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Your product, on our robots,
before you commit.

See it run on your product. Before you commit.

Bring us your actual product. We’ll set up a live robotic test in our York, PA facility — so you can see exactly how the system handles your line before any commitment.

The JLS Flight Lab

Don’t buy on a spec sheet. Buy on proof.

The JLS Flight Lab is a robotics test cell at JLS Automation’s headquarters in York, Pennsylvania, where a food manufacturer’s actual product can be run on a live robotic system. It’s designed to show how a system might handle your exact product — things like throughput, gentle handling, tooling fit, and changeover — so you can see it in action before you commit.

Your product

Tested with what you actually run — not a stand-in or a spec sheet.

A live robot

A real system runs it on the floor. We pair live testing with simulation — scaling a proven run up to full production, or using a live test to validate what the model predicted.

The same team

What we learn in the lab goes straight to the systems engineering team that designs and commissions your line — same building, shared people, no restart.

No commitment

See it work before you sign anything. Proof first, purchase second.

JLS engineers running a customer product test on a live robotic cell in the Flight Lab
Food product being handled by a JLS robotic system during a Flight Lab test JLS robotic pick-and-place running a product trial
How it works

From your product to proof, in five steps

Tell us what you run and what you’re looking to validate. A JLS Flight Lab engineer will follow up to scope the test and arrange any samples.

1

Tell us about it

Share your product, your line stage, and the outcomes you need to prove.

2

Send your samples

Ship product to York, PA — or bring it in person for the test.

3

We build a live cell

Our engineers configure a real robotic system and tooling for your product.

4

See it in action

We always share the recorded run, results, and data with you — and we encourage you to come watch it live on our floor.

5

We engineer the line

With proof in hand, we scope and build the automation for your plant.

What the Flight Lab validates

Fewer surprises on the floor.

Most automation is sold on a quote and a promise. We’d rather show you. A Flight Lab test helps answer the hard questions before you buy — things like:

  • Rate capability — validated products-per-minute and system rate on your product, plus the robot count, pick-and-place strategy, and design assumptions needed to hit it.
  • Gentle handling — how it handles wet, sticky, fragile, or irregular product.
  • Tooling & EOAT fit — the right end-of-arm tooling for your exact format.
  • Changeover — how the system moves between your SKUs.
  • Rapid prototyping — we print and machine tooling concepts around your actual product, so end-of-arm designs are vetted early instead of late.
  • Tooling durability — end-of-arm tooling is lifecycle-tested in our environmental chamber to prove it holds up shift after shift.
  • Vision & inspection — camera selection and inspection requirements proven against your product, not assumed.
  • Line fit — how it integrates with your upstream and downstream equipment.
JLS robotic system configured for a customer product trial in the Flight Lab
Request a test

Tell us about your product test

Fill out the form and a JLS Flight Lab engineer will follow up to scope the test and arrange any product samples.

Every Flight Lab request starts with a review. Before we schedule lab time, our engineers confirm your product and application are a real candidate for automation — and that a test will prove something useful for your line. A Flight Lab test is a pre-sale feasibility step, separate from the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) your project goes through once it’s engineered. When it’s a fit, we’ll prove it here first. When it isn’t, we’ll tell you straight, before anyone invests the time.

Request a Flight Lab test

Tell us what you’re running, what you need to prove, and whether product samples are available. A JLS Flight Lab engineer will follow up to scope the test.

By submitting, you agree that JLS Automation and Robert Reiser & Co. may contact you about your inquiry.

Inside the JLS Automation headquarters and Flight Lab in York, Pennsylvania

Come see it in person

The Flight Lab lives inside our 150,000 sq ft headquarters in York, Pennsylvania. Walk the floor, meet the engineers who’ll build your line, and watch your product run.

Schedule a facility tour

20 Innovation Dr, York, PA 17402 · +1 (717) 505-3800

Common questions about the Flight Lab

What to expect when you test your product with JLS.

It’s a robotics test cell at JLS’s York, PA headquarters where your actual product runs on a live robotic system before you buy — so you can see real throughput, handling, tooling, and changeover on your exact product.

In most cases, yes — testing on your real product is what makes the results meaningful. When you request a test, a Flight Lab engineer will confirm whether samples are needed and how much to provide for your specific application.

Yes — and we’d rather you did. Seeing your product run in person is always the better conversation, so customers are welcome and encouraged to join us on the floor. Either way, we capture every run on video and share the results and data with you. Your Flight Lab engineer will help you find the best option for your test.

Depending on your product and goals, a test can help validate things like rate capability (products per minute, robot count, and pick-and-place strategy), gentle handling of wet, sticky, fragile, or irregular items, end-of-arm tooling design and durability, vision and inspection requirements, changeover between SKUs, and how the system fits your line.

After you submit a request, a Flight Lab engineer will follow up to scope the test and arrange any samples. Timing depends on your product, your goals, and current lab availability, so it varies from one test to the next.

In most cases, there’s no cost. Proving the fit before you buy is part of how we work — we’d rather show you that a system can confidently handle your product than simply promise it will. If a specific test ever involves more than that, your Flight Lab engineer will be upfront about it before anything moves forward.

Inside JLS Automation’s headquarters at 20 Innovation Dr, York, PA 17402.

Stop guessing. Watch it run.

Send us your product and we’ll prove the automation on a live robotic cell — before you commit to anything.

Over 1,000 custom installs. Predictable performance. Premier, dedicated service.

  • Factory-tested reliability
  • In-house programming — York, PA
  • Same in-house team, day one to decades later
  • Fast dispatch from York, PA — within a day's drive of most East Coast and Midwest plants
  • Remote diagnostics + on-site support

Flight Lab testing is subject to review and availability.

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