Assembly Planbook - April 2008 - (Page 2) April 2008 Vol. 51, No. 4 24 ASSEMBLY 66 COVER STORY 34 24 Little Lessons From the Big Boys Sometimes, even lean leaders suffer quality lapses.—Austin Weber FEATURES 52 DEPARTMENTS Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The challenge of electronics waste.—Don Hegland 34 Soldering the Unsolderable With ultrasonics, assemblers can solder aluminum, titanium and other difficult materials without flux.—John Sprovieri Welding Beads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Electrons and lasers.—Don Hegland 38 Ensuring Effective Robotic Dispensing A strong team and clear expectations are critical to implementing a system that will provide a good return on investment.—Thomas R. Tudor Quality in Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Laser sensors can measure many parts of an assembly. —John Sprovieri Assembly Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 North American robot orders jump 24 percent. 42 The Intricacies of Accumulation Alpine and serpentine systems are assembly workhorses.—Ray Johnson Assembly in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Surface-mount printer doubles company output. Assembly Plant of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Learn how to apply for our fifth annual award. 44 Torque Trade-Offs Some suppliers tout the ergonomic benefits of their tools; others emphasize the accuracy of their products.—Paul Wallace Product Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 In-depth profiles of the latest assembly technology. Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Leading Lean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Manage your time.—Jamie Flinchbaugh 52 Put Your Coat On Conformal coatings protect electronic assemblies from the elements.—Bill Boyd NEXT MONTH Cover photo courtesy Toyota Motor Manufacturing Inc. Vacuum Grippers Machine Vision Systems Leak Testing Appliances Wire Processing Efficiency Package-on-Package Assembly 2 ASSEMBLY / April 2008 www.assemblymag.com http://www.assemblymag.com http://www.assemblymag.com
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