Medical devices pose a special challenge to designers of parts feeding equipment. Parts for such devices can be tiny, sharp, clingy, floppy, tangly; or some combination of those properties.

From cameras to pacemakers, hybrid race cars to solar-powered ships, capacitors are indispensable in both industrial and everyday life. In electrical systems, they ensure that voltage peaks are smoothed out and fault currents are eliminated.

It is a common misconception among fabricators that bonding with two-part acrylic adhesives before powder coating cannot be successfully accomplished because high temperatures used in the process raise concerns about possible degradation of the cured adhesive. Engineers believed that their only options were rivet bonding, mechanical fasteners or welding.

Water may be vital to human life, but it can also be detrimental to the performance of many manufactured products.

Every action in life involves a trade-off: The gaining of one benefit at the expense of another, to best meet the needs of the situation at hand. When the situation involves high-volume bonding, sealing or gasketing, manufacturers rely on UV-cure adhesives because they allow on-demand and quick curing (1 to 5 seconds after light exposure).

Manufacturers of complex machinery can learn a great deal about product quality and cost by participating in a dedicated teardown process. Almost any product large or small,from appliances to agricultural equipment to medical devices to electrical equipment, can be the focus of a teardown.

Hot-melt adhesives are used in a wide range of applications. They seal cardboard cartons; bond veneer to plywood; attach appliqué to fabric; and secure carpeting in automotive interiors.

The continuing miniaturization of consumer electronics, medical devices and even automotive components presents challenges for manufacturing, particularly electronics assembly. Surface mount technology, for example, is the dominant process for assembling a wide range of electronic devices.

One of the tricky parts of assembling an audio speaker is bonding the cone and surround—the parts that produce sound—to a metal frame.

Going with the flow of the marketplace not only makes sense for a manufacturer, it can also make the company lots of money. An equally beneficial strategy—implemented on an application-by-application basis—is to know the flow of each material being dispensed and equip accordingly. Electronics contract manufacturers are well aware of the benefits of both practices.