Assembly articles from January 2003

Assembly archives from January 2003

Global factory floor. (Editorial).
January 1, 2003... China's economy is booming. It grew a year-on-year 8.1 percent in the third quarter, with retail sales up 9.1 percent in September, wrote Peter Wonacott in The Wall Street Journal recently. Presently the world's fourth-largest auto market,...

Putting the clamps on motion. (X-Y-Z).
January 1, 2003... Think about it: Keeping parts from moving is a form of motion control. And, one of the best ways to hold parts in place during assembly operations is with clamps. Clamps are used in fixtures for processes such as welding, adhesive bonding,...

Switch sales to grow in 2003. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... NATICK, MA -- According to Venture Development Corp., the global switch market is expected to reach $3.3 billion in 2002. By 2006 consumption will have reached $3.7 million. However, the forecast period will be characterized an adjustment...

Tiny sensor tells big story. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... DALLAS -- At 3/32 by 11/16 inch, a tiny new sensor can indicate handling or shipping damage on such precision items as avionics, medical instrumentation, electromechanical instruments, camcorders, cameras, clocks, computer hardware, hard...

Lista acquires Arbell. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... HOLLISTON, MA -- Lista U.S. Holding has purchased Arbell Inc. (Burlington, Ontario, Canada). The company will now be known as Arbell International Corp. Arbell serves the electronics and repair industry. Its Arlink Div. produces ergonomic...

Assembly magazine adds new feature. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... BENSENVILLE, IL -- A new feature debuts this month in ASSEMBLY magazine. The "Assembly Spec Sheet" is a one-page, fill-in-the-blanks form that will help you communicate with suppliers to get the exact equipment you need. Each month's Spec...

Demand for epoxies increases. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... MIDLAND, MI--According to the Dow Chemical Co., overall global consumption of epoxy resins has improved since the beginning of 2001. Consumption has been so great that the gap between demand and supply has considerably closed. However,...

New primer covers LCR Measurement. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... MAYNARD, MA--Learn how to get more from your inductance, capacitance, resistance and impedance measurement equipment using the LCR Measurement Primer. Published by QuadTech Inc., the primer is intended for component test engineers, quality...

Robotic simulation helps create virtual Vectra. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... TROY, MI -- Robotic simulation software played a key role in launching Opel's new Vectra Automobile. The Vectra took only 2 years to plan and is now manufactured at Opel's two plants in Russelsheim, Germany, and Ellesmere Port, England....

SME launches conference on micro manufacturing. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... DEARBORN, MI -- The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) is sponsoring the Micro Manufacturing Conference and Exposition, which will be held June 10 to 12, 2003, at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis. It will be co-located...

Adept will host regional technology briefings. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... SAN JOSE, CA--Adept Technology Inc. has planned regional technology briefings to showcase its SmartServo distributed motion control architecture, and its first implementation on a SCARA robot. The events will be held in Cincinnati on Feb....

Wire processing show calls for papers. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... HARTLAND, WI -- Technical presentations on wire processing are being solicited for the National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo, which will be held May 21 to 22, 2003, at the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee. "These seminars...

Palomar acquires Axsys Technologies. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... VISTA, CA -- Palomar Technologies, a manufacturer of automated assembly systems, has acquired the Fiber Automation Div. (FAD) of Axsys Technologies (Rocky Hill CT), which manufactures precision optical and motion control components for the...

Industrial distributors form Triad Technologies. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... DAYTON, OH -- Triad Fluid Power Inc., Air Draulic Inc. (Toledo, OH) and the Parker fluid connectors and Miller cylinder brands from Midwest Fluid Power Co. (Toledo) have merged to form Triad Technologies LLC. Triad will distribute Parker...

EPA changes rules governing industrial pollution. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... WASHINGTON--Amid shrieks from critics, the Bush administration announced that it has loosened industrial air pollution rules. The administration said the changes would encourage plant improvements that would clean the air. "The need for...

Confence covers robotic welding. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... MIAMI -- Do you know about the latest developments in laser hybrid welding for automotive applications? What can the world expect to see from arc welding robots in the future? If you are a welding engineer or welding specialist who wants the...

Adhesive and sealant OEMs and formulators can find info online. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... PARIS -- Suppliers and formulators of adhesives and sealants can find free technical information at a new Web site created by SpecialChem, a knowledge and service provider to the specialty chemicals industry. Located at...

