Car Manufacturers Meet EPA Emissions Regulations
3 May 1999
Car Manufacturers Meet EPA Emissions Regulations With Precision Manufacturing Systems
WARREN, Mich.--May 1, 1999--Over the last 20 years, car makers have relied upon a broad range of technologies to produce engines that meet new EPA emission regulations. Since the 1970s, advances in precision manufacturing systems have made substantial contributions toward reducing total emissions while improving fuel economy and engine reliability."Improvements in cutting tools, grinding systems and CNC technology allow today's engine builders to routinely achieve levels of precision that could not even be measured a decade ago," claims Clayton A. Williams, President of the Industrial Automation Systems (IAS) group of UNOVA, Inc. . "Along with innovations such as fuel injection, multiple valves and lighter materials, cars today are 96 percent cleaner and 50 percent more fuel efficient than in the 1970s."
According to Williams, machining and grinding precision for many engine components has kept pace with other technological advances. In some cases, machining is 100 times more precise than 20 years ago. Today industry routinely achieves accuracies in the five to 25 micron range. By comparison, a human hair is about 70 microns in diameter. Further, UNOVA systems hold these levels of precision throughout production runs of 300,000 or more engines per year.
Lamb Technicon Machining Systems, Warren, Mich., and Landis Gardner, Waynesboro, Pa., are both divisions of UNOVA Industrial Automation Systems, Inc. The company is North America's largest manufacturing systems designer, developer, integrator and builder of dedicated and flexible precision manufacturing systems for the global automotive, aerospace and general metalworking industries.
Headquartered in Southern California, UNOVA is a $2 billion industrial technologies company. It has global leadership positions in manufacturing systems and machine tools for the global automotive, aerospace and general metalworking industries and for automated data collection, mobile computing, wireless networking and radio frequency identification systems for industrial, distribution, transportation, logistics, and government applications.
www.unova.com
EDITORS: A news graphic (color and b/w; EPS and TIFF) illustrating the trend between machining precision and emissions can be found at http://www.unova.com/cleanengines.
