As you drive your car on its daily commute to and from the store you may not fully appreciate the technology that has gone into getting your vehicle from the design stage through the production process and onto the road.
Technology has always been the main driver of the automotive industry and you will find that nowhere is this more evident than on the production line. Indeed, one of the pioneers of mass auto manufacturing, Henry Ford, developed what we know today as the mass assembly production line, a system in which interchangeable component parts are assembled on a single line, reducing both the number of parts and the number of individual workers required. On modern-day production lines, robots are being increasingly used in place of human workers, generating even more efficiencies in terms of production time. Other pioneering manufacturing techniques, such as lean manufacturing, have increased efficiencies by cutting down on the wastage inherent in more traditional processes.
To illustrate further the developments underpinning automotive manufacturing, take the technology behind the modern disperser mixer unit. Working on the basis of the principle of energy transfer, a disperser mixer breaks apart lumps of powdery material in rapid movement, distributing the material and wetting in a uniform manner. In the context of automotive manufacturing, a disperser mixer would be used to disperse adhesives, sealants, oils, and lubricants. Sofraden, a leading maker of disperser mixer units, has utilized modern technology to make a new generation of disperser mixers that match extremely fast dispersion actions with short mixing time in a way that achieves the end product viscosity and fineness desired by end user. Such high-end equipment goes a long way to achieving the desired efficiencies of auto manufacturers.
Of course, before a vehicle can be manufactured it has to be developed first and technology plays a critical role here too. The availability of computer-aided design allows engineers to create basic concept drawings speedily and at relatively low cost. The testing of models by engineers allows for the identification of flaws and inefficiencies before the production process has even begun.
Technology has also had an effect on the type of materials used to make cars. Most of the material used to build a car is virgin steel, but developments in petroleum-based products have been utilized by car makers, with plastics and vinyls used increasingly in the manufacture of car components. These materials are lighter in weight compared to steel and have a bearing on fuel efficiency, which in an era of fossil-fuel scarcity is an important consideration for car makers. If you happen to come across any issues with your car, National.co.uk is always available to help.
Technology will continue to shape auto manufacturing into the future. The advent of the electric car is a notable development and it is benefiting from advances in things like battery power, with high-performance cells capable of producing the power to drive cars in a way that matches the capabilities of gasoline. Computer technology is having an effect also and we are already seeing cars that have the ability to park themselves. In the future, on-board computers will not only perform some of the things that we as drivers do at present but will also collect information on external road conditions to facilitate the easing of road congestion, to give just one example of their future functionality.
