automation S.r.l.
ment manufacturers are making steady progress toward the goal of the smart factory and lights-out manufacturing. One of the key re- quirements for achieving these goals is streamlining the material flow be- tween the warehouse and the pro- duction floor, assuring that all com- ponents reach the production lines accurately and at the proper time. In recent years, the automated
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component storage system has come to play a major role in improving pro- ductivity and efficiency for many electronics OEM and EMS compa- nies. Combined with a comprehen-
ith the growing interest in Industry 4.0, many OEM and EMS electronics equip-
nary shelves or from a bin in a verti- cal carousel involves a person read- ing the part number and pulling the correct component for each line item. Human error can and does oc-
cur. An automated component stor- age system reads the barcode on the component reel or tray and always pulls the correct part, preventing er- rors. Due to the fact that pulling the
wrong component for a kit can result in hundreds or even thousands of misplaced parts and a huge amount of costly rework, the automated com- ponent storage system can pay for it- self with this feature alone.
Types of SMT Storage Systems The earliest SMT storage sys-
tems held a few hundred parts at
most. Today, units holding up to 4,000 reels are very popular. There are two basic types of SMT storage systems, those who handle bare reels, and those that use cases to hold the reels that are stored in the system. The bare reel type has the ad- vantage of simplicity. No case is
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ISM 3600 automated component storage system.
sive database of all materials, processes and procedures necessary to manufacture these products and all the software systems that must work together to successfully achieve their manufacturing goals, these au- tomated towers are providing a pow- erful tool for both volume manufac- turing and high-mix environments. While most companies use an
ERP system to help manage the busi- ness, they may also be using MES software on the factory floor. In addi- tion, the many pieces of equipment used in the manufacturing lines may have their own operating software, maintenance software, individual machine controllers and line con- trollers. The integration and manage-
ment of these systems is a challeng- ing task. Perhaps the first important requirement to achieving this inte- gration is to have accurate and com- plete data in the database of materi- als, processes and procedures. The growing field of automated compo- nent storage and retrieval has an ex- citing impact on the link between the warehouse and the production floor.
The Automated Storage Tower About 15 years ago, the first
component storage systems specifi- cally designed for SMT components began to appear in the marketplace. Other types of storage, such as verti- cal carousels had been adapted to store SMT reels, sticks and trays, but systems dedicated for these parts ar- rived in 2005. These units deliver the reels or
trays in the order called for, and lend themselves to increased traceability and control. Pulling a kit from ordi-
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