Demco and set point form partnership. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... QUAKERTOWN, PA -- Demco Automation, a supplier of factory automation equipment for small part assembly, inspection and testing, and packaging, has formed a sales partnership with Set Point (Ogden, UT). Set Point will take Demco's...

Advanced packaging alliance adds members. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... FREEMONT, CA -- The Advanced Packaging and Interconnect Alliance (APIA) has added two new members. They are Asymtek, a supplier of automated fluid dispensing systems, and Dage Precision Industries, a manufacturer of bond testers, X-ray...

Correction. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... In the "Products" section of the December 2002 issue of ASSEMBLY, the photo of the motor test system from Magtrol Inc. is incorrect. The photo should be vertically oriented. ASSEMBLY regrets the error.

German manufacturers to shift output. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... BERLIN, GERMANY -- Apparently, U.S. manufacturers aren't the only ones shifting output out of their native country. According to a recent survey of 300 German manufacturers from the German Machine Building Association, 54 percent of...

Capital equipment: now's the time to buy. (In my Opinion).
January 1, 2003... This is the best possible time for manufacturers of high-volume medical devices, consumer products and other mass-produced items to purchase manufacturing, assembly, processing and packaging equipment. This may sound like heresy at a time...

New technologies help MEMS-based sensors grow. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... SAN JOSE, CA--North American sales of MEMS-based sensors totaled $1.3 billion in 2001 and are expected to reach $3 billion in 2008. According to Frost & Sullivan, growth of commercial micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is...

Coloring book features truck assembly line. (Assembly Lines).
January 1, 2003... WAUPACA, WI--What type of crayon would you use to color a pneumatic screwdriver? Grade-school kids coloring a scene from a truck assembly line have 120 different options, including such Crayola colors as Banana Mania and Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown. ...

Checker verifies weld quality on motorcycles. (Assembly in Action).
January 1, 2003... Indian Motorcycle Corp. (IMC--Gilroy, CA) was formed in 1998 to relaunch an American icon. The original Indian Motorcycle Co., which built the first American-made motorcycle in 1901, was a leading motorcycle manufacturer for almost 50 years....

Tester ensures PCB assembly machine reliability. (Assembly in Action).
January 1, 2003... Siemens Dematic Electronics Assembly Systems (Norcross, GA) provides complete circuit board assembly systems--from screen printing to solder ovens--along with comprehensive customer support. For servicing and supporting its Siplace...

Coating provides EMI shielding. (Assembly in Action).
January 1, 2003... When the engineers designing Segway's (Manchester, NH) Human Transporter (HT) needed to shield out electromagnetic interference (EMI), they chose Ecoplate metallic conformal coating from Chometrics (Woburn, MA). The HT is the first...

New wire architecture cuts time-to-market. (Assembly in Action).
January 1, 2003... When Gilbarco Inc. (Greensboro, NC) set out to retool its lead product 5 years ago, its primary motivations were customer convenience and manufacturing efficiency. But it turned out that the new design created a platform for faster product...

RFID keeps vehicle seats in order. (Assembly in Action).
January 1, 2003... Johnson Controls (Livermore, CA) produces automobile seats for New United Motor Manufacturers Inc. (NUMMI). NUMMI is a joint production facility of Toyota and General Motors, located in Fremont, CA. Johnson Controls manufactures a variety of...

Workstations serve cellular assembly. (Assembly in Action).
January 1, 2003... Alfa-Laval Separation Inc.'s (Warminster, PA) manufacturing plant layout did not make productive use of floor space. When Alfa acquired Sharples Inc., the need for a more efficient layout became even more essential. Alfa Laval manufactures...

Software improves quality and assembly process. (Assembly in Action).
January 1, 2003... Bombardier Transportation (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is using Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd.'s (Herzeliya, Israel) eMPower quality software at its site in Derby, U.K. The eM-TolMate software is part of a pilot project that will establish and...

Choosing adhesives for medical devices: the adhesives used to bond parts in medical devices are far different from their industrial counterparts. (Medical Device Assembly).
January 1, 2003... A major problem in selecting an adhesive for any assembly application is the presence of so many candidates. The number of adhesive varieties can be overwhelming. Adhesives are available with such a broad range of mechanical and handling...

A light in the distance: sales of fiber optic components--and the equipment to assemble them--will recover in the next few years. (Assembly West).
January 1, 2003... The market for fiber optic components bottomed out in the second half of 2002 and should grow quickly during the next 3 years, predicts Jeff D. Montgomery, founder and chairman of market research firm ElectroniCast Inc. (San Mateo, CA). ...

