Initiating movement of a standard bicycle can sometimes be challenging, such as when peddling up steep hills. Initiating movement of an electric bicycle, on the other hand, has always been much easier. The rider either pedal-assists the motor or activates it with a throttle.

Twenty years ago, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) created the Joint Advance Strike Technology (JAST) program. The goal of JAST was to develop aircraft, weapons and sensor technology that would replace disparate United States and United Kingdom aircraft with a single family of aircraft.

Water is essential for life. Unfortunately, it is often contaminated with trace pharmaceuticals, caffeine, synthetic hormones and beauty product chemicals.

Both Lear Corp. and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing have found a manufacturing home in Montgomery, AL. Lear operates a plant that makes and delivers seats to the nearby Hyundai plant for just-in-time installation in Sonata sedans and Sante Fe SUVs.

Manufacturing engineers have two options for obtaining an automated assembly system. They can get each component—an automatic screwdriver, a rotary indexing dial, a gripper—from individual suppliers and integrate the parts themselves. Or, they can ask one supplier to deliver a turnkey machine.

Recent headlines have provided stark reminders that cheap manufactured goods from overseas often come at the expense of human lives.

Well known for its engineering expertise, The EDAG Group develops vehicles and production systems for auto manufacturers all over the world. In conjunction with FFT EDAG, its sister company, The EDAG Group also creates complete production facilities for body in white modeling and vehicle assembly.

In April, electronics assembler Mack Technologies completed work on a substantial installation of money-saving technology at its factory in Westford, MA. The company didn’t get a new paste printer, reflow oven or pick-and-place machine. In fact, the plant’s slick new technology had nothing to do with assembly.

Compliant mechanisms are jointless, elastic structures that reduce costs and simplify product designs. These single-piece flexible structures elastically deform without joints to produce a desired functionality.

For 17 days, NVC Lighting Technology Corp. lit up the 2008 summer Olympics—literally. Based in Huizhou, China, the company provided lighting for several facilities in Beijing, including the Olympic village and central area, China National Convention Center, China Agricultural University gymnasium, Beijing University of Technol-ogy gymnasium and Tianjin railway station.