Test and Inspection Assembly

RSS

What do lumberjacks, landscapers and homeowners have in common? They all rely on chain saws, trimmers and leaf blowers produced by STIHL Group.

ANN ARBOR, MI—Total sales of machine vision components and systems increased 11 percent to $1.04 billion in the first half of 2014, according to the AIA, the industry’s trade group. This is the best first half performance by the North American machine vision market since the AIA began tracking quarterly statistics in 2009.

PLYMOUTH, MI—Johnson Controls has opened a new state-of-the-art crash test facility at its automotive seating headquarters here.

Product traceability is essential for every automotive supplier, regardless of its specialty. International supplier Continental Automotive Group, for example, requires traceability of all of its products, including parts for brake systems, power trains, chassis, tires and vehicle electronics.

WASHINGTON—With six months left in 2014, automakers have already recalled more vehicles in the United States than in any other year on record.

Canadian-based PCB manufacturer Candor Industries Inc. is well known in the industry for its ability to produce prototype standard circuit boards very quickly—often within 24 hours. More complex prototypes can be completed in three days and be in full production within 10.

Founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Co., Timex Group USA is, and has been, America’s leading watchmaker for more than a century. The company’s watches are sold in more than 80 countries worldwide and manufactured in the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Assembly machines are dumb. They can only do what they’re told, over and over again. Without a sense of sight or touch, they can’t know if parts or pallets are where they’re supposed to be.

Automotive assembly most often conjures up images of welding robots and electric nutrunners. But, another technology is just as important for assembling a wide range of automotive components—presses.

Smart cameras are a standard vision-inspection tool for manufacturers in the auto industry, whether they’re a lower tier supplier or one of the Big 3.