Magnet?

What about non-metalic matwerials...?

They will be left behind. Sort of negative identification.

You could mark them with bar code and use a wedge scanner.

Thanks

Do you only want to identify magnetic / nor magnetic or is there different sizes and shapes involved.

I may have the same problem. I have a metal tray where i dump bolts , nuts, washers and whatever in steel, coper, aluminum etc. With the "good" intention of one day sorting them. Maybe I will leave it in my will with instructions that it must be sorted, indexed and filed.

Thanks...

Yes, I have different sizes and shapes involved... What I do is place accesories (sanding discs, bits, collets, sanding drums, etc...) inside of a plastic bag and them close them... Prolblem is that iI'm having a lot of rejects due to missing or incorrect components.

What about making a template (machined out pockets) out of wood where each part fits in. This may help the worker.

You could also weigh a good sample and reject incorrect ones.

Do you use male or female packers?

You might try telling your order fullfilment people to stop smoking during their breaks and start paying attention to what they are doing. You cannot inspect quality into your product/process.

Having said that - this is not an uncommon problem, at least in the States. One solution is a data collection system that will verify material consumption against pick list - can be barcode or RFID.......

Can also use weight (if you are using standard items) - some up front work involved in determining/calculating what an order's weight (with packing materials?) should be.

Sounds to me as if the real problem is assuring that all parts get placed in bag...

Scales can detect weight differences as a result of missing or excessive parts.

Then the bags rejected can be (DARE I SAY IT?) inspected and reworked to get parts correct.

I have some other ides, but the insights into the problem mqake the idea of xrays, etc. a bit of overkill.

To make your part dropping system more reliable, you could use prox sensprs to dtect the metallic parts before dropping.

The idea of a poka yoke with cutouts is the best idea if labor and costs are no object...Like that ever happens.

Good luck.

milo

Yeah, I like the idea of the template... I will try that out...

Thanks...

A thought that comes to mind is to do a template (out of wood for example), with a hole for each and every part, BUT put a sliding door underneath the template. The packer would then stuff the template with the appropriate parts. When the template is full, she then opens the sliding door, and the parts drop into their bag. Close the door and do the next bag.

Bill

Hi all,

If the components to discriminate are metallic from non metallic, that means conductor to non conductor. Magnets will not perform well, but coils yes (Eddy current principle). It's used in some recycling plants to separate metals.

I was at a trade show last month and saw many differen manufacturers that were pitching their assembly and pick and place automated machines. I saw one machine that selected one part of each color, (4 different colors, 3 different shapes) and the man just tossed the parts on a convor belt, that went past the arm.

The machine then picked off the convor belt the parts it needed than assembled a puzzle and placed the puzzle on a different belt that delivered the puzzle to me, standing in the isle.

Sounds like that machine would fix your problems.