Ben Furnish, Product Manager: Linear Motion Products, Parker Hannifin

Should we make our own positioner or should we buy one?” Management often asks this of engineers and project leaders when they look into a high-volume, single-axis positioning application. The answer involves understanding the true investment and the variety of risks behind the process of designing a new linear positioner.

Many companies assume that building a linear positioner from scratch and producing the high volume needed for an application (100 or more axes per year) is the lowest-priced option. Only after they are well into the development process and invested heavily in time and money, do they ask themselves whether this was the best decision.

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