The transfer works. That is becoming a rather narrow defence of our FR5 pouch-loading experiment. We put bagged hardware kits into trays, but each change of bag or contents seems to need another presentation adjustment.
I have spent a lot of evenings on it. Now I watch somebody straighten pouches for the robot and wonder whether I have automated the pleasant three seconds in the middle. The rest still belongs to us. I can make another fixture, probably, but I am struggling to justify being the person who maintains all of this. How would you decide when to stop?
Compare the whole job with the current manual method, including presentation, changeover and recovery time, using the product mix you actually expect to handle.
We timed two variants during the last trial. One was quicker overall. The awkward bag was slower once we included arranging it and clearing the occasional failed presentation.
Could the successful variant justify a deliberately limited application, or would maintaining the setup still consume more time than that narrower job saves?
That variant is a small share of the work. It also changes bag supplier occasionally. A dedicated setup might run nicely and then sit idle while I revise it for the next bag.
I'd put the future maintenance beside that small workload. Or rather, an honest allowance for it, with the uncertainty visible. The evenings already spent won't come back either way. The decision is whether the next months make sense for the people doing the work.
You can retain the trial results even if this application stops; they may explain which presentation conditions were practical without committing you to supporting every future pouch.
Nobody currently knows the presentation adjustments well enough. That's the part I keep avoiding. I've proposed ending development on this job and keeping the results for a more consistent product.
Mostly me. The packing team would rather get their bench space back. Manager is reviewing the stop proposal; I've included their view instead of only my cycle timings.