Keeping workers safe is a daily challenge for every manufacturer, particularly those that operate one or more automated assembly lines. To achieve this goal, many companies make sure their machines are equipped with sensor-based safety components that meet ANSI, ISO, ISA and OSHA standards.
Designing a medical device or consumer product can take a long time. Designing an automated assembly system for those products shouldn’t add any more. Starting with a standardized assembly platform can reduce engineering time and get the product to market faster.
Specifying an air cylinder might seem to be an overwhelming task when you consider all the shapes, sizes and types of cylinder products available today. A new white paper delineates the spectrum of available standard options that can quite often be your key to avoiding the need for a totally custom cylinder.
The press-and-gauge approach to press-fit assembly can create perfect parts every time. However, for this approach to work, fixture design cannot be an afterthought. As sophisticated as our sensors, presses and software are, a perfect pressing process still requires a good deal of forethought. Following these four steps will ensure that your pressing process achieves the results you desire.
Just when you think there's nothing new under the sun with a particular technology, a company will invariably put a new spin on things. A good example is the new Torque Press 520 from Schmidt Technology.
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.
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.
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.