Intuitive Custom Tubing Assembly

Optimizing assembly processes is essential for improving reliability, reducing service costs, and accelerating time-to-market in complex optofluidic systems. Through strategic partnerships, innovative fluidic components and subassemblies can transform even the most challenging instrument designs into efficient, serviceable systems.

In this customer case study, a fluidic instrument manufacturer faced growing assembly and maintenance issues. Components were distributed throughout a large, floor-standing unit, making assembly complicated and time-consuming. The instrument’s size and layout also limited the use of traditional manifolds for consolidation. As a result, assembly errors were common, and service visits increased—driving up costs and impacting uptime.

To address these challenges, the support team partnered closely with the customer to review fluidic schematics and identify pain points related to component placement, assembly complexity, and replacement frequency. Based on this analysis, a comprehensive simplification strategy was developed.

The solution centered on custom tubing assemblies paired with color-coded fittings to ensure correct, intuitive connections throughout the instrument. The inclusion of the Intuitive Torque-Limiting Fitting further reduced the risk of improper assembly by ensuring consistent, correct connections without guesswork. Assemblers and service technicians no longer needed to trace tubing paths back to their origin, dramatically improving efficiency and accuracy.

In total, the team designed and documented more than one hundred unique part numbers and drawings to fully outfit the instrument. The result was a streamlined assembly process, fewer errors, reduced service requirements, and a more robust, user-friendly fluidic system—demonstrating how partnership drives innovation and performance in optofluidic design.