{"id":3127,"date":"2026-08-01T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T06:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/de\/?p=3110"},"modified":"2026-09-10T11:08:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T09:08:53","slug":"hmlv-under-control-flexible-automation-eliminates-bottlenecks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/01-26\/hmlv-under-control-flexible-automation-eliminates-bottlenecks\/","title":{"rendered":"HMLV under control: flex\u00adible automa\u00adtion elim\u00adi\u00adnates bottle\u00adnecks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shorter product life cycles, increasing product variety, and volatile markets are funda\u00admen\u00adtally changing indus\u00adtrial manu\u00adfac\u00adturing. Tradi\u00adtional high-volume produc\u00adtion is becoming less impor\u00adtant, while high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) manu\u00adfac\u00adturing is becoming the new normal: many vari\u00adants and small batch sizes, often within a single produc\u00adtion line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is pushing estab\u00adlished automa\u00adtion concepts to their limits. Processes designed for repeat accu\u00adracy and long produc\u00adtion runs quickly reach their effi\u00adciency limits when prod\u00aducts change frequently. Bottle\u00adnecks that deter\u00admine the cycle time of the entire line are partic\u00adu\u00adlarly crit\u00adical. In elec\u00adtronics manu\u00adfac\u00adturing, depan\u00adeling is one of these key processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From mass-produc\u00adtion thinking to high product variety<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tradi\u00adtion\u00adally, two approaches have competed with one another: stand-alone systems offer flex\u00adi\u00adbility but require manual inter\u00adven\u00adtion. Inline solu\u00adtions are highly auto\u00admated, but are consid\u00adered to offer little flex\u00adi\u00adbility. In HMLV envi\u00adron\u00adments, this there\u00adfore creates the impres\u00adsion of an unavoid\u00adable trade-off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A project in elec\u00adtronics manu\u00adfac\u00adturing at Phoenix Contact demon\u00adstrates that this can be resolved. SCHUNK Elec\u00adtronic Solu\u00adtions and board-handling specialist ACHAT5 jointly devel\u00adoped a stand\u00adalone cell with auto\u00admatic loading, depan\u00adeling, and palletizing. It system\u00adat\u00adi\u00adcally combines flex\u00adi\u00adbility and automa\u00adtion. The key here is a holistic approach that considers processes, mate\u00adrial flow, and the level of automa\u00adtion together from the outset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product change \u2260 stand\u00adstill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of the solu\u00adtion is a change in perspec\u00adtive: product changeovers are no longer viewed as a time-consuming obstacle, but rather as an inte\u00adgral part of the produc\u00adtion line logic. Soft\u00adware, actu\u00ada\u00adtors, and commu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion systems handle the adap\u00adta\u00adtion to different vari\u00adants. For example, the depan\u00adeling machine\u2019s track width is set auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally, and the para\u00adme\u00adters adapt without any manual inter\u00adven\u00adtion. This makes depan\u00adeling a fully inte\u00adgrated, order-driven process.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Needle grip\u00adpers handle protec\u00adtive foam inter\u00adme\u00addiate layers safely and posi\u00adtion them precisely. This enables trav\u00adelers place\u00adment of the printed circuit boards within the inline process. Picture: Phoenix Contact<\/p><\/div>\n

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End-to-end inline concept for high-mix, low-volume produc\u00adtion: depan\u00adeling, board handling, and depositing are inte\u00adgrated into a fully auto\u00admated line.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Flex\u00adi\u00adbility starts with the gripper<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The handling concept plays a key role. Elec\u00adtric grip\u00adpers make it possible to process various printed circuit board geome\u00adtries. If a gripper\u2019s adjust\u00adment range is insuf\u00adfi\u00adcient for different PCB sizes or geome\u00adtries, its fingers are changed fully auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally at the gripper station. Up to 276 pairs of fingers are avail\u00adable for this purpose. The system auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally checks whether the tools required for each product have been set up correctly. Setup processes there\u00adfore take place in the back\u00adground \u2013 without affecting line avail\u00adability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying goodbye to the tray<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tradi\u00adtion\u00adally, indi\u00advidual circuit boards are placed in product-specific trays. These must be kept avail\u00adable, changed, and assigned correctly \u2013 a consid\u00ader\u00adable amount of manual work that conflicts with the concept of an autonomous line. The project part\u00adners there\u00adfore delib\u00ader\u00adately chose a different path for Phoenix Contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The printed circuit boards are stacked in layers in small load carriers, with foam inter\u00adme\u00addiate