Manufacturing

Advanced manufacturing capabilities and globally sourced materials provide superior, cost-effective products

Neapco operates modern manufacturing locations throughout North America and Europe. At all locations, products are manufactured using the most advanced computer-controlled machinery and globally sourced materials to provide superior products at competitive prices. Neapco production plants use lean manufacturing, synchronous material flow, and demand-oriented manufacturing principles to optimize customer value.

Automated high-volume workflows and process improvement

Our Lean Enterprise at Neapco (LEAN) workflow incorporates the latest manufacturing innovations, including value-stream mapping (VSM), rapid continuous improvement (RCI), total productive maintenance (TPM) and Visual Factory. Manufacturing capability highlights include:

• Flexible assembly cells — Assembly of aluminum and steel driveshafts in single piece or multi-piece configurations
  
• Advanced tube assembly construction — Grob forming of splines into steel and aluminum tubing
  
• Advanced welding techniques — Friction welding of steel and aluminum, double- and single-ended magnetic impelled arc (MAB), automated gas metal arc (Pulse MIG)
  
• Automatic assembly straighteners — Automated correction to straighten shafts where necessary and improve balance
  
• State-of-the-art Vision System — Fully automated quality assurance to detect proper assembly and verify all parts are in place eliminates 100% visual inspection while ensuring quality and safety
• In-house heat-treating and high speed dynamic balancers — Produces ideal tolerances and durability
  
• Precision CNC 4-axis transfer machining and CNC turning — Produces close tolerance repeatedly on products
• Goss-Porta high-speed CNC transfer machine with robotic gantry — Able to produce over two million yokes a year

A full range of automated manufacturing capabilities:

• Automated hollow milling
• Vertical and horizontal broaching
• Centerless and cylindrical grinding
• Automatic welding and driveline assembly
• Automatic precision tube cut-off
• Automated straightening of driveshaft tubing
• Digitally controlled driveline balancing
• Extrusion forming
• High-volume production using multi-spindle chuckers
• Internal diameter grinding
• Manual and automatic needle loading
• Specialized CV joint manufacturing
• Spline hobbing
• Spline and thread rolling