In the world of industrial automation, feeding delicate parts or irregularly shaped parts has long been a challenge. Traditional feeding systems like vibratory bowl feeders and step feeders often require significant customization, and still fall short when dealing with fragile, non-symmetrical, or oddly-shaped components.
That’s where flex feeders come in — offering automation builders a smarter, more adaptable solution.
At Flex Feeder Canada, we help integrators across industries streamline part presentation, even for the trickiest components. In this post, we’ll explore why flex feeders are especially suited for handling delicate or complex parts, and how they can save you both engineering time and headaches.
The Challenge: Traditional Feeders and Feeding Delicate Parts
Conventional feeding systems are great — until they aren’t.
When feeding components that are:
- Delicate (e.g. small plastic clips, medical devices, soft or deformable materials)
- Oddly shaped (e.g. connectors, springs, asymmetrical parts)
- Low-friction or shiny (e.g. polished metals, transparent plastics)
- Low-volume / high-mix production items
…traditional systems start to struggle.
Designing a bowl feeder for such parts often means:
- Weeks of mechanical tuning and fabrication
- Trial-and-error adjustments to avoid jamming
- Risk of part damage due to vibration or mechanical orientation tools
In short: it’s costly, rigid, and time-consuming.
The Flex Feeder Advantage for Feeding Delicate and Complex Parts
1. No Need for Dedicated Tooling
Flex feeders don’t require custom tracks or tooling for part orientation. Instead, parts are randomly presented on a vibration plate, then located using a vision system.
You eliminate the need for custom bowl feeder tooling — a major cost and time saver, especially for short runs or frequent part changes.
2. Gentle Handling for Delicate Parts
The vibration plates in modern flex feeding systems use controlled motion profiles that gently spread and move parts without harsh agitation. This makes them ideal for fragile materials like:
- Thin-walled plastic parts
- Ceramic components
- Optical elements
- Micro-electronic devices
This reduces breakage, scrap, and costly downtime due to part damage.
3. Vision-Guided Orientation for Irregular Shapes
Integrated vision systems identify part position and orientation on the feeder plate. A robot picks only the correctly oriented parts, and ignores the rest — no mechanical orientation necessary.
This allows you to handle asymmetrical or orientation-sensitive parts without complex mechanical solutions.
4. Fast Changeovers for High-Mix Production
Switching from one part to another is as easy as loading a new recipe — no hardware changes needed. For integrators building machines for multi-product assembly lines, this is a game-changer.
Fast changeovers = more uptime = happier customers.
5. Integrated Options Make Implementation Simple
Some flex feeding brands, such as Epson’s IntelliFlex feeding system, are fully integrated. This means you can control an entire flex feeding system – including vision guidance, shaker tables, and robotics all with one program. Check out our page on the Epson IntelliFlex system here to see how integration saves time.
Integrated flex feeding = Setup time reduction
Real-World Applications
Flex feeders are now commonly used in:
- Medical device assembly (catheter tips, valves, clips)
- Consumer electronics (connectors, sensors, small housings)
- Automotive (clips, fasteners, springs)
- Pharma and cosmetics (bottles, caps, ampoules)
And in all of these, delicate handling and flexible part orientation are critical.
Tips for Automation Builders Feeding Delicate Parts
If you’re designing an automation cell for complex parts, consider:
- Pairing the flex feeder with a high-resolution vision system
- Using robot-guided pick-and-place to maximize flexibility
- Testing the most problematic parts early in your prototyping process
- Choosing a flex feeder that supports gentle, tunable motion profiles
At Flex Feeder Canada, we support builders with expert guidance, system selection, and integration advice — so you don’t have to navigate the complexities alone.
Ready to Simplify Your Part Feeding?
If you’re facing challenges feeding fragile or irregular parts, a flex feeder might be your best option. Reach out to Flex Feeder Canada here to explore demo units, testing options, or system recommendations tailored to your build.