The need to reduce vehicle weight has spawned myriad new technologies for assembling aluminum, high-strength steel and other materials. These new technologies include self-piercing rivets, flow-drilling screws and friction-stir spot welding.

For more than 30 years, manufacturers have used infrared welding (IW) to assemble plastic components that are large, made of challenging materials or have high strength and hermetic requirements.

Manufacturers with long histories and famous founders (e.g., John Deere, Henry Ford, F.L. Maytag) are numerous throughout the world.

Welding of one sort or another has been the No. 1 application for industrial robots almost since the technology was invented.

Ideally, every component in a plastic assembly would be made from the same material. However, cost, functional and aesthetic requirements often dictate that a mix of materials be used.

DEARBORN, MI—Ford Motor Co. is teaming up with Jose Cuervo to explore the use of the tequila producer’s agave plant byproduct to develop more sustainable bioplastics to employ in Ford vehicles. Ford and Jose Cuervo are testing the bioplastic for use in vehicle interior and exterior components, such as wiring harnesses, HVAC units and storage bins.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI—Robotic laser welding will play a greater role in body-in-white assembly lines, as automakers increase their use of lightweight materials, according to Peter Busuttil, director of technology for KUKA Systems North America.

MIAMI—A chemist has developed a way to make all fossil-fuel based plastics 100 percent biodegradable.

Necessity is the mother of invention, or so the proverb goes. Such was the case recently at The Langen Group, a manufacturer of automated packaging equipment in Mississauga, ON.