A visit to mars to discover progressive automation

Abstract

Examines how Mars Electronics International Ltd of Wokingham, expanded into transaction electronics [the handling of money] investing heavily in equipment for the automatic assembly of printed circuit boards and subsequently investigating ways of minimizing work in progress and lead time, with the eventual aim of producing single boards with zero change‐over time and no loss of efficiency. Discusses how MEI have progressed from bench assembly to fully automated robotics assembly via an interim flexible guided manual assembly line for small batch production. Concludes that with its wide range of assembly automation experience, MEI has learnt the importance of flexibility in a system and predicts that in the future attention will focus on “machines built around people” with concern for access, servicing and the environment.

Citation

Wittenberg, G. (1995), "A visit to mars to discover progressive automation", Assembly Automation, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 27-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/01445159510086425