John Sprovieri

Adhesives offer many benefits over mechanical and thermal methods of assembly.

Manual assembly remains the most popular way to put together a product. Indeed, according to ASSEMBLY’s annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey, 87 percent of factories employ at least some manual operations to assemble their products. That figure has remained constant for the past 25 years, and it’s not all that surprising. After all, people are the most flexible assembly machines—just ask Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk!

In the factory of the future, software will be every bit as important to product assembly as robots, riveters and nutrunners. Software is helping manufacturers with a range of applications, from error-proofing individual workstations to analyzing the performance of assembly lines or entire plants.

Some 180 exhibitors will display the latest manufacturing products and services at the 2nd annual ASSEMBLY Show South, including fastening tools, adhesives, dispensing equipment, conveyors, robots, software and, of course, automated assembly systems.

According to ASSEMBLY’s annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey, sales of fastening tools should increase in 2024. Some 38 percent of assemblers will purchase DC electric nutrunners, pneumatic screwdrivers, cordless rivet setters and other tools this year, about the same percentage as in 2023. Demand will be particularly strong in the medical device, electrical equipment, and electronics industries.

Capacitor discharge (CD) welding is a form of resistance welding that relies on energy stored in a large capacitor bank instead of drawing directly from a power distribution network. Because of this ability to rely on stored energy, CD welders have welding times that are short and concentrated, around 12 milliseconds, as opposed to about 100 milliseconds on a typical resistance welder. For mass production, such small time savings can really add up.

Mobile robot manipulators are automating material handling tasks in industries such as automotive, logistics and aerospace.

The UniCrimp 208 crimping press has a modern and user-friendly design. With maximum crimp force of 33 kilonewtons, the machine reliably connects all rear-feed and side-feed banded terminals to a conductor with high quality and speed. A 7-inch touch-screen interface enables easy and direct operation. It can hold all common mechanical or pneumatic universal crimp tools and the corresponding terminal material. The optional, fully integrated ACO 08 crimp force monitoring system offers enhanced quality assurance. It accepts wire from 30 to 8 AWG. Crimp height is micro-adjustable.

The HX33 benchtop pneumatic crimp tool is an alternative to handheld tools. It accepts wire ranging from 24 to 10 AWG and operates on dry, standard shop air from 80 to 120 psi. The tool is compatible with most interchangeable Y dies that produce various crimp patterns including hex, nest and indent, B crimps, and crescents. This tool is designed to crimp insulated and noninsulated terminals, splices and coax connectors. A foot pedal activates the jaws of the tool. The machine is equipped with a transparent safety guard and an emergency release button to open the jaws in the event of a blockage.

The Stripax Plus hand tool can cut, strip and crimp single wires with cross-sections ranging from 20 to 14 AWG. Wire-end ferrules are stored in a magazine in the tool’s handle and are automatically transported to the crimping die. Adjustments for different cross-sections are made automatically; no manual adjustment is required. The stripping unit is self-adjusting, and strip length is adjustable via an end stop.