Abstract: A system for collating and controlling the processing of articles. A collator assembles the articles from a plurality of article portions. The completed articles are deposited onto a conveyor, which transports them to a processing station. The collator is temporarily disabled from beginning the assembly of another group of articles when assembly of the final article of the preceeding group of articles has been initiated. The conveyor thus has a gap thereon, which contains no articles. A signal is generated concurrently with the beginning of the gap, and is delayed by an amount selected so that the delayed signal should occur concurrently with the arrival of the gap at the processing station. The time occurrence of the delayed signal is adjusted in accordance with the actual movement of the gap along the conveyor. The conjunction of the delayed signal with the arrival of the gap causes the processing station to accomplish a selected function.