Canadian manufacturers such as Plastech Inc. have high natural gas bills, especially in the winter. Over time, Plastech’s natural gas bill has increased to $6,000 annually (Canadian) just to heat its shipping area. So the company began looking into solar technology to lower its heating costs and learned about Lubi solar air heaters.

Automotive components are increasingly being manufactured in smaller lot sizes. Aware of this trend, German Tier 1 automotive supplier Neumayer Tekfor GmbH recently automated the feed system for a cold forming press used to form drivetrain components.

Orbita Corp. manufactures high-end watchwinders for automatic watches in regular production runs in the hundreds. Nevertheless, the company sought more company growth through reduced part handling and increased output. A low-cost conveying system helped Orbita reach its goal.

Hydro-Air manufactures elements for terminal HVAC equipment. Their focus on product customization has brought with it two challenges: make sure production engineers always provide machine operators on the factory floor with the right CAD drawings, assembly instructions and programs; and that the operators follow those assembly instructions.

Suppliers to the Chines automotive market, like Cummins China, use vision inspection systems. In late 2008 the supplier replaced its current vision system used to ensure that bushings on engine subassemblies were assembled correctly.

Carclo Technical Plastics specializes in contract manufacturing for the medical, optics and electronics industries. At its manufacturing facility in Mitcham, England, Carclo injection-molds the main body of a multicompartment plastic cuvette and delicately inserts a flexible filter strip into it.

Vision systems used to guide robots pose different challenges for manufacturers than vision systems used for part inspection. The biggest challenge is guiding robots in 2-1/2D applications, where guidance is used so the camera maintains a proper perspective of a part that is level but included in a stack.

Nearly 70 exhibitors and more than 800 laser-industry experts, advocates and practitioners attended the inaugural Lasers for Manufacturing Event presented by the Laser Institute of America. Attendees came from as far away as Russia, Japan, Egypt, Korea and Turkey.

For me, day two of this year’s Assembly & Automation Technology Expo was just as interesting as day one. It began and ended with learning about medical-device assembly and manufacturing.