The benefits to automating your production line are endless. A fully automated assembly line does not need people directly involved in the production process doing repetitive tasks. Instead the labour force can be used for system management, supervision and adjustment; and overall time and labour costs are saved. Horner controllers are used in the automation and data management of this Aventics (Emerson) assembly line.
Assembly Line Automation and Data Management
The video above shows an assembly line in which there are 2 EXL10e controllers which control a total of 20 digital IO nodes and about 1000 Aventics (Emerson) pneumatic valve CANOpen nodes, including some Smartrail nodes. In this assembly line there’s also an XL4 controller that manages a thermal printer, and an NX controller on the last station which controls a linear axis by RS232 connection and performs quality tests on each valve assembled in the line. A second XL4 does MES and keeps track of collected data.
There are many advantages to using Horner controllers to perform assembly line automation and data management. By automating assembly lines the risk of human error is erased, and both time and labour costs are saved. Horner controllers also allow data to be collected about performance, which can be analyzed to minimise errors, improve the process and save both time and money in the future.