Content tagged with "plant"
Results: 43
Article
August 8, 2006
A breath of fresh air
Ten years ago laser cutting offered a distinctive advantage to those who invested in the technology. For the most part, successful laser cutting required gas, optics, and patience. The decade has brought many changes to laser cutting, including higher power levels and faster drive... Read more...
Article
February 26, 2004
Do you see the light?
To be more specific, fabricators may be missing out on an opportunity to pocket some savings if they haven't taken a close look at how their operations are consuming energy. And with the economic environment as tough as it is, many fabricators probably are concentrating more on the... Read more...
Article
January 29, 2004
Choosing the right robotic weld cell for your operation
If a company does much hand welding, it may have loose tolerances on the prints. However, a robot cannot work with these kinds of tolerances. A robot can maintain a good weld only if the parts are held to a tolerance of ± half the weld wire diameter. If this is not determined at... Read more...
Article
January 29, 2004
Taxing situation
That's why The FABRICATOR® sought out a tax expert to explain the opportunities presented by the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, signed into law by the president this summer. Mark Sellner is the managing principal of tax services for Larson Allen, Weishair,... Read more...
Article
January 29, 2004
Managing environmental risk in tube, pipe production
Editor's Note: This article is adapted from a presentation made at the TPJ Symposium, March 16-18, 2003, Scottsdale, Ariz. The U.S. Congress and the states have created a complex scheme of environmental rules and regulations with which tube and pipe producers must comply.... Read more...
Article
December 11, 2003
Finding and creating value in your stamping operation
Their focus on time requires that material flow smoothly through the production processes in concert with sales orders, raw materials, and purchased parts. It also requires smaller production batch sizes. Most important, these companies have learned that the greatest waste and excess... Read more...
Article
October 9, 2003
Investing in lubricants
Raw materials and overhead account for 75 percent (see Figure 1) of an average metal forming company's total operating cost. Improving these two areas can make the biggest impact on your bottom line. But what if you've optimized your material costs by paying the lowest price for your... Read more...
Article
October 9, 2003
Predicting springback in air bending, straight flanging
Editor's Note: This column was prepared by the staff of the Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing (ERC/ NSM), The Ohio State University, Professor Taylan Altan, director. Air bending and straight flanging are the most prevalent types of bending in sheet metal forming.... Read more...
Article
September 25, 2003
Stamping 101
Figure 1 The Catalyst To make the facility a reality, in 2000 Mike Chester, president and co-owner of Buhrke Industries, a Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive stamper, donated 1,750 square feet of space in one of Buhrke's buildings. Once a location was established, many Chicago-area... Read more...
Article
September 25, 2003
Protecting yourself from gases and fumes
Protecting yourself from fumes and gases often means overcoming objections. Some welders mistakenly argue that running a fan to blow smoke away eliminates risk. Others avoid using protective equipment because it's uncomfortable or takes too long to set up. Worse, your workplace might not... Read more...
Article
September 25, 2003
Getting a handle on work-related hand injuries
Of the 3.6 million work-related injuries treated annually in emergency rooms across the U.S., hands and fingers are the most commonly treated body parts, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90 percent of all acute injuries in the workplace are... Read more...
Article
September 25, 2003
Supporting the defense
United Defense's motto is Changing the future of defense™. One of its latest missions toward this goal was to introduce a direct diode laser into its Aberdeen, S.D., manufacturing facility. The company designs, develops, and produces combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile... Read more...
Article
July 24, 2003
Tier 1 supplier builds four-stage competitive strategy
F & P Manufacturing Inc., a Tier 1 automotive supplier, is no stranger to competitive and financial pressures. Unrelenting competitive pressures come from the many other Tier 1 suppliers looking for opportunities to increase their slice of the automotive pie. Financial pressures come from... Read more...
Article
July 10, 2003
Article
June 12, 2003
Al GMAW: CC or CV?
I've read that constant-current (CC) power supplies are preferred for gas metal arc welding (GMAW) aluminum, but when I visit companies that sell welding equipment, they tell me I want a constant-voltage (CV) power supply. What's the real story? Can I use the more common CV power supplies or... Read more...
Article
June 12, 2003
What's that material?
An XRF system can be integrated at a detector station before final packaging. The tubes are held in place by a pneumatic clamp while the XRF detector is raised to make contact with the tube and perform the measurement. This process confirms the alloy grade of the material typically in two... Read more...
Article
June 12, 2003
Looking to the future
The decision to produce cut-to-length steel and blanks at the new plant arose from regional stampers' and other manufacturers' need for these products. Designing a Custom Facility Once committed to building a new plant in the Southeast, Thompson's management began planning the... Read more...
Article
May 29, 2003
Handling the rush
Photo courtesy of Hanna Steel Corp., Fairfield, Ala.
Think delicate: an antique vase, velvet gloves, the sweet sound of string music.
Then imagine a typical stamping operation: bam-bam, metal on metal, all day long.
