BASIC TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLING AND THEIR DETAILS
The main secret in the manufacturing process of engineering machines begins with assembling, it is such a vital aspect of the industrial activity that has the tendency to render a huge loss of man-hour to the industry especially when parts were produced with wrong precision.
Industrial assembling is a process of bringing already made parts together for the purpose of building a larger machine, equipment, tool, engine, etc. with a specified function or function.
This activity had been employed in the early centuries even before the emergence of industries.
A good illustration of early industrial assembling was the making of a broom for the sweeping purpose from the sliced pieces of palm tree leaves mostly seen in Africa.
It still remains a practice that had been handed over from one generation to another in the making of the local broom.
Meanwhile, this practice started far back in the early centuries.
In this 21st century, Assembling had taken a new dimension which has given rise to its complete dependence on manufacturing processes.
The estimated figure revealed that almost all the manufacturing industries undergo the assembling process with the argument that the difference may just be a question of how the assembling was made, the method and techniques employed by the industries, etc.
However, the modern industrial practices had gone far in the method of assembling their products in the industrial production lines which most of them were highly sophisticated and carried out by means of industrial automation and robotic productions.
A good attribute of quality industrial assembling has to do with precision and accuracy, this factor is very important due to their tendency of yielding defective products after the assembling even though the parts were made of quality materials.
The visible illustration of this can be seen in a newly-assembled electric motor (induction motor) having a misaligned bearing on its shaft, in such a case malfunction of the motor is inevitable.
The major industry that had shown the various stages of progress that industrial assembling had gone through is the automobile industry.
History has it that, the early mechanized method of transportation was mobile carts and wheels driven by horses before the invention of internal combustion machines which gave a quick rise to the invention of automobiles such as cars and other related products.
At that period the production of those products was completely made using manual assembling, even using some materials which may be considered inappropriate today was allowed.
The policy of carbon monoxide emission was not invoked then, so the manufacturers had little to worry about in terms of clearance and precision.
Rather they focused more on the workability of their products such as automobiles. The various stages of industrial assembling exhibited so far by the automobile industries include:
MANUAL INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLING
The practice of manual assembling started the moment knowledge of technical practices was made known to make, it can be referred to as the foundation of all the assembling processes.
A technique that thought the early scientist and engineers how to do things easily. Manual assembling has 100% human input in terms of its method of practice.
The practice was made popular through its use in the production of every automobile and some industrial products.
THE DISADVANTAGES AND ADVANTAGES OF MANUAL INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLING
ADVANTAGES;
It is cheap and costs less to practice
It requires no special training to start doing it, most ancient engineers learned manual assembling by just looking at someone doing it for few times, some learned from books and by their own concepts.
They can guarantee rigid structure due to the carefulness in human fixing techniques
It is easy to observe defective parts and make quick changes before completing the assembling
DIS-ADVANTAGES
It is time-consuming when compared with other methods
It makes industries employ more labor force
It does not guarantee similar products in the production line
Lower production rate
SEMI-AUTOMATION INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLING
Semi-automatic assembling came into industrial production a few years after the early method of manual production.
It could be noted that the early manufacturers of automobiles experienced pressure from the high demand for automobiles by their customers who are willing to pay for automobiles while they are still in the production line.
For such reason, they sort for a quicker way of increasing the production capacity by speeding up the manufacturing and assembling process.
Therefore, the invention of machines to assist in the assembling process was developed.
A good example of such a machine is the industrial conveyors initially made with belts and pulleys for the quick transportation of manufactured parts to the assembling lines within the industry which reduced the time and manpower for that function and helped in increasing the production rate per day.
Other machines invented were packaging machines, hot material handlers mostly found in foundry industries, etc. these machines were combined with human force in achieving a higher production rate.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES IN SEMI-AUTOMATION INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLING
ADVANTAGES;
They are quicker than manual assembling
They increase production output
There is a reduction of the labor force in terms of the cost of employing workers
DISADVANTAGES;
The machines are may be costly to build and maintain
Cost of running the machine
Higher rate of possible accidents in the use of the machines
The machines may need a good space to operate so the manufacturer has to acquire more space
FULL AUTOMATION INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLING (ROBOTIC PRODUCTION)
Robotic production is the modern method of industrial assembling currently employed by over 80% of the world’s technological products manufacturers such as manufacturers of automobiles, industrial machines, heavy-duty equipment, and other related products.
The use of this method came following the need for higher precision and accuracy in the manufacturing process which ordinary may be difficult for other methods to achieve.
Besides that, the need for an even higher production rate and reduction of labor so as to reduce the cost of labor were all put into consideration in this robotic manufacturing process.
The method involves the use of automated devices and tools and programming them in sequential order for the purpose of performing a particular function.
It is simply called robotic because most industrial machines had been equipped with sophisticated programs that make it possible for them to perform various functions on their own without being operated by anyone.
And some of those programs were the same program installed in most robots and operate in public places like in road traffic, bank doors, the human structure designed robots, etc.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ROBOTIC INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLING
ADVANTAGES;
Easy production with very little human effort
Faster production rate that can meet most quantities of product demand in a short time
Higher precision and accuracy in manufactured products
Production of massive similar products is possible
DISADVANTAGES;
It is costlier than other methods due to the cost of acquiring such machines
The machines need a highly trained expert to manage them
The breakdown of any part of the machine could lead to a total shutdown of the whole manufacturing and assembling process, especially if the entire plant is programmed together
A single fault in the wrong command and data input in the programming of the machines or plant would lead to massive production of wrong similar products
CONCLUSION
These and more are the things you need to know concerning industrial assembling.
