At SEAT’s automotive plant in Martorell, Spain, autonomous mobile robots deliver parts to the line. They don’t follow a track. They’re simply given a load and told where to go. Twenty-three miles away, engineers at Nissan’s assembly plant in Barcelona use additive manufacturing to produce 100 jigs and fixtures each year. At Merit Medical Systems’ factory in West Jordan, UT, the entire manufacturing process, from molding to packaging, is accomplished with almost no manual labor. This eBook details the leading-edge technologies of Industry 4.0.

Smart Factories: Here and Now

Highly automated smart factories are no longer a pie in the sky concept.—John Sprovieri

Automakers don’t need conveyors to transport vehicles on assembly lines—the vehicles can move themselves.—Seog-Chan Oh, Ph.D.

Conveyor-Less Micro Factories for Urban Car Production

Assembly of Compliant Structures with Autonomous Mobile Manipulators

A new approach for assembling composite aerostructures uses autonomous mobile robots and lightweight assembly jigs that compensate for deformation.—Maximilian Neitmann

Screwdriving Gripper Mimics Two-Handed Assembly

Researchers have developed a single end-of-arm tool that can simultaneously hold a part in place and install it at the same time.—Sangchul Han, Ph.D.