Control of workstations in assembly lines

A method for controlling a workstation in an assembly line having a plurality of workstations in communication with each other, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a workpiece from a preceding workstation;
• determining one or more operations to be performed on said workpiece;
• reducing the extent of said one or more operations in response to a signal received from a subsequent idle workstation;
• and
• transferring said workpiece to said subsequent idle workstation in order to perform at least a portion of said reduced operations.

A placement workstation comprising:

• a component placer for executing one or more placement operations on a workpiece;
• a conveyor for conveying said workpiece, said conveyor being associated with said component placer;
• and
• a controller coupled to control said component placer and said conveyor, wherein said controller is adapted to control said component placer to reduce said one or more placement operations in response to an idle status signal communicated from a preceding workstation and, thereafter, to control said conveyor to convey said workpiece out of said placement workstation.