Robotic cell assembles power trains: a demonstration workcell assembles power train components, performing tasks currently done by humans. (Flexible Assembly).
January 1, 2003... In industry, many repetitive operations--such as pick-and-place, spot welding and spray-painting--have been assumed by robotics. Even though the operations are diverse, a common thread runs through nearly all of them. The common thread is that...

Automakers driven by change: technological innovations promise to transform the auto production landscape. (Industry Watch).
January 1, 2003... Winds of change are blowing through the auto industry at gale force. Unfortunately, those blustery conditions will buffet Detroit for the rest of this year. In fact, there's a good chance that volatile conditions will persist throughout this...

The thin polymer line: if a printed circuit board needs a conformal coating, assemblers have lots of options for materials and dispensing methods. (Electronics Assembly).
January 1, 2003... Joe Gizmo rubs his hands together and waits impatiently for the train. Another drizzly, damp November evening in Chicago. Suddenly, his pager goes off. It's the boss' secretary. Joe switches off his portable MP3 player and calls her back on his...

Same name, different game: part 2; the principles of lean manufacturing can be successfully applied in numerous industries. (Lean Manufacturing).
January 1, 2003... Lean manufacturing requires more than focusing on waste elimination and single-piece flow. Many traditional habits, such as accounting practices and capital equipment expenditure, must change. Successful lean manufacturing requires a new...

Maintaining joint integrity: the right locking method can keep baited joints from loosening. (Fastening).
January 1, 2003... Bolted joints typically fail for one or more of the following reasons: design errors, flawed or damaged fasteners, corrosion, inadequate locking methods, inappropriate preload and incorrect assembly. Of these, inappropriate preload is the...

Platform lifts workers. (Products).
January 1, 2003... The Easy Riser platform lifts workers of less than average stature to a more comfortable position. The lightweight, hydraulically operated platform elevates from 2 to 12 inches above the floor. The platform is available with either a manual or...

High-speed robot. (Products).
January 1, 2003... The E2 SCARA robot has a cycle time of 0.38 second and a repeatability of [+ or -]0.008 micron. The robot can be mounted to a table top, side wall, shelf top, shelf bottom or the ceiling. The robot can be used in Class 10 clean rooms, and it is...

Tooling components for robots. (Products).
January 1, 2003... More than 1,000 pneumatic and mechanical components can be combined to make custom end-of-arm tooling for robots. Modular components are available for handling large or small parts. Components include suction cups, sprue cutters, part sensors,...

Pen applies microdeposits. (Products).
January 1, 2003... The MicroPen applies microdeposits of two-part epoxies, light-cure adhesives and other materials. Used with a timed-pulse dispenser, the pen produces consistent deposits as small as 0.004 inch in diameter. It consists of a slim, lightweight...

Conveyor carries workers. (Products).
January 1, 2003... The Easy Step paced work platform is a floor-mounted, recessed belt conveyor that moves workers, their tools and supplies at the same speed as the main assembly line. By eliminating the need for workers to walk backwards, sideways or...

Linear slide for special applications. (Products).
January 1, 2003... The Dura-Slide IV is a standard slide for special applications. It can be used as an isolation shuttle, typically found at the end of a parts feeder track. Tooling nests are mounted to the sliding table, which has tapped holes and dowel holes...

RFID tags. (Products).
January 1, 2003... Balogh radio frequency identification tags can be encoded with information for routing and manufacturing. The information is read when the tags come within range of a transceiver--without the need for physical contact. The information is then...

Automated press operation. (Products).
January 1, 2003... Hydraulic presses can be integrated with rotary indexing tables and robots to create fully or partially automated assembly lines. After press operations, parts can be automatically transferred to other machines for secondary operations, such as...

Actuator swaps parts. (Products).
January 1, 2003... The DRM rotary actuator is used for loading and unloading machines. Available in four sizes, the actuator can be supplied as a stand-alone unit, or it can be equipped with two- and three-finger parallel grippers. Pneumatic lines and electrical...

Epoxy preforms. (Adhesives).
January 1, 2003... M17-19 epoxy preforms are one-part epoxy resins that are solid at room temperature. When heated, they melt and cure, forming a seal. They can resist most common industrial solvents and high temperatures. When used early in the assembly process,...

