PHILADELPHIA—Naval Sea Systems Command has completed a fleetwide fastener study, identifying and recommending the removal of thousands of fasteners from the Navy supply system. The review identified 108,000 dormant fasteners—fasteners with no contract, requisition or maintenance history in the past five years—and 3,200 duplicate fasteners where two or more identical fasteners had different stock numbers.

Simple changes saved the manufacturer more than $2.3 million annually.

As these case histories illustrate, medical device manufacturers are using presses to solve diverse assembly challenges.

Reshoring will increase demand for American-made screws, nuts and bolts.

This past year, baby boomers began turning 65. Because these individuals tend to live more active lives than previous generations, some medical device companies, like Skeletal Dynamics, are developing implants to withstand up to 1 million load cycles without loosening or backing out.

BERLIN-German adhesives manufacturer DELO has developed a technique for bonding studs to thin metal sheets instead of welding them. MORE

It took several years, but self-tapping screws for plastic assembly have come of age. OEMs were lukewarm toward this type of fastener in the 1980s and early 1990s, that trend has changed in recent years.

Several types of threaded fasteners are installed not with a power tool, but a press. Self-clinching nuts, threaded inserts and similar fasteners are pressed into thin, soft or otherwise fragile materials to provide strong threads for mating hardware.

Durable plastic fasteners are recommended for assemblies where metal fasteners would be either too heavy for the component or too abrasive for the component material. Printed circuit boards are a common application.

Compared with rivets, screws and other instant assembly methods, structural adhesives are more cost-effective than engineers might think.

ASSEMBLY proudly announces the launch of The ASSEMBLY Show, a premier event connecting suppliers, buyers and users of assembly equipment with one main focus - assembly technology, equipment and products.

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