Precise laser delivery and controlled clamp force ensure flawless through-transmission welding of dark or clear parts.

It may not be as “sexy” as a robot or a high-speed automated assembly system, but one of the most interesting new products introduced at the show last fall was actually an adhesive.

Exhibitors brought the latest technologies for plastics assembly to The ASSEMBLY Show last fall. The following are just some of the plastics assembly equipment on display at the show.

LEONI AG Adds an Essential Twist to its Welding Method

DETROIT—The Aluminum Association has published a free, comprehensive manual that details the range of joining technologies for assembling aluminum parts in automotive applications.

DETROIT—General Motors uses seven joining methods—including spot welding, laser welding, self-piercing rivets and flow drill screws—to assemble the aluminum body of the new Cadillac CT6 sedan.

SOUTHFIELD, MI—The automotive assembly line of the future will be more flexible, more capable of handling new materials, and make greater of the mobile technology, says Martin Kinsella, director of advanced materials and process technologies for systems integrator Comau Inc.

New technologies are making MIG welders a good option for joining aluminum.

Although it’s one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction machinery, the Liebherr Group believes strongly in decentralization.

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI—Alcoa Inc. says it has solved one of the biggest wrinkles automakers wrestle with when stamping aluminum body panels: formability. The company has developed a new manufacturing process that produces aluminum sheet that is 40 percent more formable than current aluminum alloys.