Assembly Automation: Volume 5 Issue 3

Fiat assembles engines automatically

Fiat is to achieve 80% automation in assembly of its new FIRE 1000 engine in a plant built for it by Comau to turn out 21,000 engines a day.

Part presentation costs in robot assembly

G. Boothroyd, P. Dewhurst, C.C. Lennartz

The authors assess the suitability of different types of parts presentation devices in a variety of robotic assembly situations.

Expert system guides CAD for automatic assembly

Colin Runciman, Ken Swift

A knowledge‐based system is under development to provide component designers at CAD workstations with estimated costs and proposed design modifications for automated manufacture.

Pushing the limits of flexibility

THORN EMI'S Central Research Laboratories are studying the feasibility of a kit of hardware and software parts which can be put together easily by medium and small firms to obtain…

Safety first for wheel assembly

Computer electronic control is now finding its way into nut running and screwdriving. Pioneering developments by Desoutter have been taken up by some of General Motors' plants in…

Large‐scale assembly system for printers

Oki Electric reduces cycle time to 15s in its latest line, which consists of 48 robots. John Hartley reports.

Designing fasteners for automated assembly

Gordon Price

Automated installation of fasteners makes special demands both on their design and on their reliability.