OK, now put those two together. Voil—you've... Read more...
Article
May 15, 2003
Finding the best splice for your light-duty conveyor
In most light-duty conveyor systems, one of the key factors in obtaining conveyor uptime is achieving the optimal splice. Reviewing the available alternatives in light of the realities of your conveyor system will suggest which type might serve your needs best. Belting designed for... Read more...
Article
April 24, 2003
Truckin' along through a stamping plant
The earlier cab models were built in a facility that was converted in 1921 to produce the model S truck line, a truck with a 1.5-ton load capacity and a top speed of 30 MPH. The company determined that it could not competitively launch a new line of vehicles without building a new... Read more...
Article
November 29, 2001
Ensuring a plant's electrical system safety
Many people work in buildings that were constructed more than 40 years ago. At the time they were built, no one could have imagined the power requirements of the 21st century. An older plant has much more equipment today than it did when it was built, and each piece of equipment pulls... Read more...
Article
November 29, 2001
Maximizing your scrap's value
Scrap, an often annoying byproduct for metal fabricators, is raw material for scrap metal recyclers. Just as you closely watch the quality of your incoming raw materials, scrap recyclers watch the quality of their incoming raw materials. The more uniform and free of contaminants the scrap... Read more...
Article
November 15, 2001
Is robotic welding right for you?
Recent shortages of trained labor, combined with advances in technology, present a convincing argument to introduce robotic welding to many factory and job shop operations. When a fabricating company already operating at its highest production capacity gets a bigger contract, it is... Read more...
Article
November 15, 2001
Article
November 15, 2001
Contract stamper increases die life and draw die productivity
Object Jancox Stampings has remained competitive by investing in link drive mechanical presses from PTC, offering value-added assembly services, and encouraging employee initiatives. The article discusses how the presses work and how reduced speed reduces springback (which allows the company... Read more...
Article
November 15, 2001
Assessing cutting and forming machine tool safety
During the past decade increasingly comprehensive machine tool safety standards have been adopted in many countries, including the U.S. The expanded breadth of recent standards typically includes the entire life expectancy of machines, the full scope of possible risks, the frequency and severity... Read more...
Article
October 11, 2001
Article
October 11, 2001
Article
October 11, 2001
Installing and maintaining coil cradles and reels
All stamping and forming operations outside of the powder or forging industries begin with coiled steel. In many fabricators' plants, the decoiler, payoff reel, recoiler, tensioner, or other coil handling equipment require constant maintenance. Installation The nature of the... Read more...
Article
September 17, 2001
Welding exhaust system components
In the field of automobile exhaust systems, such components as manifolds, pipes, catalytic converters, and mufflers are joined either by the car manufacturer or by a subcontractor to form a subassembly ready for attachment. Today, large numbers of these components are welded with a laser.... Read more...
Article
September 13, 2001
Selecting the right materials for roll forming—Part 2
Alloyed Steel In addition to carbon, large varieties of metallic and nonmetallic elements are used to achieve the desired mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The most frequently used alloying elements are manganese, cobalt, chromium, copper, molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, zirconium,... Read more...
Article
September 4, 2001
Robotic arc welding gets smart in real time
Though robots probably are best-known for their ability to accomplish repetitive manufacturing tasks, it's no secret that, by themselves, they are unintelligent and must be told what to do. They are silent, unable to talk over problems with their controller, power sources, the robot in... Read more...
Article
August 23, 2001
Article
July 26, 2001
How to avoid getting burned by hot work
Hot work can have disastrous results in a myriad of situations: At a metal processing plant, sheet steel became jammed in a tempering mill. An operator began using a cutting torch to remove the steel. Hot slag from the torch ignited oil deposits and oil-soaked paper towels lying around... Read more...
Article
July 12, 2001
Thermal spray safety and OSHA compliance
Object Thermal spray equipment normally is operated in special enclosures designed to reduce noise levels, extract fumes, and provide direct viewing of the spray nozzle when it's used in high production environments. Occasionally R&D projects, large parts, low production runs, or complex... Read more...
Article
July 12, 2001
The growing use of orbital tube welding
This trend is due partly to orbital welding's capability to make an entrapment-free, permanent connection that is highly resistant to vibration. This makes it a good choice for joints that are not intended to be disassembled in the future. However, the appeal of orbital welding also is due to... Read more...
Article
June 15, 2001
Gas-shielded cored wires find their niche
Object Gas-shielded flux-cored arc welding (FCAW) and metal-cored arc welding (MCAW) are growing in popularity for many applications. To determine if these wires should be used, shop managers should understand how formulations of cored wires do or do not fit their quality requirements for... Read more...
Article
May 15, 2001
Article
March 5, 2001
Article
February 19, 2001
Article
February 19, 2001
Article
February 19, 2001
Article
February 19, 2001
Didn't find what you were looking for? Try our search page to refine your results
