Consumer Products and Manufacturing

From Pick-and-Place to Packaging and Conveying, we supply systems integration, installation and startup services

Robotics, Packaging Machines, Conveyor Layouts

Optimation’s engineers and designers are experienced with robots, cartoners, packers, palletizers, and wrapping machines. We are also accustomed to working with OEM equipment and suppliers. Once the equipment is selected, we can develop layouts and drawings utilizing these components in your plant locations, and plan for software integration. Our alliances allow Optimation to provide further targeted expertise in the automated packaging and vision systems domains.

Robotics and Pick-and-Place

Optimation has experience with robotics and pick-and-place equipment, including SCARA and articulated robots:

• Robocaser pick-and-place machine, designed to pack bags, pouches and other flexible packs into cartons and trays
• PLC-based system for stacking pistons at engine manufacturer. PLC-based system for plastic product manufacturer to perform part flipping, welding, and placing plastic pieces, along with dial table operations with multiple pick and place operations.
• GP Series Gantry robots, for reliable, versatile high-speed production lines, handling cases, cans, and trays
• Unigripper intelligent vacuum gripper with automatic sensing of product position to support
• VersaPacker PLC-based product handling, with 2-6 axis robotic arm loading, and the flexibility to run uniform or odd-shaped products with very quick case change-overs.

Vision Systems

Optimation has experience implementing a variety of vision systems, including but not limited to:

• Cognex InSight & VisionPro
• DVT
• Banner
• Keyence
• Omron
• Machine vision integration implementation of OCV/OCR, bar codes, 2D matrix
• Inspection including metrology, presence/absence, quality, and color

Custom Fixturing

Optimation designs custom fixturing and coordinates their fabrication with machine shops and fabricators as part of making the complete system operational.

Test Systems for Manufacturing

Having accurate product test data is vital to product manufacturers. A test system to verify the unit or device under test (UUT/DUT) is critical to the success of the manufactured product. Optimation’s test system engineers can assist in the design, fabrication, installation and validation of a test system solution that can minimize product failures. We are flexible enough to meet your system delivery and custom installation needs for your test system. Upon system delivery, our engineers can provide onsite training to your system operators along with training documentation (i.e. operator manuals).

From concept to completion, Optimation has the test system solution to meet your manufacturing needs.

Test System Design

If you are unsure of your test system requirement needs, our documentation process can start at the test system’s concept. Our test system engineers create comprehensive requirements specifications and design descriptions that detail the hardware, software, and database implementations.

Our test system engineers have the instrumentation and mechanical knowledge to design and fabricate mechanical test systems that support the testing of the product. We have the process knowledge to help you implement and manipulate the conditions (temperature, pressure, flow rate etc.) to test your product. Sample test system design projects:

• High pressure test systems – including mechanical, electrical, application software, fabrication and installation.
• Product Test – including mechanical system design for simulation of product conditions such as fatigue, flow rates, pressure etc.

Optimation’s test systems for manufacturers are designed for speed and throughput. Our engineers are familiar with lean six sigma and design for manufacturing and reliability principles.

Embedded Test Systems Expertise

Eliminate the vulnerability of slow processor speeds with an embedded test system. Optimation can design an embedded test system that will increase the processing speed of your PLC or digital signal processor significantly. Our engineers who specialize in embedded test systems utilize a technology that has FPGA (field-programmable gate array) allowing:

• Advanced controls – Implementing custom functionality with the reliability of dedicated deterministic hardware
• Quality High Speed Analog Measurements and Analysis – Faster I/O response times and specialized functionality, exceeding the computing power of digital signal processors

One of the benefits of this technology is the application logic is implemented in hardware circuits rather than on top of an operating system, drivers and application software. The average PLC scan rate from processor to device is about 100 milliseconds. FPGAs have a processing speed as fast as 25 nanoseconds from device to processor. That is fast!

Optimation’s embedded test system services offers our product manufacturing clients rapid prototyping, verification and validation without the fabrication process of custom ASIC design.
Flexible and Knowledgeable in Test System PLC Integration
We have the knowledge and experience to integrate a wide variety of PLCs with your test system. We can:

• Bring together several test systems into one system ensuring that the distributed test system functions as one
• Integrate other hardware, control, software, vision systems and various off the shelf hardware with traditional PLC systems

Control and Process Knowledge

Our control and test system engineers provide services for a wide variety of manufacturing industries. Our experience and expertise includes:

• Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) programming
• Distributed Control System (DCS)
• PC based controls
• Supervisory controls (SCADA)
• Vision systems
• Motion/Robotic systems
• Bar Code and RFID technologies

Our engineers are experienced in the integration of controls with a variety of hardware and application systems including National Instruments, Rockwell/Allen-Bradley and Schneider Electric. Our control engineer’s test system experience can lead and/or assist with the design and implementation of your in-line test and final product test system.