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Modern automobile companies make several models of cars that share many common parts. For instance, Ford and Lincoln each have similar models such as the Thunderbird and Cougar that are the same size. This means the taillight assembly for a Thunderbird will have identical dimensions as the taillight of a Cougar because these two cars are built on the same body frame. The same is true of the Sable and Taurus models. In fact, some major companies make a foreign model that's based on a domestic body frame. This manufacturing concept makes it easier to manufacture and assemble parts. AMAZON multi-meters discounts AMAZON oscilloscope discounts |
If you look closely at the parts of the cars that have a companion model, you will see that they can he somewhat different and still maintain the same size and dimensions for mounting hardware. For instance, the Thunderbird taillights are made as two separate assemblies, one for the left and one for the right. The Cougar taillight has the same dimensions, but it has a piece of plastic connecting the left and right assemblies. That is, the left and right assemblies have the exact dimensions for mounting studs for both models, and the Cougar has extra mounting studs in the piece of plastic that connects the two assemblies. These parts are made at a parts plant in large plastic injection molding machines. A small amount of assembly work must be accomplished on each taillight before shipment to the assembly plant where it will be put on the car.
Each taillight must have several studs inserted in it so it can be mounted to the automobile frame. The taillights are placed on an assembly carrier that moves them through a small flexible manufacturing assembly cell. This manufacturing cell consists of a robot that moves from point to point and inserts studs into each taillight at specific points. Since the assembly cell is very expensive to build, it's designed to insert studs into taillights for the Thunderbird, Cougar, Sable, and Taurus models, since all of these cars have similar-size taillight assemblies.
Each carrier on the assembly cell can carry any one of the four taillight assemblies. The assembly cell uses proximity switches to indicate what part is in the carrier so that the robot will execute the proper program. Each carrier has a set of three metal pins called fingers that are used to activate the three proximity switches to indicate which of the four parts are in the carrier. The three proximity switches are connected to three relays. The relay logic is based on the binary numbering concept that indicates which of the four programs the robot should execute. ill. 1 (below) shows a diagram and the relay logic for this process of detecting the correct part.
Above: ill. 1: Example of the relay logic used to determine the correct taillight assembly. The output of the logic tells the robot which one of four pro grams it should execute.
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