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Results: 42
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New tools pick up material handling pace
A variety of robotic tooling advances support technologies for moving parts through presses while increasing tooling changeover flexibility, reducing die set risks, creating efficiencies, and protecting against part damage.
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Service center gets new set of wheels
When Tioga Pipe Supply Co. Inc. built a new facility in Easton, Penn., it leveraged its 60 years in business to design its new building. It planned the new facility, 150,000 sq. ft. under roof and 10 acres of outdoor storage area, around the use...
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How to make your scrap worth more
Scrap is a necessary stamping byproduct, but it doesn’t have to be an unprofitable one. In recent years the high price of scrap has spurred the use of some sophisticated scrap handling and separation technologies.
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A holistic view of holemaking
Drill lines must be robust enough to properly support the aggressive speeds and feeds of modern tooling. At the same time, shop layout and material handling strategies must ensure no drill line sits idle for excessive periods, just waiting for...
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Beltless magnetic conveyor handles 10 million lbs. of scrap
A Midwestern stamper installed a new press with an unusually high drop from the passline of the press to the scrap removal conveyor. The stamper determined that a magnetic conveyor could handle the challenges presented.
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Moving material beyond the Emerald Isle
In April 2010, more than 100 wordsmiths from 30 countries traveled from as far away as New Zealand and Australia to the picturesque hills of County Monaghan, northwest of Dublin, to visit Combilift, a forklift manufacturer that manufactures...
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The squid head and the stamping press
A stamper streamlines part handling, replacing the grunt work with a part manipulator, and designing a flexible manufacturing cell. In the end, the company's efforts improved worker ergonomics and part quality.
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Everything you wanted to know about overhead cranes
Most fabricating operations have an overhead crane, but just what do these companies know about these material handling tools? This feature provides the answers to their questions.
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Pipe supplier reduces aisle width, material handling
Pipe-Valves Inc., a distributor of industrial pipes and valves in Columbus, Ohio, had a small facility and stored all of its products outdoors. The products were prone to weather damage and the storage layout required handling some products two or...
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Curbing waste at Power Curbers
Equipment manufacturer streamlines part flow and drastically reduces WIP and raw stock inventory. Once a part hits the floor, it never goes onto a rack.
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New press? What will you do with the scrap?
Scrap handling is one important issue that is sometimes left out of the planning stage, but if not integrated into the project properly, scrap handling can cost you operating time and money. By asking—and answering—these five questions...
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Pallet changer, tower, or shelving system with that laser?
When fabricators decide to automate material handling in their laser cutting operations, they have several choices to make. The decision on whether to automate—and what kind of system makes the most sense—will depend on the shop's...
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Conveying flexibility
Manufacturing companies must walk a fine line between choosing a conveyor system suited for the application, while maintaining flexibility so the system can handle future jobs.
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A new look at lift trucks
California 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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The finer points of coil handling for fineblanking
Fineblanking operations require a heavy-duty press and special tooling. To produce straight, flat strip for the press and feed, stampers need a coil cradle, coil end peeler, debender, and hold-down arm, straightener, loop control.
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Extend conveyor life with maintenance, modification
To the naked eye, conveyor design doesn't look looks it has progressed much in 40 years. The conveyors of today are engineered with unique design elements and innovations that make them more versatile than ever for today's metal stamping...
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5 ways to leaner die handling
Using conventional rack and shelving systems to store and retrieve dies is inefficient and can cause damage to dies. Five critical areas of concern are space utilization, worker productivity, potential for die damage, ergonomics and cost...
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Select the right storage rack system for your needs
The storage requirements for warehouses and distribution centers are unique to each operation. The most productive and cost-effective system may necessitate several different types of rack-storage working in unison. After analyzing customer needs,...
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Move heavy loads with less cost
The rugged-duty "Slugger" Model 850B Transporter Conveying System, by Vibro Industries, has been reengineered to provide several distinct benefits that improve quality and reduce operating costs. First, the Slugger 850B now provides 100%...
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Packaging finished stampings
Proper packaging is an essential part of the manufacturing process that often is overlooked. For stampers who outsource final part finishing, it is an even greater concern. This article explains why proper packaging is so important and gives...
