Assembly articles from September 2004

Assembly archives from September 2004

Good luck, Mr. Frink.(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... In April, President Bush nominated Albert A. Frink Jr. for the new post of assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing and services--a.k.a., the manufacturing czar. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A native of Mexico, Frink has an...

Get linked!(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Practical business information is a precious commodity. Concise and current information is even more invaluable. The print issues of ASSEMBLY that you receive each month are a testament to that. For more than 45 years, we've been a trusted...

Watch your fingers!(X-Y-Z)
September 1, 2004... Imagine you've just spent $10,000 on a custom gripper and tooling for a six-axis robot. As engineers teach the robot how and where to pick up a large, heavy casting, the inevitable occurs: The motion profile is slightly off, the arm crashes...

Robotics market remains strong.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... ANN ARBOR, MI -- North American manufacturers invested $473.3 million in robots during the first 6 months of 2004, a 6 percent increase compared with the first half of 2003. From January to June, North American manufacturers ordered 7,852...

Misumi opens new warehouse.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... SCHAUMBURG, IL -- Misumi of the Americas Inc. has opened a new shipping and warehousing facility in Elk Grove Village, IL. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Misumi supplies mechanical components for assembly automation. The new facility spans...

NAM chooses new president.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has named John M. Engler, the former governor of Michigan, as its next president and CEO. Engler, who served as governor from 1991 to 2002, will take over as NAM president Oct....

Lucas-Milhaupt to sell brazing equipment from Korean firm.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... MILWAUKEE -- Lucas-Milhaupt Inc. has signed an agreement with S.K. Brazing (Siheung City, South Korea) to represent the company's brazing and soldering equipment in North America. S.K. Brazing's custom-built equipment ranges from simple...

Maytag plant wins Shingo Prize.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... NEWTON, IA -- Maytag Corp.'s dishwasher facility in Jackson, TN, has become the first appliance assembly plant to win a Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence. Terry Spalding, director of manufacturing at the plant, attributes the...

Lockheed Martin starts assembling new fighter.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... FORT WORTH, TX -- Workers at Lockheed Martin's mile-long factory have begun assembling the forward fuselage and wings for the F-35 joint strike fighter (JSF), a next-generation, supersonic stealth aircraft designed to replace current-generation...

GM showcases its proud past.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... STERLING HEIGHTS, MI -- General Motors Corp. (Detroit) recently unveiled the GM Heritage Center, an 81,000-square-foot facility that houses vehicles, historical documents and memorabilia. It will help GM employees, scholars, analysts and the...

ASSEMBLY sponsors outsourcing panel discussion.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... BENSENVILLE, IL -- ASSEMBLY magazine is sponsoring a special panel discussion on Offshore Assembly Challenges and Opportunities at the Assembly Technology Expo in Rosemont, IL, on Tuesday, Sept. 28 from 1 to 3 p.m. The lively, interactive...

Caterpillar markets production enhancement software.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... PEORIA, IL -- Caterpillar Inc. is getting into the software business. With its partner, StatSoft Inc. (Tulsa, OK), the company is marketing a tool for modeling, optimizing and simulating complex manufacturing processes. The software...

New guide to plastic joining is published.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... CINCINNATI -- A revised version of a popular plastic assembly textbook has been published by Hanser Gardner Publications. The second edition of Joining of Plastics, by Jordan Rotheiser, has been completely updated, including a new chapter on...

Ford opens supplier park.(Assembly Lines)
September 1, 2004... CHICAGO -- Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI) and 12 of its suppliers have opened the auto industry's largest supplier park in the United States. The Chicago Manufacturing Campus is located one-half mile from a newly revamped assembly plant that is...

IPC-A-610: high cost, poor reliability.(In My Opinion)
September 1, 2004... These are not happy times for U.S. electronics manufacturers. Forget the jobs that are gone; they aren't coming back. The best we can do now is stem the outflow by cutting costs and increasing reliability. Simply stated, our plants use too much...

Linear actuators.(Assembly Spec Sheet)
September 1, 2004... Looking for a linear actuator? Complete this form and fax it to your potential suppliers! [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Supplier Contact Information Adept Technology Inc.--Fax: 925-960-0452 AdvanTech International--Fax: 732-805-0122 ...

Vision system ensures leak-free seals.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... A key procedure in the assembly of automobile transmissions at the Volkswagen plant in Cordoba, Argentina, involves piecing together the top and bottom pieces of the transmission. A robot applies a sealant that helps join the two pieces....