Pressure-sensitive adhesives. (Adhesives).
January 1, 2003... ARclad 8314, 8901 and 7992 are pressure-sensitive adhesives for bonding and sealing lenses and escutcheons in mobile phone handsets. ARclad 8314 and 8901 are 8-mil, double-sided, high-tack acrylic bonding tapes. These adhesives can bond to both...

Thermally conductive adhesives. (Adhesives).
January 1, 2003... QMI 546--a low-stress, Teflon-filled, thermally conductive adhesive--can be used to attach integrated circuits and components to advanced substrates, including PBGAs, chip scale packages, stacked die and array packages based on flexible tape...

Electrically conductive materials. (Adhesives).
January 1, 2003... Syon electrically conductive adhesives and potting compounds can be used to form conductive paths in applications where hot soldering would be impractical. These materials offer thermal conductivity and can be used to bond or seal electrical...

Automation system for photonics packaging. (Fiber Optics).
January 1, 2003... AutoAlign-Modal performs alignment and metrology of fiber optic components. The basic system consists of an automated, three-axis alignment engine with a PC, Integra control software, motion control cards, stages and a dual channel power meter....

Fiber optic light guides. (Fiber Optics).
January 1, 2003... This line of flexible quartz fiber optic light guides can he configured in single and multi-legged assemblies and are customized to specific user needs. Certified light output is maintained within [+ or -]5 percent. Operational perimeters...

Plasma surface treatment systems. (Fiber Optics).
January 1, 2003... Plasma surface treatment systems increase the surface energy of the material they treat. Increasing the surface energy of a material improves its adhesion characteristics, allowing better bonding, gluing, markability, paintability, coatability...

Fiber optic illuminator. (Fiber Optics).
January 1, 2003... The Mille Luce is suitable for virtually all microscopy applications. It provides 1,000 hours of shadow-free, glare-free, cool illumination for many applications, including assembly, inspection and laboratory analysis. A positive locking collet...

Automatic optical inspection system. (Inspection).
January 1, 2003... With quad-speed cameras, flying camera technology and a 120 image per second inspection rate, the AutoInspector 1820 can match the throughput speed of any PCB manufacturing line without losing accuracy. Up to four cameras can be used. Linear...

X-ray inspection system. (Inspection).
January 1, 2003... VJ-l000 LP is a high-resolution X-ray inspection system for the surface mount assembly and semiconductor packaging markets. It provides high-resolution images of ball grid arrays, micro ball grid arrays and other chip scale packages. It has a...

Video inspection system. (Inspection).
January 1, 2003... The ergonomic video inspection station reduces neck, back and eye strain when observing small parts. The video microscope permits upright seating and eye-level observation via video monitor or computer. Two versions are available. The station's...

Welder with microprocessor control. (Welding).
January 1, 2003... The Dynamic 3000 features microprocessor control for precise and repeatable welds. It is a fully programmable and menu-driven unit that provides real-time, closed-loop process feedback. Integrated speed and force control ensures optimized...

Plastic welding pen. (Welding).
January 1, 2003... This 600-watt plastic welding pen can be held at any angle and is suitable for fabricating or repairing plastic tanks and ventilation systems. It features a protected heating element, dial-adjustable temperatures from 68 F to 1,100 F and a...

Stud welder. (Welding).
January 1, 2003... The Intelli-Weld stud welding machine has microprocessor-based controls that let the operator monitor and control more than 30 welding parameters. Optional modules are available for remote control, process documentation and gas welding. ...

Double-wire welding. (Welding).
January 1, 2003... The double-wire Tandem welding process requires two contact tips closely arranged behind each other in one welding torch. Each circuit is fed by its own independent power source, resulting in optimal control of the common arc. The process...

Ultrasonic welding system. (Welding).
January 1, 2003... The 2000f ultrasonic welder allows users to digitally program actual weld force and down-speed, and step force during weld and hold cycles. It includes a user interface with a fourline vacuum fluorescent display. The unit is available in 20-,...

Time for a makeover? (Uncommon Sense).
January 1, 2003... The business strategy du jour is the makeover. That's where a profitable company that isn't exciting is transformed into a new company with a lot more pizzazz and a lot more profit potential. The ideal candidate is an old-line, rust belt...

New standards in high-performance vision.
January 1, 2003... Legend 520 The most affordable machine vision sensor in the industry utilizes CMOS imaging technology for complete machine vision inspections, barcode reading and OCR. Ethernet-ready and value priced. Legend 540 Real-time machine...