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Better safe than saw awry
When 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...
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Improving warehouse operations for tube, pipe
Analyzing your warehouse layout might reveal severe inefficiencies. Do you have the most frequently picked items scattered around, or are they located near the packing station? Organizing the warehouse so that the most frequently picked items are...
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Handling improvements in safety, efficiency
Ever 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...
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Moving material efficiently
It's a challenge to select the most efficient conveyor for a particular application. To make the best choice, it's imperative that all operating parameters be considered.
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Long loads, narrow aisles, easy access
Since 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...
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Mission: Spectacular scrap handling operations
Stampers, precariously squeezed by tight margins, high material costs, and increasing pressure to be leaner, have issued a request: we want our scrap handling operations to be faster, trouble-free, and more productive. Fortunately, the latest...
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West coast wrapper
Maching tool builder Haas Automation Inc. needed a new approach to minimize labor costs in its internal packaging and shipping operation. The company found its answer with the Yellow Jacket orbital stretch wrap technology.
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Baled out
With growth coming fast and future expansions likely, this Tier 1 auto supplier replaced its capacity-limited scrap baling system with an autoloading conveyor system to maximize ROI and productivity.
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Don't get stuck
Magnetic soft-belt conveyors can feed presses and transport parts from one workstation to another or from production to inspection, storage, or packaging operations. If you work with ferrous metal coils or sheets, a magnetic system may help...
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Scrap the belt conveyors
The traditional belt conveyors used to remove scrap from the stamping operations at American Trim's facility on Baxter Street in Lima, Ohio, just couldn't stand up to the gritty shop environment. The company found a successful alternative with a...
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Fast-forward fabricating
A new laser cutter, a new panel bender, and two older punching and shearing combination machines, connected to a new automatedstorage-and-retieval system have helped an Indianapolis job shop stay on top of emergnecy orders that normally come its way.
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Anchor's a way down the road to improvement
A Fort Worth, Texas-based fabricator found that it was spending thousands in moving material from one building to the next for various operations. The company embarked on several expansion projects and invested in new equipment to help remedy the...
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Handling appliance steel
Savvy stampers are purchasing new equipment or modifying and retrofitting existing equipment to include prefinished materials features. By paying close attention to equipment, tension practices, material processing methods, and material handling,...
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The importance of storage planning
Material and equipment storage can be a major concern for fabricators. Therefore, it is important to establish the purpose of a storage system and understand clearly what it needs to accomplish.
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Roll out the shelving
Just as office managers look for the most efficient way to store files, shop managers must look for efficient ways to store heavy, expensive dies. Many offices have file cabinets with an index system for locating files quickly. The shop equivalent...
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Lifting the load
Manufacturers face relentless challenges in their efforts to meet changing demand. In their materials handling operation, these challenges include moving materials in tight spaces, providing just-in-time (JIT) delivery to production areas, and...
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Instant Lube: The basics of automatic lubricating systems for overhead conveyors
Less than half of the overhead conveyors stampers use have automatic lubrication systems.
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Metamorphosis: Topeka fabricator automates to emerge
A contract manufacturer of railroad and telecommunication signal house enclosures had long relied on job shops to supply the sheet metal parts, which it then assembled. But the president, Patti jon Christensen, wanted to bring all the...
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Power-and-free conveyors provide critical path through the manufacturing course
This article describes how power-and-free conveyors are used in manufacturing. It outlines new themes in conveyor design, systems design, control systems, and simulation software.
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A Case For Scrap Chopping
This article describes applications for chopping scrap from stamping operations and how to use recycling for cost containment -- as opposed to to profit building -- through more concentrated scrap hauling, better use of floor space, and enhanced...
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Getting a handle on scrap removal
The ability to efficiently remove scrap from production areas affects the production up time and cost of production. Therefore, scrap removal should be part of the production planning process.
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Handling metal stamping wastes: Protecting the environment - - and your business
Metal stamping companies are required to comply with a number of regulations relating to the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of the wastes they generate. As a result, each company must learn which materials are classfied as...
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