layers between them. Specially devel\u00adoped needle grip\u00adpers trans\u00adport and handle the inter\u00adme\u00addiate layers. They pierce the foam and posi\u00adtion it precisely over the deposited circuit boards, enabling secure storage regard\u00adless of the circuit boards\u2019 size and arrange\u00adment. Fixed trays are no longer required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This concept signif\u00adi\u00adcantly reduces the amount of setup work involved while also increasing flex\u00adi\u00adbility in logis\u00adtics. Different prod\u00aducts can be processed using the same boxes without having to change equip\u00adment. At the same time, the assem\u00adblies are protected and prepared for down\u00adstream processes \u2013 such as assembly or ship\u00adping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A wide variety of product vari\u00adants and fully auto\u00admated inline processes were long consid\u00adered incom\u00adpat\u00adible. Not anymore.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Less manual labor, more impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Without these flex\u00adible options, oper\u00ada\u00adtors are occu\u00adpied with repet\u00adi\u00adtive, low-value tasks: manual changeovers, changing over trays, inter\u00advening during product changes, and contin\u00adu\u00adously loading and unloading assem\u00adblies. In the produc\u00adtion line imple\u00admented here, the operator\u2019s role is essen\u00adtially limited to approving the produc\u00adtion order. All of the following steps \u2013 from auto\u00admatic setup and gripper adjust\u00adment to the place\u00adment of the circuit boards \u2013 are performed without any manual inter\u00adven\u00adtion. This not only creates repro\u00adducible processes, but also enables compa\u00adnies to deploy qual\u00adi\u00adfied employees specif\u00adi\u00adcally where their exper\u00adtise adds the most value. Against the back\u00addrop of growing labor and skilled-worker short\u00adages, automa\u00adtion becomes a strategic tool: it stabi\u00adlizes produc\u00adtion, reduces reliance on manual routines, and contributes to a sustain\u00adable, employee-centered produc\u00adtion design \u2013 a key element of a healthy manu\u00adfac\u00adturing envi\u00adron\u00adment.\u2002<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SCHUNK Elec\u00adtronic Solu\u00adtions acquires Achat Engi\u00adneering<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After years of working together as part\u00adners, ACHAT5 and SCHUNK Elec\u00adtronic Solu\u00adtions decided to join forces in early 2026. The ACHAT5 team\u2019s core compe\u00adten\u00adcies include board handling and inspec\u00adtion solu\u00adtions for elec\u00adtronics manu\u00adfac\u00adturing. As a result, SCHUNK Elec\u00adtronic Solu\u00adtions will in the future offer its customers in this industry both stand-alone and inline systems from a single source \u2013 customer-focused, scal\u00adable, and with a reduced risk at inter\u00adfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cFor us, bringing the compa\u00adnies together is the logical next step: We are system\u00adat\u00adi\u00adcally expanding our port\u00adfolio to provide a more modular and flex\u00adible offering for elec\u00adtronic assembly produc\u00adtion as a compre\u00adhen\u00adsive solu\u00adtion from a single source.\u201d<\/p>\nRalf Vetter, Managing Director of SCHUNK Elec\u00adtronic Solu\u00adtions<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

ACHAT5 was founded in 2002, is head\u00adquar\u00adtered in Lengede in Lower Saxony, and currently employs 23 people. Both compa\u00adnies serve the same segments of elec\u00adtronics manu\u00adfac\u00adturing, including SMT assembly, and share a commit\u00adment to co-inno\u00adva\u00adtion, part\u00adner\u00adship-based collab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion, and the system\u00adatic digi\u00adtal\u00adiza\u00adtion of processes \u2013 extending to the vision of the \u201cdark factory,\u201d a fully auto\u00admated produc\u00adtion facility.\u2002<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After signing the contract: Nick Heronim (Managing Director and partner, Achat Engi\u00adneering GmbH), J\u00fcrgen Schaffhausen (founder and partner, Achat Engi\u00adneering GmbH), Ralf Vetter (Managing Director, SCHUNK Elec\u00adtronic Solu\u00adtions GmbH), Kristina I. Schunk (CEO, SCHUNK SE & Co. KG), Benjamin Bollinger (Finan\u00adcial Reporting and M&A Manage\u00adment, SCHUNK SE & Co. KG).
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More about this topic:<\/strong>
SCHUNK Elec\u00adtronic Solu\u00adtions takes over Achat Engi\u00adneering<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conven\u00adtional wisdom is that automa\u00adtion is barely worth\u00adwhile in high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) manu\u00adfac\u00adturing. However, compa\u00adnies that system\u00adat\u00adi\u00adcally elim\u00adi\u00adnate bottle\u00adnecks in produc\u00adtion stand to gain a great deal: process stability, quality, and cost-effec\u00adtive\u00adness. This is evident in depan\u00adeling for elec\u00adtronics manu\u00adfac\u00adturing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-success-story","category-01-26"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3127"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3610,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127\/revisions\/3610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}