The growing desire to reduce fuel consumption has caused manufacturers of all modes of transportation to be more willing to implement the use of light-weight materials, even where there is a cost penalty. However, use of new materials in a given application always carries some risk that must be mitigated through analysis and testing.

ArvinMeritor has opened a new 100,000-square-foot facility in Canada to remanufacture transmissions, axle carriers and steering gears for heavy trucks.

July 26 marked the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The law has changed our physical and social landscape, but we still have work to do.

Manufacturers are always looking for ways to maximize their skilled employees. One way is to free them from lower-valued tasks-such as pulling carts and delivering palletized materials. Daimler Trucks NA LLC is one such manufacturer that has found a more cost-effective way to complete these tasks: use the GT3 tugger, a vision-guided industrial mobile robot.

Crash dummies are crucial in evaluating the performance of side curtain air bags in a rollover. First Technology Safety Systems Inc. manufactures crash test dummies and computer crash simulation models for automotive, military and aerospace applications. To confirm that the new design matched dummies built from the original mold, FTSS used a hand held laser scanner.

In late 2009, the NASA Engineering and Safety Center completed a series of critical, full-scale, physical tests to help predict how the Composite Crew Module would perform under simulated flight conditions. Performed at Langley Research Center, the tests focused on material tradeoffs between metals and composites in space structures.

On Jan. 11, 2010-exactly three years to the day that the Chevrolet Volt concept car debuted-General Motors manufactured the first advanced lithium-ion battery for the Volt at its Brownstown Battery Pack Assembly Plant in Brownstown Township, MI. 

For many years, OEM Sunnen has designed customized, high-end bore sizing and finishing systems. In 2008, the company decided to expand its platform to include honing equipment for resurfacing and repairing hydraulic cylinders.