GM's Hardware

GM's huge expenditure gave the company the best technologies in automobile manufacturing. For example, robots are widely used in various manufacturing steps such as welding and painting of body parts. These robots are not just mechanical arms. They possess basic senses of touch and sight. As a result, these robots can perform simple inspection jobs and provide feed backs of their own performance to engineers ("March of the," 1987). In GM's factories, automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) help these robots. AGVs are small, unmanned trucks that move around a factory following cables buried under factory floor. The main function of AGVs is to transport components within a plant so that the robots or workers can have access to the right components at the right time and in the appropriate quantity ("March of the," 1987). Other than robots and AGVs, GM also installed quality control equipment. For instance, television cameras, computers, and laser-based measuring systems are used to check qualities in the Hamtramck factory in Detroit ("When GM's robots," 1991).