Production line
Every flashlight starts as a bar of aluminum.
Bar stock goes in at one end; a tested, boxed flashlight comes out at the other. CNC turning and milling, laser marking, vision inspection, robot assembly and packing on one closed loop, fed by an automated warehouse and a mobile robot.
Follow one order.
Ten stops from a bar of aluminum to a boxed flashlight back on the shelf.
Order. An order arrives at the control and display center, which releases the job and follows it around the loop.
Built from industrial equipment.
Real machines
The lathe, the mill, the robots, the controllers and the vision system are industrial products, so the line can take on outside machining work as well as teaching.
Modular by design
Every station stands on casters with leveling feet. Run the machining cell on its own for a lesson, or join the whole loop.
A digital twin
The whole line exists in simulation. Students program and commission it virtually first, then move to the real machines.
Four zones
Storage and logistics, the machining and assembly area, a digital-twin teaching area, and the control and display center.
What students do on it.
Machining, robotics, controls and logistics work, grouped by what a technician actually touches.
CNC. Turning and milling, tool offsets, CAD/CAM and part programs, first-article inspection.
This is the floor where semesters three to five happen. See the curriculum
At a glance.
- Product
- An aluminum flashlight, machined from bar stock
- Stations
- CNC turning, CNC milling, laser marking, vision inspection, robot assembly, light test, packaging, inkjet coding and scanning
- Logistics
- Automated warehouse, mobile robot, conveyor loop with smart pallets, robot machine tending
- Control
- Master control and display center; digital twin platform for virtual programming and commissioning
- Footprint
- 56 × 32 ft of equipment (17 × 9.8 m), including a 5 ft walkway around it
- Power
- Connected load up to 30 kVA, three-phase
See the Flashlight line run.
A walkthrough shows the line in production, the classrooms and trainer labs beside it, and the course plan in hand.
Book a Walkthrough