All Ford articles – Page 36
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ArticleEditor's Note: Automotive Paintshop Solutions
Customer colour choices and expectationsIn the present tough economic climate, the paintshop community could be forgiven for concentrating on cost cutting, streamlining operations and even looking for opportunities to ‘manualise’ some paint operations.As equipment budgets tighten and line workers are laid off from assembly work, they could possibly be available ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Welding
Sharing numbersRemote weldingDominating the marketIn the first issue of AMS, it was predicted that a welding revolution was on the horizon. Important news, as there are up to 3,000 individual resistance spot welds on every passenger vehicle.The revolution, it was reported, was to be brought about by the arrival of ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Pressing, tool & die
Hi-tech toolingStronger die steelsLatest and greatestIt was not until the oil crisis of the 1970s, together with the rapid penetration of Japanese-built vehicles into Western markets, that European and American carmakers were forced to update antiquated press lines.Faced with an increasing demand for lighter, more aerodynamic vehicles that the existing ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Paintshop
Environmental concernsNew products for old plantsCutting emissionsNew plants lead the waySmooth finishThe early years of this decade saw paint solution providers introduce a series of new preparation and application techniques. For their part, OEM carmakers analyzed the new products and technologies with growing interest but, with the exception of a ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Measurement & quality
Sensors determine finish qualityKeeping it in shapeMobile scanningDisruptiveMeasurement is a key aspect of maintaining quality in a variety of areas of automotive part manufacture and assembly. As well as physical areas like fit and finish, and gap and flush, quality measurements must also be made in areas such as the ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Materials
Money isn’t the whole storyThe solution is compromisePlastic is on formExotic metals such as titanium and magnesium offer carmakers lightweight alternatives to standard materials. But drawbacks such as the strength (or lack of it) and cost of the basic commodity have served to kept these choices very much in the ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Machining
Improving the qualityUnder pressureEasy to alterThe machine tool industry has traditionally been the provider of dedicated lines (transfer and special machine tools) to handle the five ‘Cs’: cylinder blocks; cylinder heads; crankshafts; camshafts; and connecting rods.But these lines needed more flexibility if parts producers were not to be left with ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Lasers & vision
Boxing cleverExtremely costlyGoing furtherVision systems can help maintain and improve quality standards across most areas of car production, while also driving new technology designed to increase automation and reduce production costs.Such systems are predominantly used in the following areas: part inspection (including measurement); assembly verification; flaw detection; and part identification ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Digital manufacturing
Getting the full pictureVirtual part and plant developmentFull circleLegacy creates problemsThe first issue of AMS noted that General Motors had, in 2000, already been using simulation tools for over a decade. At plants around the world the company had put various software packages into widespread use in applications ranging from ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Conveyors & robotics
Beyond weldingLending a robotic handWhat goes up must come downGetting it thereImproving functionalityNo other application in automotive production is, or will ever be, as robot-intensive as welding. In 2000, AMS reported that both GM and Ford were purchasing robots in their hundreds for the production of the new Corsa and ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Automation systems
Market saturationTouch sensitiveFull automationProtecting the peopleIn 2000, AMS reported BMW as having a total of 1,275 bodyin- white robots in total at its Dingolfing, Regensburg and Munich plants. The Regensburg equipment alone, totalling 475 units, represented an investment of $320 million. Meanwhile, GM had installed 500 Fanuc robots at its ...
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ArticleAMS 10th Anniversary: Assembly & testing
Interviewed by AMS in 2000, Henrik Hakonsson, CFrom clay to CraySilence is goldenEngine and part testingMeeting the targethief Executive of Bruel and Kjaer, called for ‘intelligent’ tools which would make sound and vibration testing equipment both easier to use and better at data collection.“There is a definite need for innovation ...
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ArticleChanging times
AMS magazine is 10 years old this year. During this time, it has reported on some of the most exciting - and turbulent - times in car making’s historyNano – a car for everymanHow globalization really panned outQuality expectationsWritten on the bodyIn the eye of the beholderPowertrain – testing timesFrom ...
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Article
Morin resigns as CEO of Valeo over a disagreement
Paris, France – Valeo has announced that CEO Thierry Morin has resigned. The move comes following a reported disagreement over company strategy. Jacques Aschenbroich has been named as his replacement. Morin had been Chairman and CEO for eight years.In a statement, Valeo said, “This decision comes as a result of ...
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Article
Wagoner steps down as CEO of GM at request
Washington, DC – GM CEO Rick Wagoner has stepped down at the request of the US presidential administration. He will be succeeded as CEO by COO Fritz Henderson.Board member Kent Kresa, Chairman Emeritus of Northrop Grumman, will take over as interim non-executive chairman of the GM board.GM has said it ...
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ArticleEastern Europe’s engine of growth
Why Hungary?Mercedes moves inGM plans no assembly restartAutomation and shifts in productionNew machinery - the ‘Dream Budget’Cold test and hot testNext stop - UzbekistanPlant building – integrator or GM?Suzuki revisitedRenaissance manSumming up the Suzuki way in HungaryKey suppliers in HungaryMany financial commentators have forecast that after the current recession ends, ...
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Article
Muir steps down as CEO of Mazda
Oberursal, Germany – Mazda Motor Europe CEO James Muir has stepped down from his position. Muir’s replacement will be current Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Guyton.Muir, who had been head of Mazda’s European operations since 2005, is said to be taking up a new position outside Mazda, possibly with a rival ...
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ArticleWhat lies beneath the site
History in the makingNew beginning for Browns LaneEven before the recent slowdown, questions of how to deal with a industrial plant at the end of its useful life had preoccupied automakers for some time. The core concept of what an automotive manufacturing site should be has, after half a century ...
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ArticleComposites in carmaking
As fuel prices continue to rise and awareness of climate change grows, one might expect carbon fibre and other lightweight composites to be at the top of every carmaker’s R&D shopping list, but things are not so simpleFrom the supercar to the super low-cost carRound and black – and a ...
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ArticlePlus and minus for hybrids
How carmakers and their partner companies are advancing towards the goal of bringing electric, hybrid-electric and other alternative powertrains to marketRecharging Michigan’s battered economyThe Renault-Nissan Alliance’s electric car infrastructure projectPowering the Chevrolet VoltLi-Ion fires, short battery life and other challengesToshiba – electric vehicle power on four or two wheelsConnecting tyres ...