Positioning and workholding devices play a significant role in the automotive Body-in-White (BIW) manufacturing process.

At this automotive vehicle manufacturing stage, the plain, non-painted, steel body frame components are welded and assembled to form the vehicle’s basic structure, before painting and before the motor, chassis sub-assemblies or trim (glass, door locks/handles, seats, upholstery, electronics, etc.) have been integrated into the structure. The various frame components are positioned accurately and held securely during the BIW welding and assembling operations, which are performed by robotic or by manual processes. Exceptional products and design solutions are available to answer the BIW positioning and workholding needs.

The automotive BIW weld and assembly process is usually made up of a series of robotic welding cells surrounded by safety fencing and typically follows a build sequence similar to the following:

• The floor pan sub-assembly is the largest body component to which a multitude of panels and braces will subsequently be either welded or bolted. It comes into the BIW welding cell on a welding fixture/buck riding on a conveyor system and is positioned and held in place by clamping fixtures. As the floor pan moves down the assembly line, the shell of the vehicle is built.

First, the left and right quarter panels are robotically removed from pre-staged shipping containers and placed onto the floor pan, where they are stabilized with positioning and workholding fixtures and then welded in place.

Workholding in Body-in-White processes is accomplished using jigs and fixtures with integrated manual and power clamping devices.

Material handling tasks that load and move workpieces from one BIW workstation to another are usually accomplished manually or by using robots which employ various end effectors and grippers.

Locator pins and positioning devices are used to properly position workpieces in a jig or fixture according to the vehicle’s BIW geometric dimensioning and tolerance clamping schemes. Then, pneumatic power clamping devices are used to hold workpieces in the desired position and secure them in the jig or fixture against the fixture rest points to prevent movement and distortion during the welding process.