The 4 types · side-by-side

Distributor-facing reading. Each row gives best-for, key trade-off, capacity, price band, and how many of SPC's tier slots carry an option at that product type.

Product type

Best for

Key trade-off

Typical capacity

Price band

Brands SPC carries

Vacuum Ejector / Generator Venturi-driven · no moving parts · runs on shop air

Distributed vacuum generation, no pump required.Pick-and-place stations on existing pneumatic machines — the ejector mounts at the end-effector and converts compressed air directly to vacuum. SMC ZH is the platform: single-stage and multi-stage versions, vacuum levels to ~−84 kPa, flow rates matched to the cup size and cycle time.

Consumes compressed air whenever vacuum is onEjectors are an ongoing air-cost line item — they don't make vacuum for free, they trade compressed air for it at roughly 3-7x the SCFM consumption versus an electric vacuum pump on continuous duty. Right answer for intermittent picks, distributed cells, and installs without electrical at the end-effector; wrong answer for continuous-vacuum process work where a central pump pays back.

Vacuum flow 4–220 L/min · -84 kPa max
single-stage · multi-stage

$ – $$

1 / 5 · SMC only

Vacuum Cup / Suction Cup Dozens of geometries · matched to part surface

The interface between the vacuum and the part.Flat rigid parts (sheet metal, glass, PCBs) take flat or shallow-bellows cups; curved or compliant parts take deep-bellows cups; oily or textured surfaces want oil-resistant compound; hot-formed parts want silicone or fluorosilicone. SMC ZP catalog covers the geometry × material matrix — get the cup right and the install works.

Wrong geometry = dropped partsMis-matched cup geometry is the #1 failure mode in vacuum pick-and-place — a flat cup on a curved part seals on one edge and dumps vacuum past the other; a deep bellows on a rigid flat part compresses unevenly and oscillates the pick. Match the cup to the surface geometry before sizing the ejector; the wrong cup can't be saved by a bigger ejector.

Diameters 2–200 mm · holding force scales with area
NBR · silicone · FKM · fluorosilicone

$ – $$

1 / 5 · SMC only

Replacement Vacuum Cup The consumable · 4-12 week replacement cadence

The PM line item every vacuum customer underestimates.Cups wear from the surface contact, the elastomer fatigues from vacuum cycling, and the sealing lip eventually loses its conformability. Production-duty installs replace every 4-12 weeks; quote a 6-month spare allowance on every initial cup sale. Same SMC ZP catalog, ordered as the replacement bare cup.

Customers consistently under-stockThe cup is the cheapest line item on the install and the one most likely to take the line down when it fails — the customer always runs out before the next PO clears. Stock a working spare bank; cycle the new cup in at the first sign of holding-time drift, not when the cup actually fails.

Matched to OEM cup geometry + material
bare cup only · cup + adapter

1 / 5 · SMC only

Vacuum Sensor / Switch PLC feedback · confirms the pick before the arm moves

Closes the cycle loop — no sensor, no dependable pick.Mounts on the vacuum line between the ejector and the cup; signals the PLC when vacuum reaches a threshold (the part is held) so the robot can index. SMC ZSE pressure sensor with PNP/NPN switched output is the default; analog 4-20 mA versions feed diagnostic data on cup-wear trends.

Spec'd or skipped — never half-installedVacuum sensors are the line item customers cut from initial quotes to save $100/station, and then call back six months later after the robot has dropped a thousand parts. Spec it on every vacuum end-effector quote; the savings on the cut are consumed by the first dropped-part incident.

Range to -100 kPa · digital + analog outputs
switched · analog · IO-Link

1 / 5 · SMC only

Reading the brand bench column — the bar shows how many of SPC's tier slots (Industry Leader · Emerging · Economical · adjacent) carry an option at that product type. A deep bench means a price-driven and a spec-driven option both close cleanly; a narrow bench means the available brands map closely to the technical requirements and the comparison stops being a tier choice.