Putting sorting machines back together

[Mopar151]

24. Beyond repair is a complicated question.

I used to build similar machines, as part of an interdisciplinary team, for several different industries and manufacturers. The bar code readers, as an example, are only a small part of the machine as a whole, and they are quite likely made by an outside vendor. What makes building automation a bit of a high-wire act, is making all the various sensors and subsystems work with one another!

The newer machines will be easiest to fix, as anything that is destroyed is probably still available. Whether current bar-code readers, can be interfaced with the control systems of older machines, is a crapshoot.