ZUFFENHAUSEN, Germany—Engineers at Porsche are setting up a new type of assembly line at its factory here to build a new type of sports car. The all-electric Taycan will be assembled in a “factory within a factory” as part of the Porsche Production 4.0 initiative.
Digitization is an integral aspect of modern vehicle technology. With each successive generation, the implementation of electronic technology continues to rise.
ASSEMBLY was born in October 1958 with the name Assembly & Fastener Engineering. Although its name was later shortened to Assembly Engineering, and subsequently to ASSEMBLY, it was then, and is today, a magazine of ideas and methods.
Market expansion has always been a priority for Connor Solutions Ltd. So it's no surprise that in less than 20 years, the Tyne and Wear, England-based company has become one of the largest privately held electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers in the UK.
Before the availability of electric lights, early automobiles were equipped with gas lamps for headlights and oil lamps for taillights. Electric lights did not become commonplace until the 1920s.
One of the top transmission assembly plants in the world is Ford Motor Co.'s Van Dyke facility in Sterling Heights, MI. It's part of a network of Ford factories that mass-produce axles, engines and other power train components used in the company's cars and trucks.
The first thing a visitor notices on arriving at the headquarters of Genesis Automation in St. Charles, IL, is the company's business hours. Rather than 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., there's this: "However long it takes."
With nearly a century of experience manufacturing trucks, it's no surprise that Kenworth is one of PACCAR's most successful arms. Kenworth, along with fellow PACCAR brand Peterbilt, achieved a record 30.7 percent of retail market share for Class 8 trucks in the U.S. and Canada in 2017, up from 28.5 percent in 2016.
Collaborative robots are an important element of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing initiatives. Many engineers are intrigued by these next-generation machines that can control force and work safely next to people on assembly lines without traditional safety guarding.
More than 46,000 manufacturing engineers and managers from 47 countries attended Automatica 2018, which took place June 19-22 at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre in Germany.