FRAMER
New Balance
OVERVIEW
I was lucky enough to be give the opportunity to work with the team to design and create a new to the world piece of automated/robotic manufacturing equipment for our Made in America factories in New Balance. We tried to look at manufacturing through a different lense than the one New Balance had been traditionally been using
CAD and Mechanical Design
Design of Experiments
Vendor Outreach and Communication
Electromechanical Prototyping /Arduino Coding
Robotics
What did I do?
Effectively Working with Vendors and Researching for New Tech
Anywhere from finding a piece of niche equipment developed by small startups to picking out the right sensor from industry giants such as keyence - I worked on effective communication in working with these vendors to help us find the right tech fit for our problems
Taking my Product Component Design skills and applying it to Industrial Equipment
Leading CAD and prototype design, I worked weekly with my team to brainstorm concepts and iterate on designs. I resolved mechanical prototyping issues and tested to identifying larger design challenges
Managing Inter-Project Timelines
I was given such a broad project scope so a large part of this project was figuring out how to break up the problem we were trying to solve into many different timelines.
Using Robotics to Test concepts
By using Universal Robotics and Epson Robotic arms, We were able to emulate certain movements or functions that we otherwise would have to build a complex test rig for. This allowed for much faster decision making
A Detailed Look:
Designing Automated Box Sorting Equipment in Manufacturing
(This is a hypothetical example problem meant to showcase the skills and process and types of manufacturing problems I would be involved in in this job as all my projects are under NDA)
Problem:
A company is looking for a way to automate the sorting of packages, as the current process relies on employees manually checking labels. This is slow, repetitive, and not great for employee well-being.
How it works now
Currently boxes are brought on carts by workers to the "sorting" section. Each shipment is designated with a colored sticker to help the workers identify which region they are being shipped out to, so workers can identify which region they go to without taking the time to read where it's going.
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Proposed Solution
Instead of having workers stand by and look at the label and place it on the correct conveyor belt - we want to use the current color coding system to our advantage and create an automation machine that looks at the color label and places it in the correct shipment region coveyor belt
Research Phase
Goal:
Find the best existing technology for scanning and sorting boxes to integrate into our own machine
What I do during research….
Researching Existing Solutions
Look into if a similar solution already exists, there are current technologies we can get ideas from or if there is pre existing equipment we can work with to solve the issue
Leveraging External Vendors
Reaching out and working with external vendors like Keyence for expert advice on selecting reliable sensors
Diving into Sensor Research
Look into existing sensors that can effectively work for the system: in this case it would be best sensors for color identification and PLC integration
Working with Mfg to find Alternative Solutions
If our research is coming up with solutions that can’t meet our constraints, we can look into alternative solutions
for example:
If we find that color identification is too difficult for our system, we might talk to the factory about changing from a color band in manufacturing to a QR code
Basic Concept Ideation
Goal:
Create basic framework/engineering concept for how color sorter will work
Answering big questions
How will the boxes get moved mechanically
What sensors and technology are we using?
What is our budget?
What could the machine set up look like within the factory?
This helps us to understand how our piece of equipment will work with the current system set up in the manufacturing line - this will help us continue to design the equipment with context in mind
Concept Testing with Robotics
Goal:
Develop a working test that effectively mocks both the code, motions, and electronics of the sorting machine to determine best mechanical and electronic solutions
Why test like this….?
Testing Movements
Test the motions of mechanical movements quickly without having to debug mechanical issues
Testing Code & Wiring
Test the color sensor integration and code effectiveness without added electrical or software issues we would otherwise have to troubleshoot.
Mechanical Assembly Concept
Goal:
Begin to bring research and testing elements into a first draft of a mechanical and functional prototype
START FINISH
1.
Ideate and sketch mechanical components for how color sensor will work
2.
Build out CAD subassemblies for color sensor sorter in SolidWorks
Purchase and integrate McMaster/ExternalComponents
Create custom components for prototype
Manufacturing using in house rapid prototyping resources like Bambu or Formlabs 3D printing or external manufacturing processes i.e. high tolerance printing, water jet, machining.
3.
Prototype and Test subassemblies for mechanical feasiblity and durability
4.
Integrate all final iterations of subassemblies into final product
This is a good time to make sure that all the parts can be assembled and DISASSEMBLED easily so that they can be serviced by workers - especially those parts that are more prone to wear and tear
Electronics, Wiring and Coding…Oh my!
Electronics Schematic Design
This is a basic schematic of how I would wire the components connecting the pneumatics, linear stage, and color sensors. This has been wired so that we could easily replace the Arduino with a PLC eventually.
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Coding for Prototypes with AI
Utilizing the power of AI and my knowledge on C++ and general code structure, This example code was first drafted with AI chat bot and edited by myself in order to get the system running as fast as possible
