Today’s typical automobile features nearly 100 exterior and interior sensors, with the number likely to increase in the near future. Those located on the outside (axle load, steering angle, blind spots, air temperature, etc.) require special protection from the elements and unique production methods.
One way for a manufacturer to enter a new market is through acquisition. However, one downside of the strategy is that the manufacturing assets you acquire do not always mesh perfectly with how you like to do things.
ATLANTA—Adidas will be opening a factory in Atlanta in 2017 where shoes will be produced entirely by robots. In a press release, the company outlined how the factory, dubbed the Speedfactory, will allow the company to manufacture shoes faster while bringing production closer to U.S. consumers.
DETROIT—Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow (LIFT), and the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence at The Ohio State University, have launched a new competition for high school college students from around the country merging the ancient skills of the blacksmith with the digital age of robotics to create new material forming capabilities called “Robotic Blacksmithing.”
TRAVERSE CITY, MI—Robotic laser welding will play a greater role in body-in-white assembly lines, as automakers increase their use of lightweight materials, according to Peter Busuttil, director of technology for KUKA Systems North America.
Some 45,000 manufacturing engineers and managers from 47 countries attended Automatica 2016, which took place June 21-24 at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre in Germany.
Noted actor and film director Mel Brooks told viewers often in his 1981 film “History of the World Part I” that “it’s good to be the king.” What he failed to say, though, is that it’s hard to stay the king, or leader, of a big industry for a long time.
The advent of laboratory automation systems has made a significant impact on clinical diagnostics, drug discovery, food and agricultural research, and forensics.
Should another company other than GM be credited with the first successful robotic application? Why did Pullman invest in Unimation? When was the first Unimate robot first installed at GM?
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