Content tagged with "production"
Results: 36
Article
August 1, 2009
Don't forget the fixturing
Specifying and purchasing a robotic welding system can be a confusing process requiring predictions about future volumes and types of jobs. Along the way, the robotic system manufacturer and the integrator, if you are working with one, will help specify the best system for your application.... Read more...
Article
May 15, 2006
Troubleshooting Guide for Cleaners
This guide is part of an article series " Flushing out four-letter words-rust, dirt, and wear; Part II: Removing soils effectively ," by Mike Pelham, International Chemical Co., Philadelphia, reprinted from the June 2006 issue of The Tube & Pipe Journal®. The article addresses how to... Read more...
Article
April 11, 2005
Tension control in tube and pipe production
On a tube or pipe mill, the incoming strip is formed by about 24 pairs of tool stands. To help ensure such a line runs smoothly, the strip must be pulled between every pair of stands. The parameter that indicates if or how much the strip is pulled is tension. Traditionally, tension is... Read more...
Article
October 12, 2004
Certifying the quality of your tube and pipe
Many testing services are available to ensure the quality of tube and pipe. Laboratories that perform the testing provide certified reports that summarize the test results and state whether or not the materials meet the testing acceptance criteria. Many industries, including military,... Read more...
Article
September 14, 2004
Thinking about an equipment upgrade?
It's no secret that manufactured products change continuously. Technological developments and higher consumer expectations are two of the forces that drive changes in nearly every manufactured item. Just as manufactured goods change, so do the approaches used to manufacture them. From... Read more...
Article
September 14, 2004
The case for open-book management
Editor's Note: This column was prepared by the staff of Winning Workplaces, a not-for-profit organization that helps small and midsized businesses create better work environments. Some companies' financial information is not exclusively in the realm of accountants and top management.... Read more...
Article
June 8, 2004
Dangerous curves
Provocative lines and innovative materials are the hallmarks of luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar has reaped the benefits of aluminum since 1922, when the company, then known as the Swallow Sidecar Co., designed sidecars out of lightweight aluminum panels. Since then the... Read more...
Article
May 4, 2004
Article
November 20, 2003
Laser tube processing
Although many new applications are made possible by modern lasers, laser processing is not entirely new to tube production. Manufacturers have used lasers to cut tube and pipe since the late 1970s. At job shops most of this laser tube cutting was performed on flat sheet cutting laser... Read more...
Article
October 23, 2003
Tube Hydroforming Design Flexibility—Part IV
Editor's Note: This article is Part IV in a series about tube hydroforming design flexibility. Please read Part I , Part II , Part III , and Part V .
Material selection is a very important aspect of design flexibility when striving to fulfill part functionality requirements.... Read more...
Article
September 25, 2003
Making the most of hydroforming
Figure 1 To help ensure successful part development, it is necessary to establish a multitask project team. Designers, hydroforming technologists, and material specialists should be involved in the component stage. To achieve possible economic benefits from this process, it is... Read more...
Article
August 28, 2003
Article
August 14, 2003
Selecting equipment for a robotic welding workcell
Keep the end result—the product that the robotic workcell is turning out —as your primary focus when you select automation equipment. The entire workcell, no one part of it, is crucial for successful integration and an expedient return on investment. A robot is repeatable and makes... Read more...
Article
June 12, 2003
Using technology to implement lean manufacturing
Lean manufacturing meshes today's information technology with Toyota's much-lauded just-in-time (JIT) approach, which has been adopted by many manufacturers. The Toyota Production System assembly line manufacturing methodology, developed in the 1950s, professed the importance of "getting the... 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
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
September 26, 2002
Production economics
I'd be willing to bet that if I sent you a request for quote (RFQ) that specified various quantities, your quoted unit price would decrease as the batch size increased. However, you eventually reach a point at which increasing the batch size does not significantly lower the price. Your customer... Read more...
Article
March 14, 2002
Maintaining a coil feed line for optimum production
Object Today's metal stamping facilities are faced with a variety of demands, including increasing production, improving quality, and reducing operating costs. How does a manufacturer attain all of these goals in both good and bad economic times? Some of the simplest and least expensive... Read more...
Article
November 29, 2001
Using existing tooling for new product applications
Figure 1: This design is typical for the last fin pass for low-carbon steel using high-frequency welding. "In turbulent times, one must be innovative or be rendered defenseless." Peter Drucker said these words when addressing the Steel Service Center Institute several years ago, and... Read more...
Article
November 29, 2001
Tooling, the key for mill production
One of the most important lessons any successful tube mill producer learns is that high-quality tooling is mandatory to achieving and sustaining top-grade production values. To put it simply, tooling is to a tube mill as an engine is to an automobile: You can't get where you need to go without... Read more...
Article
November 29, 2001
Mobilizing equipment-saving time and talent
Think about the increased production that would be possible if one operator could manage two machines simultaneously. You could make it work simply by varying access to different pieces of equipment as needed anywhere in your facility.
Of course, some machines on the shop floor cannot be... Read more...
Article
November 15, 2001
Article
October 25, 2001
Article
October 25, 2001
Comparing single-cut and dimple-free tube mill cutoffs
This article covers the application of single-cut and dimple-free cutoff shear technologies as they are applied to contemporary high-speed tube mills. A single-cut die set is a unit composed of an upper shoe and a lower shoe in which a single severing blade and tube supporting jaws are... Read more...
Article
October 11, 2001
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 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
September 4, 2001
Accumulating strip before the mill
Figure 1: Strip can be stored in a deep pit, where it will hang in a loop. In simple terms, a strip processing line consists of a device to hold a supply coil of strip and a device to perform an operation to convert the flat coiled strip into a product. In tube mill operations, a... Read more...
Article
September 4, 2001
Maintaining an RF tube and pipe welding generator
In the simplest terms, tube and pipe is produced by a mill that rolls flat stock material into a round shape, welds the two edges together, and cuts the resulting homogeneous pipe to some predetermined length. The subject of this article is the radio frequency (RF) generator that... Read more...
Article
September 4, 2001
Boosting efficiency in solid state welders
High-frequency induction (HFI) welding is used widely by the tube producing industry, but a large number of variables need to be controlled to perform the operation successfully. In the HFI welding process, high-frequency current is induced in the open seam tube by an induction coil... Read more...
Article
July 26, 2001
Article
May 15, 2001
Mill coolant system design
Coolants are used to wash away oils, oxides, slivers, and dirt generated during the forming, welding, and sizing of tubes and roll-formed profiles. These coolants are a mixture of water and refined chemicals that help cleanse the process, protect part finish, extend tool life, and inhibit rust... Read more...
Article
March 5, 2001
Article
February 19, 2001
Article
February 19, 2001
Cutting die-related costs: Where to look to save money
I want it cheaper. I want it better. I want it faster, preferably yesterday. The pace of business in the metal stamping industry continues to escalate. And the trend is not going to reverse. Balancing cost against quality and time can be a real challenge. Add to that the pressures of... Read more...
Article
February 12, 2001
Welding Report: Sorting through industry trends
Because the welding industry changes so slowly, advances are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. This has been true since the 1920s. And although welding technologies already reach across 140 different processes and process variants -- from metals, polymers, and ceramics to composite... Read more...
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