Bradford White Corp. is unique among its competitors in two ways. First and foremost is its business model, which prevents the sale of the company’s water heaters directly to consumers or commercial businesses. Heaters are only sold to licensed plumbers at various supply houses to ensure proper and safe water heater installation, and to prevent code violations.
BERLIN—Kuka Systems was awarded another major contract from Volkswagen to build a robotic assembly line for the rear underbody and side members of vehicles. The robots will perform such tasks as spot welding, dispensing and material handling.
Standardization is a key concept behind lean manufacturing. It allows assemblers to reduce variation, increase consistency, cut costs and improve productivity by following a prescribed set of work instructions.
Papenburg, Germany, is home to the world’s largest shipbuilding dock hall, which is operated by MEYER WERFT GmbH. There, more than 2,500 workers design and assemble some of the largest cruise ships in the world.
Think all big trucks look the same? Don’t tell that to an engineer at Kenworth Truck Co. The legendary firm is synonymous with hard-working, well-built vehicles.