Workstations Assembly

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ANN ARBOR, MI--Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are very common on assembly lines, due to repetitive tasks.

On some assembly lines, today's MVP is a robotic tool that was originally developed for use on the battlefield. It's called an exoskeleton. The wearable device enables operators to perform a variety of overhead tasks. It minimizes physical strain and boosts efficiency.

Ralph Braun showed the world his many abilities over many years before dying in 2013. Born in 1940 and diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at 6 years old, Braun created a motorized wagon less than a decade later to help him get around. In 1962, he built a motorized scooter, which he called the Tri-Wheeler, and rode it to and from his day job as a quality control manager for a nearby manufacturer.

Capturing and controlling reliable production line data is the great mystery underlying the fulfillment of the promise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Beyond storage solutions, the data that’s available on machines hasn’t been communicated correctly with business systems. Accepted solutions for data exchange create organizational conflicts and security issues that raise difficult barriers.

Lessons learned in childhood often last a lifetime. The same can be said of acquired skills, such as building things with Erector Sets, Legos and Lincoln Logs. Individuals who mastered and enjoyed these classic toys may very likely be the same people who use T-slot extrusion framing, pipe-and-joint and square-tube systems to build modular workstations, flow racks and other production structures for manufacturers.

Despite the stereotype often promoted by the general media and politicians, automation has not replaced every manual task in manufacturing plants. Many thousands of U.S. workers lift heavy objects around their workstations all day, every day.

During a recent visit to this bright, open, state-of-the-art factory, I took a turn on the line assembling one of DEWALT’s hottest products, the 20-volt MAX XR three-speed cordless drill and screwdriver, which is powered by a brushless motor and a 5 amp-hour lithium-ion battery.

Even though the Great Recession has passed, manufacturers in many industries are still adjusting to the reality of a downsized market struggling to get back to its glory days.

One hundred years ago, a vertically integrated manufacturing complex in Schenectady, NY, defined the company behind the famous blue monogram. Today, the future of General Electric is in San Ramon, CA. That’s the home of GE Digital.

DETROIT—Robotic glove technology developed out of a partnership between General Motors and NASA for use on the International Space Station is finding new life on Earth in health care, manufacturing and other industrial applications through a licensing agreement between GM and Bioservo Technologies AB, a Swedish medical technology company.