Why we are adding pick & place machines next to our cobot.

At DeltaProto we have been working with our patented cobot (HybridPlacer) for years. It is ideal for #ProtoPCBAs, because it lets us work very fast and very flexibly at the same time.

But we also keep running into the same thing.

Almost every PCBA carries resistors and capacitors that we use all the time. So why would you buy them again for every project, check them in, load them into a feeder and hang that feeder on the machine?

That is really a waste of time. And it increases the chance of mistakes too.

So after a proper analysis (see the charts) we decided to bring in a few extra pick & place machines. Right now we have about 25 feeders available for things like Rs and Cs. That lets us do about 50% of all placements automatically.

We are going to 100 feeders.

With that we expect to have about 75% of all placements permanently available. The remaining components we simply keep placing flexibly with our HybridPlacer.

So this does not mean the HybridPlacer is going away. Quite the opposite.

For every part we just use whichever method is fastest.

Common components automatically on the pick & place.

The rest flexibly on the HybridPlacer.

Because in the end, automating as much as possible is not the goal.

The goal is to get that first good ProtoPCBA on the table as fast as possible.

Extra pick & place capacity and our HybridPlacer both help with that.

And now we are curious:

What do you think is the component we place most often?

Both value and footprint.

#PCBAProtoLabLearnings #HappyEngineering