Today’s automobiles contain dozens of electric motors. They adjust the mirrors, position the seats, aim the headlights, provide heating and cooling, and raise and lower the windows. In fact, a luxury car might have as many as 120 electric motors of various sizes.

Mechanical probe and vision systems ensure quality assemblies.

SCARAs perform pick-and-place and other operations.

Vision-guided SCARA robot picks and places delicate ceramic parts.

 Sensors verify that the rings have been installed correctly. 

Plastic squeeze bottles for water or Gatorade are ubiquitous at sporting events around the world. Hundreds of millions of them are produced annually.

Manufacturing engineers have two options for obtaining an automated assembly system. They can get each component—an automatic screwdriver, a rotary indexing dial, a gripper—from individual suppliers and integrate the parts themselves. Or, they can ask one supplier to deliver a turnkey machine.

Farason Corp. has been designing and building automated assembly systems for more than 25 years. Based in Coatesville, PA, the company has designed automation systems for food, cosmetics, medical devices, pharmaceutical products, personal care products, toys and solar cells. The company’s client list includes Blistex Inc., Crayola Crayons, L’Oreal USA, Smith Medical and even the U.S. Mint.

Premixed, ready-to-drink, functional beverages are certainly convenient, but that convenience comes with some trade-offs.