Creating an efficient offline band sawing system: ArrayArray
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Creating an efficient offline band sawing system Part I: Part I: focus on material handlingPlanning an offline band sawing system can be complicated because it can affect, and is affected by, many interrelated factors. Breaking it down to infeed, sawing, and outfeed helps to frame the planning by breaking it down to three subprocesses. Furthermore, answering 15 pertinent questions can help you tailor an efficient sawing operation to your specific facility and sawing applications.
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Increasing waterjet cutting profitability: How to get abrasive use and fixed costs under controlLast year an estimated 1,500 waterjets were sold worldwide, almost 800 of those in North America. As more waterjets are purchased, veteran and new waterjet owners must look for ways to increase profitability and remain competitive.
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Long loads, narrow aisles, easy access: Side-loading lift truck handles cumbersome products in confined spacesSince starting with just one warehouse in 1989, J G Kelly Supplies has grown along with Ireland's booming construction industry. Limiting factors such as the warehouse's doorway width, narrow aisles, and 90-degree turns meant the company had to rely on manual labor to handle the long, cumbersome items in its inventory. A standard forklift was out of the question. The company eventually purchased a multidirectional side-loading lift truck from Combilift for moving inventory in this challenging environment.
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Handling improvements in safety, efficiency: It's in the way that you move itEver more stringent safety standards, driven largely by OSHA and state regulators, have led many fabricators to examine closely their material handling processes. Side loaders can provide safety benefits as well as improve material handling efficiency.
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Better safe than saw awry: Contract manufacturer promotes safety and gains efficiency by relying on lift truck and new saw loaderWhen a machine operator cut a bundle of barstock open to load into a saw, the bands popped, moving the blocks that were put there to safely contain the bars. The bars fell on the operator's foot and trapped it. Not wanting to duplicate that nightmare, engineers at Kirsan Engineering, Kenosha, Wis., set about to create a method of loading barstock that relied on lift trucks, not cranes.
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A new look at lift trucks: New environmental regulations lead to new material handling engine technologiesCalifornia is on the leading edge of environmental protectionism, and because it is such a large industrial market, the state's environmental regulations are influencing what metal fabricators might be drivng in their facilities.
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Pipe supplier reduces aisle width, material handlingArray
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Reaching peak performance, productivity: Alpine uses automation to shorten lead-times, increase production capacityAlpine Engineered Products had more business than it could handle: It was straining its resources and personnel in a way that made the company have to look outside its semiautomatic welding practices. Eventually robotic welding helped the company meet its production, lead-time, and turnover challenges -- and keep the company growing.
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Automation helps ovenmaker cook up profits: Wood Stone Corp., Bellingham, Wash., learns valuable lessons as a resultWhat kind of a difference did an automated fabricating system make for Wood Stone Corp., Bellingham, Wash.? Before the system, the company actually had more people in the shop, and they were working 10 hour days for about 4-6 months to make fewer products than are produced today.
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Manufacturing evolution in the job shop: Contract manufacturer figures out how to accomplish more with lessGardner Manufacturing, Horicon, Wis., needed automation and flexibility to keep up with more challenging customer demands. The contract manufacturer found its answer with two laser cutting devices with automated material handling and three new press brakes capable of precision bending.
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Successful automation isn't automatic: Fabricators need to communicate and ask the right questionsAs with so many other ventures in life, successfully implementing a laser automation system rests on one key practice: communication.
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