ROBOTIC KEYBUTTON INSERTION.

Abstract

Within the IBM (UK) Manufacturing Plant in Greenock, Scotland, a high emphasis has been placed on the use of flexible manufacturing cells in high volume production. One of the first of these cells was installed in the keyboard manufacturing facility, comprising of a line of 5 IBM 7535 Manufacturing Systems (SCARA type robot) used in a keybutton insertion application. Also within the keyboard facility, is an advanced robotic application using an IBM 7565 Manufacturing System. This carries out the task of the final assembly of the keyboard, which is a very intricate assembly operation. These are the two applications which are dealt with in this paper.