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SUMMER 2014

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Distributor's Link Magazine Summer Issue 2014

136 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

136 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK THE BASICS OF FASTENER SORTING continued from page 24 What Do We Look For In A Sort The type of sort will most likely be determined by a number of factors. These include what the parts need to be sorted for, the number of parts involved, the urgency with which they need to be sorted, the technology available to the party doing the sorting, and the costs associated with the process. Perhaps the most important of these questions and certainly the one that drives the others is what the part must be sorted for. In fact, a very different level of sorting technology is required, for example, to locate and remove parts with head cracks than simply to locate and remove mixed or foreign material. Most often the nature of what a part is being sorted for will guide the process by which it is sorted. Take for example, again, the need to sort out parts with head cracks. This is feasible to do visually with the human eye or a camera, but would not be effective with a sorting method that looks at a projected shadow or compares the head diameter. Types Of Sorting In general there are two classes of sorting, manual and automated. Normally every organization has some degree of manual sorting and many today possess varying degrees of automated technology as well. Manual technologies are relatively one dimensional and do not provide a great deal of variety of methods. On the other hand, automated sorting technologies are quite varied. The most common employ mechanical methods, cameras, eddy current, shadow projection, laser, or any variety of combinations of these technologies. [1] Manual Sorting Manual sorting falls into two primary categories: visual comparison and gaging. VIsual Comparison: In the first method, visual comparison, an individual is visually evaluating parts against a known or desired standard. The sort may be as simple as spreading parts out on a table or conveyor belt and removing any parts that don’t belong, for example, when foreign material is mixed in with the subject parts. However, more often than not, the individual sorting parts with this method is actually picking each part up, rotating or turning it over and looking at the part from all angles. An example of this may be when appearance is important and small blemishes in the finish must be identified and removed. Gaging: The other category of manual sorting is gaging. This is where a feature can be assessed by using a gage to obtain a “good” or “not good” determination with an attribute gage or by measurement with a variable gage. Attribute gaging is the more common scenario because the time invested is much shorter than using a variable gage, but if an actual dimension must be verified, it would not be unheard of to utilize variable gaging methods as well. It is universally known that manual sorting is less than perfect. Although it is impossible to settle on an exact error percentage that is universally accepted, it is often suggested that manual sorting is only about 80%-85% accurate. In reality, it really depends on each specific situation, with minor or hard to identify defects being the least effectively detected and gaged features using proven gaging techniques potentially being very effectively checked. In some cases, manual sorting may be the only way to proceed. This occurs when “high tech” methods are simply incapable or unfeasible to check the desired attribute. Remarkably this scenario is more common than one might think. For example, if parts are being sorted for slight shade differences or minor finish blemishes, even the best of today’s cameras may not be as discriminating as the human eye or able to see every surface of the part. In another example, a common occurrence is the need to verify that a threaded part will freely accept a ring gage or a mating nut for its full threaded length. Because of the action required to thread a ring gage, this likely would not be feasible on available automated sorting equipment. In addition to these feasibility arguments there are two other big advantages to manual sorting. First, it can usually be mobilized with little or no delay. In cases where urgency rules, this may be the determining factor why a manual sort would be employed. Secondly, it requires little capital outlay, although it is important not to be penny wise and pound foolish and opt for a decision to save the expense of automation in the short run at the expense of a wise long-term investment. Besides the possibility that many of these sorts will not be perfectly effective, the other major drawback is throughput and cost. A manual sort, even in bulk (i.e. spreading many parts at one time across a flat surface) is slow and may require multiple human resources to satisfy necessary throughput requirements. If it is a subjective sort, having multiple individuals sorting the same thing only complicates matters and reduces overall effectiveness. Additionally, multiple individuals performing a slow task results in high labor costs which must be borne by either the supplier or their customer. please turn to page 180

A company that produces painted head screws is enjoying enormous savings, thanks to a solution by an Akron, OH-based packaging machine and polyethylene bag manufacturer - Advanced Poly- Packaging Inc. The customer needed to produce painted screws in batches of 36, which were tossed loosely into boxes of 144 parts. The costs of using five employees and exorbitant amounts of materials to complete the operation forced the company to consideration of a different solution. Advanced Poly-Packaging offered a solution that made sense through a custom engineered system that saves time and money. Advanced Poly-Packaging engineers used a third-party robotic component to place 36 screws onto trays that are placed onto a UF-5000 Infeed Conveyor that feeds the trays to a paint booth, then into an oven on a roller conveyor. A second UF-5000 Infeed Conveyor fed the completed screws to a robot that picks up the trays and slams them onto a large custom-designed extension funnel to loosen the screws, allowing them to pass through the funnel and into an open, waiting bag on a T-1000 Advanced Poly-Bagger. The bagger automatically seals the bag when it receives a signal from the robot that four complete sets of screws have been released into the funnel. The sealed bags are then released onto a UF- 2000 Incline Conveyor and fed into a shipping container. The other component involves packaging materials. The customer was purchasing boxes and applying labels by hand. The T-1000 was equipped with a Ti-1000Z Inline Thermal Transfer Printer that printed the required bar code, logo and product description directly onto the poly bag. The company realized the investment in about one year. The annual savings are estimated at 0,000 to 5,000. In addition, the customer’s packaging materials expenditures have decreased by 50% by purchasing Advanced Poly-Bags and printer ribbon instead of buying boxes and labels that must be printed and applied by hand. Advanced Poly-Packaging specializes in custom packaging solutions. You can learn more about their equipment at www.advancedpoly.com THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 137

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