2 min read
In the automotive world, some components stay the same for years—like a transmission that runs unchanged for nearly a decade. But other parts, such as headlamps, tail lamps, and interior components, evolve almost every model year. That constant change presents a challenge for manufacturers. The good news? When your assembly equipment is built to last, you don’t have to start from scratch.
At WEBER, our screwdriving systems are designed for millions of cycles and years of reliable performance—so much so that customers often send them back to be retooled for new product designs. In many cases, it’s far more cost-effective to refresh and adapt an existing system than to purchase a brand-new one. Retooling has become a powerful, practical solution—especially in the fast-moving automotive industry.
Check out this video or read the transcript below to learn more:
You might have a transmission in a vehicle for five, six, or eight years. It's the same transmission over and over again, but your headlamps, your tail lamps, your interior parts - those change almost every model year. What’s interesting is that our equipment lasts so long and is so reliable that there's a whole business that we run here called Retools. A customer will say…
“We’re making these headlamps for the last three years, and we need to change to a different headlamp because the model ended and they're making something new, and of course, it's shaped differently.”
It's actually cheaper for them to send their WEBER screwdiving system back with millions of cycles on them and have us freshen them up and retool them for the new parts than it is to buy a new one.
It’s quite a business actually, believe it or not, is retooling machines for new products. And the automotive industry is the one that really probably does that the most.
