Understand the basics of handling technology (board handling) and find out how you can optimize your production processes by integrating Industry 4.0 interfaces.
Discover practical examples and in-depth knowledge at the bottom of this website.
Further information on the use of handling devices in application lines and cells: PCB handling SMT + THT
The topic of “handling technology” refers to standards that are partially outdated and withdrawn. Terms were coined here that are still valid today and are also referred to appropriately.
VDI standards on this topic: VDI 2411 Conveying, VDI 2411 Storage/storage, VDI 2860 Handling Terms from older technical literature on early industrial robot development are also quoted. Unfortunately, some terms lead to confusion, especially in the area of electronic production assemblies (printed circuit boards (PCBs) to be assembled or assembled), if the origin of the terms is not known.
Feeding workpieces into a production device In the case of an SMD line, this is the feeding of printed circuit boards (PCBs) into an application machine such as a stencil printer or jetter.
There are input stations for raw LPs or loaded LPs. These are often magazine stations, where there is a confusion of terms. PCBs are pushed out of a magazine, i.e. output from a magazine, but the handling technology assumes that the PCBs are fed into a production facility.
Employees in production logistics should therefore be able to assign the terms. In the following example, the machine terms indicate the same machine:
Although printed circuit boards are output from a magazine, the function INPUT is present in the production line and therefore it is an input station or loader (PCB Loader).
The PCBs are conveyed from the magazine with the aid of the loader and loaded into the production line, as shown in the following illustration.
The raw printed circuit boards (raw PCBs) are separated from a previously manually fed stack using the input station (bare board handling, destacker, destacker) and conveyed to the production line, as shown in the following illustration.
The PCBs are conveyed into a magazine with the aid of the unloader (unloader/magaziner) and the production line is unloaded, as shown in the following illustration.
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