Field Guides From the Bench
Plain-English answers to the engineering decisions we get asked about. Each guide teaches one decision you can act on today, and it stays updated in place. For company news and project write-ups, see Field Notes.
Conveying
How to Choose a Conveyor: Load, Layout, and Throughput
Parts Feeding
Bowl Feeder or Flexible Feeder? Five Questions Decide It
Parts Feeding
Why Bowl Feeders Fail in ISO 5 Cleanrooms
Safety & Guarding
Light Curtain, Area Scanner, or Fixed Guard?
Conveying
Modular or Engineered Conveyor? The Real Total Cost
Parts Feeding
Flexible Feeding for Medical-Device and Cleanroom Assembly: How to Choose
Pressing & Fastening
How to Spec Press Force (and Get a Ballpark You Can Take to Management)
Strategy
Automating High-Mix, Low-Volume Production Without Betting the Shop
Gripping
How to Size a Vacuum Gripper (and the Acceleration Nobody Calculates)
Parts Feeding
How to Choose a Flexible Feeder: 5 Questions to Ask First
Pressing & Fastening
When Does Automated Screwdriving Pay Off? The 20,000-Screw Rule
THE COST OF WAITING
What to put next to the equipment cost
The equipment quote is the easy half. These are the lines that usually go missing, and you are the only one who can fill them in:
Labor on the task. Hours per shift, at your fully loaded rate.
The rate ceiling. What the manual step caps your throughput at.
Scrap and rework. What manual variation costs you per thousand parts.
Changeover. Time lost every time the part changes.
The hiring problem. Turnover, training, and the weeks the job sits open.
Exposure. Repetitive lift, pinch points, and what one recordable costs you.
We will give you the equipment side early enough that it can sit in the same document.