Among its many sensor, switching, automotive and motion-control products, Saia-Burgess Group (Murten, Switzerland) produces the MagShift solenoid, an electric park lock that prevents a driver from shifting out of park without first stepping on the brake.
Part of the production process involves heat staking a plastic post to hold the assembly together. In the past, Saia-Burgess performed this operation using a manually operated benchtop heat-staking machine. However, the company wanted to both increase throughput and increase the strength of the assembly, so it implemented an automated, indexed Sonitek heat-staking cell from Sonic & Thermal Technologies Inc. (Milford, CT).