As a sales engineer, I'm often approached by packaging firms or food and beverage manufacturers which want me to fix precision motion systems that have been built in-house.
Such companies have often scoured the motion control industry for an off-the-shelf solution to meet their requirements but have drawn a blank. As a result, they often turn to their in-house engineers to specify a linear motion system. This team then produces a machine that is outside the sphere of their engineering experience, which inevitably has problems later. At the very least, the team is likely to over-spec resolution, accuracy or repeatability -- at worst, under-specify. The former leads to a machine that is more expensive than it need be, the latter to one that doesn't meet objectives.
The irony is that, in their own field, these in-house engineers are some of the most informed professionals I have ever met, often working at the cutting edge of the packaging industry.
The simple resolution is to avoid the DIY approach. Instead, find a partner who is willing to sit down with a blank sheet. This kind of custom-build capacity should be the minimum requirement in a high-precision linear motion application.
With the European Union directive on the eco-design of energy-using products (EuP), being introduced on July 6, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive on the use of certain substances in electrical and electronic equipment beginning to bite, and the ATEX directive on equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres still having an impact, specialist projects need specialist advice.