Screwdriving and Riveting Assembly

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There are many ways to crimp or flare a lip on a cylindrical part. For example, it can be done with a press or an orbital forming machine. However, the problem with those processes, particularly the former, is that they require a good deal of force.

Airbus has inaugurated a highly automated fuselage assembly line at its A320 factory in Hamburg, Germany. The new line features a digital data acquisition system, 20 robots, automated guided vehicles, and automated positioning by laser measurement.

As the speed of innovation in the automotive industry quickens, assemblers at Rhenus SML in Genk, Belgium, do all they can to keep pace. Rhenus workers painfully learned the importance of this five years ago when Ford Motor Co. shut down its Genk plant, which sat adjacent to Rhenus's facility.

Automated assembly lines have been the backbone of the automotive industry for decades. Robots are widely used to rivet and weld car bodies. But, in the aerospace sector, automation is more elusive when it comes to building fuselages and wings for commercial aircraft.

In September, Toyota announced that it will invest $391 million in its truck assembly plant in San Antonio. Hyundai announced that it is investing nearly $300 million in its factory in Montgomery, AL. Brake manufacturer Bendix Spicer began construction on a $65 million expansion of its assembly plant Bowling Green, KY. And, automotive supplier Hirotec Group said it will invest $48 million to build a new assembly plant in Fayetteville, TN.

More than 5,000 manufacturing professionals saw the latest robots, fastening tools and automation at the seventh annual ASSEMBLY Show, which was held Oct. 22-24 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

Whenever the 1920s are discussed in documentaries, they are first referred to as roaring and then as depressing. Too often, too little attention is paid to what happened in between these two extremes.

ROSEMONT, IL—Cleco Production Tools is bringing its CellTour demonstration truck to The ASSEMBLY Show here next week.