Two leading suppliers of wire harness assembly equipment are celebrating their centennials at the National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo in Milwaukee this week.
ASSEMBLY recently asked Joel Hoffmann, strategic market development manager of Intel’s Automotive Solutions Div., to discuss current trends affecting the automotive electronics sector.
Durable plastic fasteners are recommended for assemblies where metal fasteners would be either too heavy for the component or too abrasive for the component material. Printed circuit boards are a common application.
In the near future, energy harvesting and inductive power transfer technology may replace electrical wires, power cords and batteries in a wide variety of applications.
Traditionally, robots rely on lots of cabling and connectors. However, continuous the auto industry is developing wireless sensors that are quick, reliable, secure and able to resist interference from existing systems.
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems, based in Mesa, AZ, makes air bag inflators for all U.S. automakers and several in Europe. Recently, Scott Detwiler-the health, safety and environmental manager of TRW-spoke with Jim Camillo, a senior editor of Assembly magazine, about bag inflators. The interview was conducted for the March 2011 article called Reaching for the Ergonomic Star.
Lista International’s white paper discusses the company’s lean manufacturing initiatives. The company’s goal is to use lean manufacturing concepts to provide customers with a broader, improved offering of high-quality, custom-configured products with the shortest turnaround time in the industry. Lista’s emphasis is on driving out complexity to create a highly flexible manufacturing environment.
The Integrated Design and Engineering Environment system analyzes the functional requirements of a product and identifies appropriate materials at an early stage of the development process.