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The Challenge
Customer: Medical device manufacturer
A medical device manufacturer required a machine that could assemble a highly intricate drug delivery device. Prior to MiQ engagement the assembly was performed by many operators over multiple stations. This machine was to assembly 9 individual components to make the device, with a 10 second cycle time requirement.
Materials were introduced into the system in a variety of methods. Bulk loading into hoppers, part arrays on trays, and operator loading parts into a fixture. Validation that the assembly process occurred correctly was required for every individual step of the process.
The Solution
To maintain the 10 second cycle time requirement an 8-station rotary dial machine was developed to separate the work over multiple station. A combination of 4 robots, 3 SCARA and one 6 axis, was used to for pick an place of components from infeed into the device. Multiple camera systems were used to validate the assembly process for part placement and critical assembly features. As some of the assembly processes required press fit of components, servo drive presses long with force feedback were used to validate those operations occurred correctly. The final device fitment implemented an ultrasonic welding process which occurred on the table with a sound enclosure to protect the operator.
Drawing from MiQ’s wide variety of material handling and small part, tight tolerance assembly experience MIQ was able to delivery this highly specialized machine that met the customer requirements of this critical assembly. Throughout the process, validation and tracking occurred to ensure each device met the critical functionality and high-quality standards needed for this regulated device. To ensure traceability components with bar codes were tracked into the final device assembly with tabular data for cross-referencing component within each unique final device. All in process inspection data was linked to this device and uploaded to a SCADA system.