Flexible assembly cell

摘要

A flexible assembly cell is provided for adding a selected one of a plurality of available components to one of at least two different types of motor vehicle subassembly (38) which may be presented. The flexible assembly cell comprises a work station (12,14,16,18,20,22) including a platen (24,26,28,30,32,34) having at least one head (44,46) movable thereover, and a conveyor (36) for presenting a subassembly (38) to the work station. An optical scanner (40) is also provided for identifying whether the subassembly (38) is of a first type or a second type. The head (44,46) moves magnetically over the platen to retrieve one of the first components (52) from the supply (50) of first components if the optical scanner (40) determines that the subassembly is of the first type, or to retrieve one of the second components (58) from the supply (56) of second components if the optical scanner (40) determines that the subassembly (38) is of the second type. After retrieval, the head (44,46) presents the retrieved component for addition to the subassembly (38). A method is also provided of adding a selected one of a plurality of available components to one of at least two different types of motor vehicle subassembly which may be presented.