Automated Assembly Systems

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EVANSVILLE, IN—Systems integrator Evana Automation Specialists recently delivered a clutch assembly line to American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. The line integrates both fully and semiautomatic processes.

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.

BOSTON—You’ll never understand your robot until you walk a mile in its screws. A new MIT study reveals that when co-working humans and robots cross-train, productivity improves.

ANN ARBOR, MI—Total sales of machine vision systems in North America grew 10 percent year-over-year for the first quarter of 2013.

ERLANGER, KY—Jacobs Automation, which makes modular assembly conveyors based on linear motors, is slated to create 26 jobs and invest more than $1.7 million to build a new facility here.

SAN DIEGO—Systems integrator JOT Automation has designed a robotic assembly line to make insulin pumps for Tandem Diabetes Care Inc.

EVANSVILLE, IN—Systems integrator Evana Automation recently delivered a lean, 21-step assembly and test system to American Axle & Manufacturing Inc.

MUKWONAGO, WI—AptarGroup Inc., a manufacturer of dispensers for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and consumer products, will invest $50 million in new equipment for its assembly plant and R&D facility here.

A recent wordworking project has given me a greater appreciation of assembly line challenges. Has a home project ever informed your work in the assembly plant?