The manufacturing expert shared insight he has learned in the seven years since Bradley Corp. took a systematic approach to reducing mold problems. “For a while, I was the entire mold program,” he quipped. “But now, everyone at the company knows about the issue—we’re all on board because we’ve seen the benefits.”

He used charts to showcase some of those benefits. For example, Bradley Corp.’s unscheduled repairs dropped from about 100 hours in 2006 to 56 hours in 2007 to just 20 hours in 2008. “We’re not putting out nearly as many fires—the unexpected problems we deal with aren’t as big, and not as often,” he said. “Companies that begin mold maintenance programs can get this big bucketful of time back, and spend it on other parts of their businesses. But more often than not, we’re our own roadblocks—we come up with excuses not to do it, or we start a simple program and don’t see it through.”

Piekarski likened mold maintenance to owning a car. The more you drive a car, the more you get a feel for how to handle it. “Same goes with mold,” he said. Also, the more a company ramps up production, the more preventative maintenance it requires, just as more oil is needed for a car that travels frequently.

Piekarski also shared a standard process to preventative maintenance: pulling the mold from production, cleaning the exterior of the mold, stripping the interior of the mold surface, repairing as needed, reapplying the release and returning the mold to service. He then spoke about the importance of using standardized forms to gather metrics, such as total time spent on mold problems and the ratio of time spent on mold issues to time spent on total preventative maintenance.

“Still, much success of mold maintenance lies on the shop floor and the way employees are trained,” Piekarski says. “Simply put, if they’re in a hurry, they make mistakes. I can’t stress enough the importance of making sure workers are properly trained and that you’re keeping tabs on what they’re doing. A little time upfront can yield major results downstream.”

The accumulation of suspended, combustible sugar dust can spark an explosion, as it did in February 2008 at the Imperial Sugar Company in Port Wentworth, Ga., killing 13 people, injuring 40 others and causing a series of secondary explosions that spread through adjacent buildings.

Still, many composites industry professionals—even ones well trained in the safety routines of their facilities—are unaware of the hazards of dust, said Perry Bennett, Health, Safety and Environmental director at Molded Fiber Glass Companies. He spoke to COMPOSITES 2010 attendees about mitigating and controlling combustible dusts in FRP processes.

Bennett warned attendees that regulatory agencies are getting more serious about the topic. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will soon release changes to its principal dust document, “NFPA 654, Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids,” and Bennett recommended that composites professionals realize they can be cited for noncompliance with NFPA 654.

Part of the problem with regulating dust explosions is the confusion about which dusts can explode and under what conditions, Bennett pointed out. Even how much dust is a hazard is still unknown. (A large number of solid substances become explosive when in the form of a fine dust, OSHA says. These substances include organic materials, such as grain, sugar, wood, and coal; synthetic organics, such as plastics, dyes, foams, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals; and combustible metals, such as aluminum, magnesium, zinc, and iron.)

Generally speaking, the smaller the dust particle, the bigger the hazard. According to OSHA, an often-used rule of thumb is that dust of 420 microns particle size (40 mesh sieve) may serve as the fuel in a dust explosion. As a frame of reference, normal table sugar ranges from about 850 microns to 150 microns, with the bulk of sugar between 350 and 450 microns.

During his presentation, Bennett provided tips and methods for mitigating and controlling dust within facilities. Repeated points throughout his presentation include: Test your own dust with equipment that’s currently on the market. And because layers as thin as 1/32 of an inch (0.8 millimeters) or 1/16 of an inch (1.6 millimeters) can be problematic, “if you see dust, don’t ignore it. Instead, clean it, and examine where it’s coming from,” he said. Also, seal all openings in equipment to prevent the release of dusts into the work environment, he said. “The point is, stay on top of this issue before it lands on top of you.”

Among the companies that form the Closed Mold Alliance is Magnum Venus Plastech (MVP). When the Alliance conducts its demonstrations on the Show floor in Las Vegas, the equipment used in those demos is supplied by MVP.

“I think people know closed molding is the future,” says Andrew Hedger. Nonetheless, manufacturers still have a lot of questions and need a lot of training to make the leap to closed molding. Those who do will see the benefits. “You’re going to have a lot better part, a more precise part, with thicknesses and glass-to-resin ratios,” Hedger says.

MVP representatives will be on hand at the company’s booth to answer questions about the equipment it’s showcasing, including a multi-axis winder, its universal proportioner, its Patriot Gel Coater and more.

MVP will exhibit in Booth #811

Production managers and supervisors who specify equipment in composites plants should stop by Myers Engineering’s booth. The company, which specializes in mixing systems, has a lot to say about the evolution of processing, particularly as it relates to mixing advanced composites. “The mixing of nanoparticles has caused the industry to pay more attention to mixing,” says Cathy Strahan, marketing director. “Because you will destroy the nanospheres in these composites.”

Improved processing isn’t just for advance composites, however. Manufacturers in general are mixing more materials and different types of materials into their products. “The materials that they need to mix in have changed. They’re offering more durability, UV protection and light weight,” says Strahan. “Mixing those composite now takes more finesse, or you’ll destroy the products. If you have the wrong mixer, you won’t be profitable, the product won’t be sufficient quality, or you may take too long to make it.”

Myers Engineering will exhibit in Booth #640