Before Autoliv Electronics America can provide
top-notch products to its automotive customers, the company must make sure the
equipment at its facility in Southfield,
MI, performs top-notch. One type
of equipment Autoliv uses there is pick-and-place machines, which are used in the assembly of printed circuit boards that mount onto various electronic safety
components.
Many of the 4,300 people who work at
Caterpillar’s heavy-equipment manufacturing plant in Gosselies, Belgium,
are assemblers who bolt together hydraulic valves and hoses before installing
them in medium- and large-sized excavators and wheel-loaders. Until recently, assemblers used a manual torque wrench to tighten the
bolts.
German manufacturer Fontaine Engineering und Maschinen GmbH makes hot-dip galvanizing equipment, which several U.S. automakers use for coating metal strips. Since 2010, Fontaine has installed sensors in the equipment’s edge-coating control system to ensure uniform coating.
On April 21, 2011-more than 3-1/2 years after first
being unveiled to the world-the Sukhoi Superjet 100 completed its first
commercial flight. Assembly for all versions of the Superjet is done at the
facilities of Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Aircraft Production Association in the Russian Far East.
Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. became the first zero landfill auto plant in the United States in 2004, but it wasn’t long before many other automakers followed SIA’s example, including General Motors. Other automakers, like BMW MC in Greer, SC, are on the path to becoming zero landfill.
Impact head and drive style selection can have a profound effect on assembly productivity. To examine this, we recently conducted a study focusing on machine screws.
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