Faced with the need to join aluminum to aluminum and aluminum to steel, automakers have been forced to find alternatives to the tried-and-true spot welding technology they had been
using for decades to join all-steel assemblies. Flow drill screws are one such alternative.
ASSEMBLY was born in October 1958 with the name Assembly & Fastener Engineering. Although its name was later shortened to Assembly Engineering, and subsequently to ASSEMBLY, it was then, and is today, a magazine of ideas and methods.
One of the top transmission assembly plants in the world is Ford Motor Co.'s Van Dyke facility in Sterling Heights, MI. It's part of a network of Ford factories that mass-produce axles, engines and other power train components used in the company's cars and trucks.
The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has launched a Collaborative Robotics Laboratory to deliver advanced automation technology to the heavy industry and manufacturing sectors.
Static electricity can do much more than levitate a person's hair with the help of a charged balloon. This scientific phenomenon, technically known as electroadhesion, can also enable a robotic gripper to easily handle material as fragile as an egg and as flimsy as soft fabric.
The first thing a visitor notices on arriving at the headquarters of Genesis Automation in St. Charles, IL, is the company's business hours. Rather than 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., there's this: "However long it takes."
With nearly a century of experience manufacturing trucks, it's no surprise that Kenworth is one of PACCAR's most successful arms. Kenworth, along with fellow PACCAR brand Peterbilt, achieved a record 30.7 percent of retail market share for Class 8 trucks in the U.S. and Canada in 2017, up from 28.5 percent in 2016.
Collaborative robots are an important element of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing initiatives. Many engineers are intrigued by these next-generation machines that can control force and work safely next to people on assembly lines without traditional safety guarding.