Japan has given us a mixed bag of good and bad over the years. Consider the Honda lawn mower, Pearl Harbor, the Japanese beetle, sushi and the Toyota Celica. Somewhere among these lies the concept of lean manufacturing.
Once upon a time (that is to say, back in the early 1950s) when Chevys came standard with a stovebolt six and Fords came standard with a flathead V-8, America's carmakers were kings of the hill.
Because of their ability to achieve fast speeds and high accuracy, linear motors have been used for years in semiconductor processing equipment. Now, the technology has finally found its way into automated assembly equipment.
Lean manufacturing concepts helped Arrow Electronics improve its assembly processes. But, progress was often short-lived. Read how this cable and wire harness assembler took lean manufacturing to the next level.
Northern Tube (Pinconning, MI) was early to recognize the advantages of CNC bending and robotic laser cutting over traditional drill and pierce equipment in hydroform applications.
When faced with manufacturing a complex ignition switch component for an auto manufacturer, Bebusch (Haslach, Germany) turned to Stapla Ultrasonics (Wilmington, MA).
There's a common misconception about the relationship between torque, tension and friction when a threaded fastener is tightened. This article presents a new way of thinking about the relationship between these variables.
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