“It’s no wonder that amanufacturing facility for one of North America’s popular SUVs would use rugged, time-proven assembly line conveyors for the vehicles’ construction,” said a Creform spokesperson. “TheAGCs used at the vehicle maker’s facility are an engineered hybrid of the system developed by CreformCorporation. The carts are driven, routed and controlled by CreformAGC power units while the welded frame, not typically used within the Creform system, provides a sturdy, firm base for the various assembly procedures. Normally, the Creform AGC system carts would be fabricated from the company’s series of plastic coated steel pipes, metal joints and hardware accessories.As one of the maintenance supervisors at the facility reports, the carts were fabricated for durability in what at times can be a severe work environment.” “We built the carts with heavy gauge steel framing for the rigidity that we thoughtwould be advantageous for the assembly process,” the supervisor said. “It turns out that the flexibility of the systemis one of the biggest benefits we found with the Creform AGC system. And, though a single control unit issues timing directives, the fact that each cart is independently powered and capable of individualized responses to isolated commands, offers an additional level of agility that may be required to meet future production layout requirements. “Since the systemhas been in use, its route has been altered several times. To change a route, one only needs to place adhesive-backed magnetic tape on the floor surface that a cart-mounted sensor follows. That’s the guidance system. “As amatter of fact, we’ve recently moved the offloading station of the assembled I/P, to where the unit is mounted in the vehicle on the main assembly line. The new location is working out well, so the AGC line is being reconfigured with a more permanent installation. That simply involves etching the floor with 1/8 inches deep by 4 inches wide channel, then placing the tape in the recess and covering it with a protective epoxy coating.” “The line now has 10 carts running during the two shift operations at the plant,” the spokesperson said. “The assembly process of the I/P consists of seven working stations, five of which are where assembly takes place, a quality control station is the sixth, and the seventh is the offload location. In addition, usually two carts with completed subassemblies are queued as a buffer, waiting for offloading while the 10th cart is returned and pre-staged in front of the first assembly station. The entire loop of the I/P assembly circuit is approximately 250 feet long.” At the assembly stations, operators install specific components of the I/P in place, which include electronics and gauges, driver’s controls and HVAC. After crossing the busy aisle, the I/P install operator on themain line uses a lift assist mechanism to offload the panel and place it in position in the vehicle’s passenger compartment. Currently, each operator is given approximately 4- 1/2 minutes to complete their assigned tasks before the carts provide awarning signal, a safety delay and finally move on to the next station in line. At one of the stations, Creform has placed an ‘opportunity’ charger where each cart’s battery is given a charge, automatically, every time through the loop. When twin photo sensors verify the presence of a cart, the charger ’s power leads extend to make contact with the charging terminals on the cart. When the carts move, the charger ’s leads retract. The line’s traffic controller consists of two timers. One tracks the stop-time at each station and sends the warning and start signals, while the second controls the timing for the warning alarm (light and horn) and the activation of the queued carts at the aisle. When carts are positioned at the aisle crossing staging area, the alarm starts approximately 90 (adjustable) seconds prior to the anticipated cart movement. The timing of the cart crossing can vary in that the cart must receive a signal from the controller that the assembly offload area is clear of the previous cart. This all-clear signal is relayed when the I/P install operator finishes the offloading process and manually pushes the empty cart’s start button, sending it on the return loop back to the start station. “With the Creform guidance system, it’s as close to ‘plug and play’ as one can get, so there’s no constraints to implementing the modifications and improvements,” the supervisor said. In many applications, Creform users design and build their own material handling solutions. In others, Creform Corporation offers design assistance and assembly services in addition to furnishing the required components.