Gerry Nord

Upgrading any piece of machinery can produce anxious headaches. Often we cause our own headaches by failing truly to justify the reasons to upgrade, choosing instead simply to answer the question, "Can we afford to spend the money?" Answering that question is really easy. Either the money's...

To develop or find a new tool and perhaps a new press to make a part, managers need information about the tonnage requirement, which mean they will need to know more about how the part will form and the loads it will impart into the press and tooling also. Linear or nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) can find the information so managers can make an informed decision. With FEA, a fabricator uses a computer-aided design system to develop a model of the part, and then the computer divides the part into many small parts. The FEA software then applies standard stress analysis equations to each side of every part.