AMP Incorporated is the world's leading supplier of electrical, electronic, wireless and fibre-optic connectors and interconnection systems. Our products go into the computers and phones you use, the cars you drive, your home appliances, the building wiring systems that enable power and data to be managed, and more. Those connectors generally consist of stamped and formed metal contacts that are usually plated with gold, tin/lead, etc., and inserted by a specialized assembly process into a plastic housing.

This problem deals with the stamped contacts, which are made from a continuous strip of metal. As these contacts, which are still connected to each other, exit the stamping presses, they're wound on reels for shipment to the next process. The reusable black plastic reels consist of two large wheel-shaped sides, called flanges. The flanges are connected in the middle by a core that is a 9-inch-diameter, one-inch thick disc. The flanges are usually 24 inches in diameter and 5/16 inches thick.

Because there are thousands of different part numbers for these contacts, AMP must have a reliable way to identify which product is on each reel. The stamped contacts must be traceable to the original manufacturing location. To do this, the product must be reliably marked through all its processes. For example, after being stamped, most of the contacts must be plated. For the plating process, the product, which is still on a continuous strip at this point, is de-reeled and fed through a plating line. Usually, only one flange needs to be removed from the reel, leaving the other flange and core intact. After plating, the continuous strip of contacts must be returned to the black plastic reel, with traceability intact. They are then shipped to other locations, occasionally in other countries, for additional processes or to be inserted directly into the plastic housing.
 

The current method of identifying the reels of stamped contacts is not uniform. Some business units use a hang tag, which must be removed for any and all processes and properly reattached. For example, because of the volume of plated contacts, many reels are in process at the same time, so the employees cannot simply take a hang tag off, plate that reel, then immediately place the hang tag back on. Some business units place a sticky label on the reels, but the labels must be removed to satisfy ISO (International Standards Organization) regulations at the end of the cycle. This is a time-consuming process that must be performed by hand, and often leaves a great deal of old label residue on the reels.

A reel can never be wound so full of product that it extends beyond the edges of the flange. In fact, the product must be at least 1/2" inside the edge of the flanges.

On average, each reel is handled eight times before the end of its cycle.
 

Expectation of the company:

1. We need a reliable, environmentally friendly, and ultimately removable method to identify the stamped contacts placed on reels through all processes, but before they are inserted into the plastic housing to make the completed product.
2. Your solution must be cost effective, and involve a minimum of labor.

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