Industrial Automation Integration

By choosing DLS Custom Automation to integrate your automation solution, you will leverage nearly 50 years of industry experience to tailor your solution. Automated solutions can result in improvements such as lower operating costs, higher productivity, increased product quality, lower defects, a safer working environment, and more accurate data collection. The benefits of industrial automation result in making more efficient decisions about manufacturing processes while keeping workers safe, producing higher-quality goods, and lowering operational costs.

• Fixed automation, also referred to as hard automation, is as the name suggests. This term is based upon a fixed equipment configuration that allows for a sequence of processing operations to be performed. Fixed automation is designed to produce a single product on a mass scale as efficiently as possible. This type of equipment is the choice for products produced in large lot sizes and with minimal product variability. A common example of fixed automation is a conveyor belt moving large objects like mining equipment or automobiles.
• Programmable automation, also called manual changeover automation, allows for changes in the machine configurations and operations sequence. This type of automation can produce multiple types of products. Therefore, the products created by such automation are usually produced in lots or batches. When a new batch/lot of a different product is needed, the programmable automation equipment can be manually adjusted to produce the new product type. Since this type of equipment can be used to produce many different parts, the operation of programmable automation is usually less expensive over time than fixed automation. This type of automation is best utilized in medium to high production levels and low product variability. Solutions like these are common in rolling mills, such as those used to produce aluminum, steel, and paper products.
• Flexible automation, or fully flexible automation, is a type of industrial automation that allows for making different products in a short time frame, allowing the production of different part types to have overlapping lifecycles. This type of automation utilizes tools and systems to allow quick changeover from one task to another and is best utilized in low-volume and high-mix applications. DLS Custom Automation has provided customers with flexible automation solutions such as material handling systems and food and beverage processing equipment.
• Integrated automation systems operate with minimal human involvement by incorporating the entire manufacturing system into a digitally processed, computer-controlled system. These systems can be used with either continuous process manufacturing or batch processing and use robots and automated equipment to complete every step in the manufacturing process. This is also referred to as lights-out manufacturing. A well-known robotics company and trusted vendor of DLS Custom Automation, FANUC, utilizes a lights-out factory to produce robots without any human assistance.