"If One Takes Care of the Means, the End Will Take Care of Itself...Even with Fluid Dispensing"

One of our SmartDispenser^® customers said this to me the other day after he and his team validated the assembly of a plastic part by stabilizing the fluid dispensing assembly process (not sure if he realized he was quoting Gandhi’s message regarding the use of non violence as a means….)

It was important that this stabilization step be done, not only for this US facility but to insure that the same exact part was assembled with the same exact amount of fluid at the same viscosity dispensed in Europe and subsequently in China. Click here for a short video (generic overview) of the process they followed.

In his words, it is all about process control steps, from the design stage of the process to the “manufacturability” step in the process then to the actual install. We address aspects of this in our Process Control_White Paper

Considering the scrutiny to standardization per FDA compliance in medical device, as well as the industry wide scrutiny fiber optic cable and automotive manufacturers must adhere to, the identical performance of production equipment in the global manufacturing process is critical. It is not just the fluid dispensing process that needs to be duplicated;

The following excerpt was taken from a White Paper entitled Valeo Drives Global Best Practices on MES software Apriso’s website. Valeo is also a customer of Fishman^®‘s linear drive AirFree^® fluid dispensing system.

…….Automotive parts giant Valeo knows first-hand about the complexities of globalization. With 10 product families manufactured at 121 plants and designed at 61 R&D centers, it supplies every major automaker with original equipment market (OEM), original equipment spares (OES) and independent aftermarket (IAM) parts and services. Since 2000, Valeo’s operations and logistics teams have improved manufacturing and supply chain processes by embracing Lean and other continuous improvement initiatives. As part of this program, Valeo expanded their Apriso software deployment, realizing efficiencies that ultimately led to winning Toyota’s Vendor of the Year award.

•The SmartDispenser^® is the only fluid dispensing system that allows one dispense program for all systems worldwide with identical results. The 32 different programs address end users who have multiple types and sizes of parts.

•Fishman^® fluid dispensing equipment runs on electricity stepped down via the control unit driving a stepper motor and lead screw. This is very important to medical device customers using fluid dispensing for assembly, reagent dispensing and drug vial filling in order to meet FDA compliance.

• From the beginning of process design, SmartDispenser^® customers desire a solid cross functional empowered workgroup, and they use the Fishman^® fluid dispensing system to document and verify results and then communicate to all work groups .

•The SmartDispenser^® is the only fluid dispensing system that automatically tracks operator, date, time of use, dispense program used and number of parts produced.

•This data is automatically stored daily in an Excel CSV file. It can be automatically emailed to anyone in the work group or saved to an external hard drive such as a USB stick. This type of documented traceability is becoming increasingly important to medical devices’ FDA compliance program. To be able to do it automatically and then electronically documented, results in saving time and money. It is also more accurate than the manual method.

Often our customers use Microsoft SharePoint or other software for product data management for real time access to work instructions, product drawings, engineering drawings, engineering change orders;

•The SmartDispenser^® is the only fluid dispensing system that can access Microsoft SharePoint directly from the home screen and display documents on screen or save them on the hard drive.

•Customized icons on the home screen can be added for specific documents, like a part assembly instruction (see below) so that the operator has immediate access should a question arise or they want additional training.