Articles Tagged with ''factory automation''

Sometime in 2020, the Solar Orbiter satellite will begin its several-year journey after being launched from the Cape Canav-eral Air Force Station in Florida with an Atlas V rocket.

Building a car generates massive amounts of data throughout the value chain. The BMW Group uses its Smart Data Analytics digitalization cluster to analyze this data selectively and enhance its production system. Results from intelligent data analysis make an effective contribution towards improving quality in all areas of production and logistics.

Wiring harnesses for complex assemblies, such as cars or airplanes, can contain hundreds or even thousands of wires. Routing all those wires from connector to connector is fraught with opportunities for error.

Cables, cord sets and wire harnesses are invariably assembled with at least some amount of manual labor, even when high volumes are needed. Sure, the process of cutting, stripping and terminating individual wires can be fully automatic.

Industry 4.0 is the hottest trend to hit the manufacturing world since the Toyota Production System started to transform assembly lines two decades ago. Although most of the talk about digital production systems and smart factories involves things such as augmented reality, collaborative robots or data analytics, conveyors play an equally important role.

Since 1985, Staufermatic Maschinenbau GmbH has made a name for itself worldwide in two specialties. One is designing and manufacturing special-purpose machinery for assembly, riveting, drilling, leak testing, safety and press-fitting.

Airplanes old and new share many of the same types of components. One is a nacelle, or engine housing, with an inlet lip skin that ensures smooth air flow. However, not all planes have similarly shaped lip skins.

Robot sales in North America hit record highs in 2017 in terms of both units sold and total sales. Manufacturers purchased 34,904 total units, representing $1.9 billion in total sales, according to the Robotic Industries Association (RIA).

Numerous electrical-product manufacturers focus on making either AC inductors or DC power supplies. Micron Industries Corp. is one of a select group of manufacturers worldwide that produce both type of products, as well as transformers, reactors and fuse panels.