A COMPONENT HANDLING ASSEMBLY

According to the present invention there is provided a component handling assembly ( ) suitable for facilitating loading or unloading a plurality of components onto/from a carrier, the assembly comprising, a carrier (1) which comprises a surface (3) on which a plurality of components (50) can be supported, wherein the surface (3) has a plurality of holes (5) defined therein; a vacuum generator (21) which can be arranged in fluid communication with said plurality of holes (5) in the surface (3) of the carrier (1) so that a vacuum can be applied, through said plurality of holes (5), to components (50) supported on the surface (3) of the carrier (1), to hold components (50) on the surface (3) of the carrier (5); a vacuum sensor (22) for sensing the level of vacuum applied to components (50) supported on the surface (3) of the carrier; a controller (23) for controlling the vacuum generator (21) during loading and/or unloading of component(s) onto/from the surface (3) of the carrier, based on the level of vacuum sensed by the vacuum sensor (22), so that a predefined level of vacuum is applied to component(s) (50) supported on the surface (3) during loading and/or unloading of component(s) (50) onto/from the carrier (1). There is further provided a corresponding method of handling components (50).