Nearly every assembly process can be performed in several ways. Which option a manufacturer or integrator chooses for the best result is usually the one that matches a proven technology with a specific application.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, manufacturers of medical devices, monitoring systems and personal protection equipment continue their quest to make products that enhance the lives of all patients.

Manufacturing large, monolithic composite parts, such as a car body or an aircraft fuselage, requires a large and complex mold. As a result, the process can be quite costly. Alternatively, such complex parts can be manufactured less expensively by assembling a series of smaller parts using various joining techniques.

From forest fire prevention and border patrol to tax inspection and counterterrorism, the applications for aerial drones are multiplying daily. Now, there is a new use for them: transporting car parts.

At the beginning of 2020, Hervé de Malliard, CEO of systems integrator MGA Technologies in Civrieux d’Azergues, France, observed the first signs of the COVID-19 crisis.

The bicycle industry has emerged as one of the few beneficiaries of the coronavirus pandemic, as people search for ways to stay active, entertain children and commute to work. By some estimates, bicycle sales nationwide surged by 50 percent last year.

Steel has been, is now, and will continue to be the predominant material for vehicle structures and body parts, such as doors, hoods, liftgates and fenders. But, other materials, such as aluminum, magnesium, plastics and composites, are becoming increasingly important.

To join two aluminum parts, you could, in theory, place one atop the other and wait 100 years. The two will eventually form a solid-state bond. Metals naturally want to join with each other.