The conventional way to build sensors involves hands-on assembling that can cause flawed product, but a fully automated process for producing sensors is about to reach the automotive industry.

"There is nobody else in the world who can do this today. For sensors of this kind of rating -- 600 A -- fully automated manufacturing is very unique," said Eric Wentz, Senior Vice President & General Manager of LEM's automotive program.

Currently, Geneva, Switzerland, is the production location for 3000 different sensors. Various industries utilize the sensors, which are automatically produced at the rate of two million units a year. "Everybody's involved in the care and feeding of the machine, which produces the product in an enclosed environment," Wentz said.

The machine consumes about 1000 ft2 of floor space. About a dozen plant workers oversee the automated production line, handling machine maintenance, machine feeding, and machine monitoring. "When making a product this complex, you have to go to techniques that guarantee that everything will be repeatable and reliable. When you produce sensors by hand, there are too many variables that you can't control. If finger oil gets on a board, for instance, it may be two years later and the sensor fails. We built sensors differently because of that and other types of environmental intrusion," Wentz said.

While LEM has had automotive application ties -- i.e., electric steering and drive motor sensors for the GM EV1 electric vehicle and Ford Ranger electric pickup truck -- new, smaller-sized sensors will be produced via a yet-to-be constructed, completely automated production line. "We understand automated manufacturing pretty well," Wentz said.

The new sensors, whose applications include electric power steering sensing and battery monitoring, will appear on vehicles in the 2002 model year. With rough measurements of 1 x 1.25 x 0.25 in thick, the new sensors will replace product that is about 10 times larger.