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Once again, Matt and I have alot in common.
Designing assembly lines, designing automated equipment, and integrating automated equipment into assembly lines is what I do here at Delphi-Delco Electronics in Kokomo.
I am a mechanical designer, and I have had the opportunity to design mechanical systems for producing automotive electronics (mostly circuit boards in an aluminum box, simply put). I do this by designing assembly cells, or fixturing inside of a previously designed assembly cell, or integrating someone else's equipment to a production line. I have been doing this for 12 years.
When I started at Delphi, we were trying to automate everything. One of our goals was to have a "lights out" factory floor where the operation would run without any operators whatsoever. Over the years, our mindset has changed. As Matt said above, automation is needed for many things, but it is not the answer for all production lines. We need it for accurrate placement of chips or parts onto a circuit board or precisely placing underfill gel next to a flip chip, but we don't need it for simple screwdriving, odd form placement, and packaging.
Actually, we have decreased the amount of automation in our production lines dramatically over the past 2-3 years. Delphi has become quicker and more flexible over this time, and we are required to be more "lean" in our production techniques. This means to us that we need to manufacture our products with the least amount of manufacturing cost. In some cases, this means to fully automate a process (using a chip-shooter to populate a circuit board), while in other cases it means using an operator to run a part through a test-and-assemble operation.
Operator jobs are still needed. Automation is needed in some areas, but not all. It is a waste in many areas of manufacturing.
If you want to learn more about this subject, do a google search for "Lean Manufacturing", or add a "Delphi" in there for more stuff we are doing in that area.
Andy B.
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