Assembly Magazine

Assembly Breaking News Automotive Assembly BERLIN — Volkswagen plans to reduce its global vehicle lineup by as much as half as part of a sweeping restructuring aimed at lowering costs and improving competitiveness amid rising pressure from Chinese automakers and global tariffs. The automaker announced the strategy following a supervisory board meeting Thursday but did not specify which models would be eliminated or whether factories would close.

Assembly Breaking News ASSEMBLY TrendsNew Products AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — ABB Robotics has introduced the Flexley Stack F712, an autonomous forklift that expands the company's autonomous mobile robot lineup for manufacturing applications. The new forklift is designed to support material movement for manufacturing operations. It joins ABB's existing autonomous tugs and movers, allowing manufacturers to automate a broader range of material-handling tasks within production facilities.

Assembly Breaking News Automotive Assembly BERLIN — Volkswagen's supervisory board is scheduled to meet July 9 to consider a sweeping restructuring plan that could include plant closures, job cuts and changes to the automaker's corporate structure as it seeks to address mounting financial and competitive pressures.

Assembly Breaking News ASSEMBLY TrendsMachinery AssemblyElectronics AssemblyManufacturing Software BOSTON — Manufacturing companies are increasingly developing software, data and AI platforms alongside traditional products as manufacturers look to connect production systems, workforce knowledge and operational data. Now Mitsubishi Electric has created a dedicated space just for that sort of innovation.

Assembly Breaking News Automotive Assembly Automakers around the world are faced with supply chain uncertainty and trade risks. Photo courtesy Stellantis DETROIT—Automakers around the world are entering a new chapter, faced with supply chain uncertainty and trade risks, according to a recent study by AlixPartners.

Assembly Breaking News Hulett ore unloaders made in Cleveland were once in use throughout the lower Great Lakes. Photo courtesy Library of Congress CLEVELAND—A historic factory here that once built huge material handling machines is being redeveloped by a modular housing manufacturer. MMY US Inc. has acquired a vacant building that housed the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Engineering Co., a firm that specialized in making equipment for mines and steel mills.

Assembly Breaking News Appliance AssemblyAutomated Assembly Systems MELBOURNE, Ark. — Oobotic has opened its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Melbourne, Ark., where the company plans to produce consumer products using automated manufacturing systems and AI-enabled production technology. The company will invest approximately $6.5 million in the 97,000-square-foot facility and expects to create up to 70 jobs over the next four years.

Assembly Breaking News Automotive Assembly SAN ANTONIO — Toyota Motor North America will invest $3.6 billion to expand its San Antonio manufacturing campus, adding a second vehicle assembly line for the Tacoma pickup and creating approximately 2,000 jobs. As we first previewed in this month's ASSEMBLY News Now program, the project will add 2.5 million square feet to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas, doubling the size of the campus by 2030.

Click play to watch the video update Tesla has been one of the most closely watched manufacturers in the auto industry. And a new comparison of automakers by workforce efficiency shows a complicated picture. In this episode of ASSEMBLY News Now, we look at how Tesla stacks up against Toyota and BYD, and what the numbers suggest about manufacturing efficiency, workforce scale and the changing competitive landscape in the global auto industry.

Automotive AssemblyAutomated Assembly SystemsScrewdriving and Riveting AssemblyRobotics Assembly The researchers evaluates three sensors: the Sick TriSpector1030 (laser line triangulation), the Photoneo PhoXi S (visible stripe pattern structured light) and the Asus Xtion Pro Live. Tightening bolts with a six-axis robot was once thought impossible. The robot simply could not match the precision, dexterity and feel of a person with a handheld tool. Today, that’s changing.