Articles by John Sprovieri

One of the largest manufacturers of residential and commercial water heaters in the country, Bradford White Corp. takes safety seriously. The private, American-owned company does not sell its products directly to consumers.

There are many ways to mark wire and cable. One of the most popular is ink-jet marking. The technology is fast, flexible, inexpensive and easy to maintain. This article reviews the latest developments in inks and ink-jet marking equipment.

On the assembly line, every medical device is thoroughly checked for quality and functionality. Are all the parts present? Is the needle sharp? Does the device leak? Does air flow where, when and how it’s supposed to? Do triggers and control knobs function correctly? Does the touch screen work?

Merit Medical Systems Inc. is a leading manufacturer of disposable medical devices used in interventional, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, particularly in cardiology, radiology, oncology, critical care and endoscopy.

More than 5,500 manufacturing professionals saw the latest robots, fastening tools and automation at the sixth annual ASSEMBLY Show, which was held Oct. 23-25 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

The past year brought blockbuster headlines for U.S. manufacturing. Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn unveiled plans to build a $10 billion assembly plant in Wisconsin that would make liquid-crystal display panels and employ as many as 13,000 people.

Fastening tools are the workhorses of any assembly operation. Consider a high-volume automotive plant. If a vehicle contains 1,000 threaded fasteners and an assembly line is turning out 250,000 vehicles annually, that’s more than 250 million run-downs each year.