Blair, 
We are an OEM as well as a captive contract manufacturer and apply a bit
of both methods you describe.  We have "dedicated" feeders for our top
runners but otherwise change the feeders over for each run.  We
currently have over 3000 unique SMT components so having a feeder for
each one would not be practical due to the cost of the feeders and the
storage space required for them.  Changeover time is another issue
altogether...

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Blair Hogg
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 8:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Feeders

As an OEM we have had a policy that wenever our Engineering group wants
to 
use a new SMT part for product we purchase a feeder for that part. Thus,

when we change over from one product to another, we simply need to swap 
feeders. 

A sister company does it differently - they take reels off the feeders
and put 
a new reel on the feeder and then put the feeder back on the machine. 

Our approach would seem to cut down on changeover time (although you 
could have two sets of feeders, and swap reels for the next job while
the 
machine is running the current job), but is inherently more expensive, 
considering the cost of feeders. 

Just wondering what the others in industry do...

Blair

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