Ready For Auto (RFA) — robot-ready carriers and nests
Ready For Auto (RFA) is our automation interface: carriers, nests and adapter plates that put a board in the same position every cycle, so a robot can pick it. It is the layer between the tooling you already run and the cell you want to build — designed around your board, your robot and your process.
What RFA covers
An automated cell only works if the board is where the robot expects it. RFA tooling fixes that position mechanically: machined nests locate the board, hold-downs keep it flat, and the base plate references the same datum every cycle. The same carrier can serve a manual station today and a robot cell later.
Where it fits
- Part presentation and machine tending in robotic cells
- Moving populated boards between process steps
- Feeding depaneling, coating or test stations without manual handling
- Retrofitting an existing manual station for automation
What we build
Nests and carrier plates
Machined pockets that locate the board and hold it flat, with a repeatable datum the robot can trust.
Gripper frames
Frames and adapter plates that carry the end effector and its vacuum or clamping points.
Robot interfaces
Mounting and connection to the robot you have chosen — six-axis, delta or collaborative.
Poka-Yoke features
Mechanical keying so the wrong board, or the right board the wrong way round, does not fit.
RFA tooling and our MPG Multi Parallel Gripper are designed to work together: the nest presents the board, the gripper picks it.
Neither one locks you in. RFA carriers can serve an end effector you already own, and the MPG can be mounted on the robot of your choice.
How an RFA project runs
The same route as every other fixture we build, with the cell added to the inputs.
- 01Tell us the board, the cell and the robot.
- 02We design the nest, the interface and the presentation geometry.
- 03We build and validate a first set with you.
- 04Series tooling, with revisions if the cell changes.
From our own production
Common questions
Do we have to buy the MPG Gripper to use RFA tooling?
No. RFA carriers and nests are designed around your board and your cell, and they work with the end effector you already have. The MPG is one option, not a requirement.
Can you make our existing fixtures robot-ready?
Often yes. If the board is already located and held by a carrier, the work is usually in the base plate, the datum and the interface to the robot rather than in a completely new fixture. Send us the existing tooling drawing and we will tell you what is needed.
Which robots do you work with?
We design to the robot you have chosen. Send the mounting interface and the working envelope, and the tooling is engineered around it.
Have a board and a process?
Send your data and we'll come back with a tailored quote — typically reviewed by a real engineer.