Consumer Electronics Assembly Cell Handles 12 SKUs
Flexible assembly automation for high-mix consumer electronics production
Project Overview
Consumer electronics markets demand variety. Customers expect multiple colors, configurations, and feature sets—and they expect them fast. For a California-based 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 Automation 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
No manual intervention required.
Collaborative Approach
The FANUC CRX collaborative robots enable a hybrid automation approach:
- Robots handle: Repetitive assembly, precision placement, consistent quality
- Operators handle: Loading/unloading, quality audits, exception handling
This division of labor optimizes both human skills and robot capabilities.
New Product Introduction
The flexible architecture dramatically accelerates new product launches:
| Phase | Traditional | With Flexible Cell |
|---|---|---|
| Programming | 2 weeks | 2 days |
| Tooling | 4 weeks | 1 week |
| Validation | 1 week | 2 days |
| Total | 7 weeks | 11 days |
Three new SKUs have been added since the original 12, with minimal engineering effort.
Customer Testimonial
"AMD Automation gave us the flexibility we needed to compete. We can respond to market changes in days, not months. The quality improvement was an unexpected bonus."
— VP of Manufacturing, Consumer Electronics Manufacturer
01The Challenge
A consumer electronics manufacturer needed to automate assembly of their product family while maintaining flexibility to handle 12 different SKUs with varying components and configurations.
- 12 product variants with different component configurations
- Frequent model changes driven by market demand
- Manual assembly struggling with quality consistency
- Need for rapid new product introduction capability
- High labor costs in California manufacturing
02Our Solution
AMD Automation designed a flexible assembly cell using collaborative robots with quick-change tooling, vision-guided part handling, and recipe-based programming for instant SKU changeover.
Collaborative Robot Assembly
FANUC CRX cobots with force sensing enable precise assembly operations while working safely alongside operators for loading/unloading.
Vision-Guided Picking
3D vision system locates and picks components from mixed bins, eliminating the need for SKU-specific part presentation.
Quick-Change Tooling
Automatic tool changers swap end effectors in seconds to handle different component types across the product family.
Recipe Management
MES integration automatically loads the correct program when a new SKU is scanned, enabling true mixed-model production.
03The Results
The cell achieved zero-changeover production across all 12 SKUs while reducing labor by 60% and improving first-pass quality to 99.8%.
Technical Specifications
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