TOULOUSE, France—Airbus is expanding its use of Ubisense RFID systems at its A350 final assembly line here.

The Tier One supplier’s plant in Toledo, OH, thrives on continuous improvement and sequencing.

At one high-tech assembly plant, workstations adjust themselves to workers and products know which stations they need to move to next.

Sensors and RFID technology can be used to error-proof automated assembly processes.

Like many machine builders, Fori Automation Inc. faces the daily challenge of building automation equipment that is competitively priced and meets its global customers' varied design requirements.

After revamping its transmission production line, GM improved workflows, reduced changeover time, and cut costs.

When Dennis Kubica founded Kubica Corp. 20 years ago, he had an electrical engineering degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn—and plenty of real world experience as an engineer, a research and development specialist, and a project manager for ABB, General Motors and Motor City Electric.

Today’s car buyers typically order a number of custom options for their vehicles at the time of purchase. In turn, the automaker must identify and track each vehicle throughout the production process to ensure that all options are installed. Volvo Car Corp. uses RFID tags to meet this challenge.

 The miniaturization of consumer products presents a double challenge to machine builders.  

WASHINGTON—Factory pay hasn’t kept pace with inflation and has fallen 3 percent on that basis since May 2009, while average pay for all wage earners slid only about 1 percent.