Articles by John Sprovieri

Aslew of technology is available to ensure threaded fasteners are installed in the correct sequence and at the correct torque and angle.

A typical Porsche sports car contains more than 2,000 individual wires. If laid end to end, the wiring would stretch 2 to 3 kilometers. Designing such a complex wiring system would be challenge enough, but at Porsche, almost no harness design in series production matches another one.

When it’s finished, NASA’s massive new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will be truly awe-inspiring.

The manufacturer needed to present thin steel blades down an assembly line in a specific orientation. However, the parts were essentially symmetrical, with the exception of a small notch that had to be presented on the right side. With no real differences in the part other than this notch, feeding them to an assembly mechanism with 100 percent accuracy was a challenge.

Disposable or reusable? Consumers face that choice many times each day. Should we buy a bottle of water for the gym or fill a thermos at home? Should we eat dinner on paper plates or use the dishes? Which to choose depends on many factors, including convenience, cost and the environment.

Sometimes, when a product has been around for many years, the best way to gain market share in a crowded field is to completely rethink the design.

Manufacturers of complex products, such as engines and transmissions, have long been using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to error-proof their processes, document quality, and deal with high-mix production.

One of the tricky parts of assembling an audio speaker is bonding the cone and surround—the parts that produce sound—to a metal frame.