Tow line cuts assembly costs.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... Ferris Industries (Munnsville, NY), owned by Simplicity Manufacturing, began business in 1909 as the Uebler Milking Machine Co. Today the company builds commercial and residential lawn mowers under the brands Ferris, Simplicity and Snapper. ...

Orbital rivets join monitors to stands.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... Flat panel computer monitors are quickly gaining popularity and market share. Today's designs feature clean lines and take up less space than their conventional cathode ray tube counterparts. Because of their size and weight, they can be easily...

Suction pads improve CD production.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... One of the keys to the success of CDs as a medium for data and picture storage is their low cost. With billions of CDs being manufactured each year, though, it would be impossible to maintain the necessary output rate and product quality by...

Robots boost productivity for contact lens makers.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... Benz Research and Development (Sarasota, FL) is known internationally for providing high-quality, cutting-edge materials for contact lenses and intraocular lenses (IOLs). It holds more than a dozen U.S. patents including the patent on a...

Software compresses lead times and lowers costs.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... For companies that provide custom-made parts and assemblies, getting product out the door quickly is the key to success. However, multiple orders, from multiple customers, with multiple delivery dates can cause no small amount of confusion on...

Tape helps launch medical device.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... Anticoagulant medication is often used to treat patients who are at risk of heart attacks and strokes. The dosage of this medication must be carefully controlled. Too little, and the medication won't be effective. Too much, and the patient...

Real time enables real savings.(Assembly in Action)
September 1, 2004... Tyco Adhesives (Bristol, RI) manufactures adhesive and corrosion-protection products. When the company needed to install an automatic data collection system in its Franklin, KY, warehouse and distribution center, it turned to three companies...

Automakers do more with less: automotive manufacturers face more challenges and opportunities than ever.(Industry Watch)(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... Success in limbo dancing requires flexibility, balance and quickness. Those three qualities also apply to the automotive industry today. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Automakers are scrambling to stay nimble and do more with less. By...

Rubber-stamping assembly: when simple, constant marks are all that's needed, rubber stamps or pad printing are straightforward, inexpensive options.(Parts Marking)
September 1, 2004... Most products these days have some sort of identification mark. However, not every part or assembly requires something as sophisticated as serial numbers or 2D Data Matrix codes that change with each assembly that comes down the line. Indeed,...

A journey to the other side of lean: Lean Sigma yields more than just cost reductions.(Lean Manufacturing)
September 1, 2004... When looking at cheap labor rates in China and other offshore locations, some people assume that American manufacturing has a limited lifespan. However, labor is simply one aspect of the cost associated with the production process. Domestic...

Beware the boss: the right thread design and driver settings can make a big difference in how well screws assemble plastic parts.(Screwdriving)
September 1, 2004... With so many ways to formulate plastic to get just the right combination of color, texture and durability, it's easy to forget how the parts will be assembled. However, if the parts will be assembled with screws, overlooking such parameters as...

How heat and humidity affect no-clean paste: fluctuations in temperature and humidity can diminish the performance of no-clean solder paste.(Electronics Assembly)
September 1, 2004... As electronics manufacturing shifts from the United States to other countries, environmental issues such as temperature and humidity control are influencing the assembly process. When qualifying solder paste for domestic assembly lines,...

ATExpo celebrates its silver anniversary.(Assembly Technology Expo)
September 1, 2004... For 25 years, Assembly Technology Expo has not just been about seeing the latest developments in assembly equipment and tools. It's also been about learning how to use them to improve productivity and reduce assembly costs. This year's ATExpo...

Conferences.
September 1, 2004... MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 Lean Manufacturing 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lean Production--Less is More Pascal Dennis and Eric Hager, Lean Productivity Systems This workshop introduces the basic concepts and tools of lean...

Exhibitor index.
September 1, 2004... 3M Electronics Markets Materials Div. 5006 A ABS Vabsco Electronic Components Ltd. 1547 Accuplace 948 Accusonics Inc. ...

Assembly Technology Expo product showcase.
September 1, 2004... ASSEMBLY Technology Expo, sponsored by ASSEMBLY magazine, is focused entirely on the technology and equipment needed to assemble mechanical, electromechanical and electronic products of all kinds. More than 600 exhibitors will display the...

Show me the lean!(Uncommon Sense)
September 1, 2004... I was recently a "fly on the wall" at a meeting led by the vice president of operations of a major manufacturing company. He wanted to make his operations "lean." Among those at the meeting were representatives from two consulting firms. ...