Consumer Electronics Assembly Cell Handles 12 SKUs

Project Overview

Consumer electronics markets demand variety. Customers expect multiple colors, configurations, and feature sets—and they expect them fast. For one electronics manufacturer, this meant assembling 12 different SKUs on the same line with frequent model mix changes.

Manual assembly was struggling to keep up. Quality varied between operators, and the high labor costs made domestic manufacturing increasingly difficult to justify.

Flexibility Through Technology

AMD Machines designed a cell that embraces variety instead of fighting it:

Vision-Guided Part Handling

The 3D vision system recognizes components regardless of how they're presented. Operators simply refill bins with mixed parts—the robots figure out what's what.

Automatic Tool Changing

Each robot carries multiple tools optimized for different operations. The system automatically swaps tools based on the current SKU requirements.

Recipe-Based Programming

When a new product enters the cell, the barcode triggers automatic download of the correct:

• Robot programs
• Vision parameters
• Quality checkpoints
• Assembly sequence

Collaborative Approach

The FANUC CRX collaborative robots enable a hybrid automation approach:

• Robots handle: Repetitive assembly and precision placement
• Operators handle: Loading/unloading, quality audits, exception handling

New Product Introduction

A new SKU enters the cell as a new recipe—robot programs, vision parameters, quality checkpoints and assembly sequence—selected by its barcode in the same way as the existing 12.