The Budweiser Clydesdales have been an advertising icon since April 7, 1933, when the first hitch of eight horses trotted away from the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis with a wagon-load of beer to celebrate the end of Prohibition.
Light-curing adhesives, also referred to as UV-cure adhesives, offer many advantages for automated assembly. The speed at which the adhesives are cured, the ability to fit into an automated process, and the strength of the bond are reasons why manufacturers may choose light-curing adhesives over other adhesive options.
Nobody's perfect. Even the best trained, most experienced assemblers can make mistakes on the line, especially in high-mix production environments. Fortunately, a variety of software products are available to help prevent assembly errors.
Flexible feeders are great at helping manufacturers accommodate product variants on the assembly line. After the feeder presents parts to a vision-guided robot, one or more cameras take images of the parts, and vision software tells the robot which parts are pickable and which are not. The robot then retrieves the parts for kitting or assembly.
THE CITY OF ROCKFORD, IL, is located 90 miles northwest of Chicago. It has a long, proud history of making machine tools and metal parts, such as nuts and bolts.
For any plastic-injection-molding tooling company, nothing is more important than making sure its molds allow for consistent, quick and clean demolding of just-made parts. So anything that helps the company achieve this crucial goal is worth pursuing.
In the small town of Wauwatosa, WI, sits the state-of-the-art noise, vibration and harshness laboratory operated by Briggs & Stratton. Within the lab are two anechoic chambers outfitted with sound-absorbing acoustic wedges.
Countries around the world share a common goal of reducing carbon emissions. Finland, for example, aims to reduce its level of emissions by 5 percent (5 million kilograms) each year by investing in green technology for public transportation.
Building complex assemblies is now a standard practice for electronic manufacturing services (EMS) companies. This reality applies to firms that do work locally, nationally or internationally.
Thermoelectric coolers are great for day trips, tailgating, boating or even overnight camping trips. Instead of ice, these coolers rely on a thin, flat electronic assembly called a Peltier device.
If you have been around for a while, you may recall the "Parts is Parts" commercial from the Wendy's fast-food chain. As bad as the "parts is parts" idea is for chicken sandwiches, it's equally bad for manufacturing.
Aerospace engineers around the world have been searching for new ways to make aircraft lighter and more fuel efficient. Aeroelastic wings may be the answer.
Daimler Buses is using additive manufacturing to make spare parts for vehicles on demand. The company's Centre of Competence for 3D Printing is examining more than 300,000 bus parts to determine their suitability for additive manufacturing.
In January, the U.S. and China agreed to a trade deal that cut some U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Chinese pledges to purchase more American farm, energy and manufactured goods and address U.S. complaints about intellectual property practices.