Manufacturing and Processes
Composite Companies Hampering Road Block: Themselves
Composites manufacturers seeking new ways to reduce setup time, scrap, repair hours and finishing time should begin a mold maintenance program and communicate it effectively to staff, says Bob Piekarski, mold shop supervisor for Bradley Corporation. He spoke about the value of such programs during a COMPOSITES 2010 session called, An Effective Mold Maintenance... »
Fillers—Often Forgotten, Highly Important
Fillers sometimes play second fiddle to resins in the composites industry, but two savvy professionals trumpeted their importance at COMPOSITES 2010. Bob Baker, technical service director at Huber Engineered Materials, and Gary Rex, senior research scientist at J.M. Huber Corp., led a session at COMPOSITES 2010 about the vital role fillers play in the... »
Reducing Emissions Improves Safety, Quality
Bob Lacovara, president of consultancy Convergent Composites, led a presentation about ways composites firms can reduce emissions and thereby improve the quality and safety of their facilities. He presented an overview of technology available to make that happen, and how it can be applied to different processes. "Environmentally friendly materials translate to low... »
USDA Gives a Big (Green) Thumbs Up
Many papers and sessions at COMPOSITES 2010 focused on green products and technologies, and a Thursday morning session titled Bio-Based Composites of the Federal BioPreferred Program was no exception. But as you might have gleamed from the name, this session was unique due to a federal program directly reaching out to the composites industry. The... »
Inside the Colorful Side of Composites
If you tend to regard the color of a product as a non-influential part of the manufacturing process, you’d be mistaken, says Kip Howard, technical service representative for Plasticolors, Inc. He explained in a Thursday morning session titled Color Science and Pigment Dispersions for Thermoset Composites that it’s a factor manufacturers must consider when... »
“Hot Buttons” Session Gives Attendees Safety Insight
Just a few hours before Bill Rudersdorf spoke to COMPOSITES 2010 attendees about preparing for unexpected visits from OSHA officials, OSHA regulators showed up at his company, Composites One LLC in Arlington Heights, Ill. "The good news is they were only there for three hours," he says. The story underscored the point of Rudersdorf's... »
Now is the time for ‘Lean Manufacturing’
The current economic strife calls for cost efficient operations said Darren Bassett, operations manager for FormaShape, of Kelowna, B.C., Canada. In his presentation titled “Lean Manufacturing: the Path to Survival,” Bassett demonstrated how his company used the Japanese theory of Kaizen, or team-based continuous improvement, produce more product in less time, reduce... »
BYK USA’s Tom Delay: Advanced Additives Bring Key Benefits
Tom Delay has a 2009 Pontiac G8. Like many car owners, an issue often pops up when his headlights turn on—a haze appears on the cold part (a polycarbonate pane) inside the headlamp. The issue, called "fogging," occurs when conventional internal mold release agents face migration and sublimation. »
To Avoid OSHA Citation, Firms Must Deal with Dust
Dust may seem innocuous, but it can cast an expensive cloud on manufacturing facilities.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... »
Minimize Waste With Automated Cutting
Evaluating a cutting machine comes down to two big questions: What can it cut and how much can it cut? »
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