Manufacturing

Suzuki adds robots at Hungarian plant, but not at workers' expense Small-car specialist Suzuki is building at its Esztergom, Hungary, plant three of its own models (Swift hatchback, SX4 SUV, and the latest Splash ultracompact MPV) plus GME’s Opel/Vauxhall Agilas (rebadged Splash) and Fiat Sedici. Read full story

Comau helps speed the evolution of assembly Parts assembly has followed the same successive steps since the early 1900s, but in early 2010 the traditional production process marches in a new direction with Comau's SmartCell for powertrain and other automotive assembly tasks. Read full story

MMC brake drum 45% lighter than cast iron Lightweighting is a goal not just for light vehicles, as the folks at Century Inc. will gladly tell you. Its Advanced Materials Division has developed an aluminum metal matrix composite (MMC) manufacturing technology, along with a demonstrator brake drum for heavy trucks that weighs 38.5 lb (17.5 kg) and is interchangeable with standard cast iron drums weighing 70 lb (32 kg). Read full story

Longer range for new Omni-ID passive RFID tags Omni-ID has released a suite of new RFID products specifically designed for the manufacturing, transportation, and defense industries to track high-value assets. The 100-ft-plus read range Ultra tag uses 512-bit memory and 240-bit EPCglobal Class-1 Gen2-compliant silicon. Read full story