Titans aren't only located in Tennessee or gifted with god-like powers. Some operate in the real world and perform amazing manufacturing feats.

Traditionally, assemblers use semiautomated or manual tools to drive screws. While that technology is still used for some fastening applications, more manufacturers are investing in robotic screwdriving.

Merit Medical Systems Inc. is a leading manufacturer of disposable medical devices used in interventional, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, particularly in cardiology, radiology, oncology, critical care and endoscopy.

Manufacturing had a great year in 2018, and 2019 promises to be as good. However, clouds are on the horizon.

Today, robots are capable of handling much larger and heavier payloads than in the past. Those applications require robust grippers that are up to the task.

More than 5,500 manufacturing professionals saw the latest robots, fastening tools and automation at the sixth annual ASSEMBLY Show, which was held Oct. 23-25 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

The past year brought blockbuster headlines for U.S. manufacturing. Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn unveiled plans to build a $10 billion assembly plant in Wisconsin that would make liquid-crystal display panels and employ as many as 13,000 people.

Faced with the need to join aluminum to aluminum and aluminum to steel, automakers have been forced to find alternatives to the tried-and-true spot welding technology they had been using for decades to join all-steel assemblies. Flow drill screws are one such alternative.

ASSEMBLY was born in October 1958 with the name Assembly & Fastener Engineering. Although its name was later shortened to Assembly Engineering, and subsequently to ASSEMBLY, it was then, and is today, a magazine of ideas and methods.

The first thing a visitor notices on arriving at the headquarters of Genesis Automation in St. Charles, IL, is the company's business hours. Rather than 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., there's this: "However long it takes."