Claims
- 1. A method for manufacturing surface treated workpieces comprising the steps ofloading said workpieces into a treatment facility; surface treating said workpieces in at least one vacuum station of said facility grouped as a station batch; controlling at least the timing of said process with said treating with a freely programmable process controller unit.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a further station for said workpieces grouped in a further station batch, and selecting the numbers of workpieces of said station batch and of said further station batch to be different.
- 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the number of workpieces of said station batch.
- 4. The method of claim 3, further controlling said number of workpieces with a freely programmable process controller unit.
- 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transporting workpieces towards and from said at least one vacuum station grouped as a transport batch.
- 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising controlling the number of workpieces of said transport batch.
- 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising controlling the number of workpieces of said transport batch with a freely programmable process controller unit.
- 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transporting workpieces towards and from said at least one vacuum station grouped as a transport batch, and further controlling the number of workpieces of said transport batch to be an integer fraction of the number of workpieces of said station batch.
- 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a further station for a further station batch of workpieces, and transporting workpieces from said further station to said at least one vacuum station grouped in a transport batch and controlling the number of workpieces of said transport to be an integer fraction of the number of workpieces of said further station batch.
- 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising transporting workpieces between said vacuum station and a further station of said facility grouped as a transport batch.
- 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising of controlling said transport batch.
- 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing said workpieces in said stations within a mobile magazine.
- 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising transporting said workpieces to and from said stations within said mobile magazine.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is related to application Ser. No. 08/956,030 filed on Oct. 22, 1997 in the name of Rudolf WAGNER et al. for PROCESS FOR HANDLING WORKPIECES AND APPARATUS THEREFOR; the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/889,799, filed Jul. 8, 1997, now abandoned.
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Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/889799 |
Jul 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/441374 |
|
US |