The Leading Source for Industrial Maintenance News
FREE Email Newsletter
Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers
Gas Detection Gets Personal
May 25, 2010 8:44 am | Product Releases | CommentsCrowcon (Erlanger, KY) has expanded the capabilities of its Tetra:3 (T3) personal multi-gas detector with an additional toxic gas sensor for ammonia (NH3). The existing sensor range includes flammable gases, oxygen (O2), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), and more.
Congress Prepares To Quadruple Oil Taxes
May 25, 2010 5:04 am | by Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer | News | CommentsWASHINGTON (AP) — Responding to the massive BP oil spill, Congress is getting ready to quadruple — to 32 cents a barrel — a tax on oil used to help finance cleanups. The increase would raise nearly $11 billion over the next decade. The tax is levied on oil produced in the U.
Toyota Halts Lexus Sales, Waits For Replacement Parts
May 25, 2010 4:58 am | by Dan Strumpf, AP Auto Writer | News | CommentsNEW YORK (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. has stopped sales of the Lexus LS sedan for about three weeks while it works to get parts to dealers to fix a problem with the vehicle's steering system, a spokesman said Monday. Toyota on Friday recalled about 3,800 2009 and 2010 LS 460 and LS 600h sedans in the U.
Electric Boat To Add 450 Jobs, Invest $55 Million
May 25, 2010 4:51 am | News | CommentsNORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) — Officials with submarine maker Electric Boat say the company will add 450 jobs at its Rhode Island facility over the next five years, and spend more than $55 million on new infrastructure as part of the expansion of the Virginia-class nuclear submarine program. Electric Boat president John Casey said Monday that this year alone the General Dynamics Corp.
BP Responsible For Exxon Valdez Disaster, Too
May 25, 2010 4:34 am | by Naoki Schwartz, Associated Press Writer | News | CommentsSince a busted oil well began spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico a month ago, the catastrophe has constantly been measured against the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. The Alaska spill leaked nearly 11 million gallons of crude, killed countless wildlife and tarnished the owner of the damaged tanker, Exxon.
Toshiba Invests In American Nuclear Power
May 25, 2010 4:31 am | News | CommentsTOKYO (AP) — Nuclear power giants Toshiba Corp. and The Babcock & Wilcox Co. said Tuesday they will jointly invest $200 million to foster uranium enrichment technology being developed by USEC Inc. Tokyo-based Toshiba and B&W of Lynchburg, Virginia will contribute equally to the investment, which will be provided to USEC in three stages, the companies said in a statement.
GE To Build First Freshwater Wind Farm Near Cleveland
May 25, 2010 4:30 am | by Meghan Barr, Associated Press Writer | News | CommentsCLEVELAND (AP) — General Electric Co. announced Monday that it plans to harness the power of winds blowing across Lake Erie by developing the world's first freshwater wind farm several miles offshore from downtown Cleveland. GE and the nonprofit Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., or LEEDCo, announced a partnership to develop five wind turbines about 6 miles north of Cleveland Browns stadium.
Supervisor Hid Child Laborers In Facility Basement
May 25, 2010 4:28 am | News | CommentsWATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A former supervisor at a kosher slaughterhouse raided by federal agents testified Monday that when child labor inspectors toured the facility, he took two workers he thought were underage and hid them in the basement. Former supervisor Brian Griffith testified Monday against former plant manager Sholom Rubashkin, who is being tried on 83 counts of child labor violations.
See Into Machines
May 24, 2010 10:06 am | Product Releases | CommentsThe VisionView operator interface Cognex Corporation (Natick, MA) is a low-cost DIN rail-mount adapter that provides direct VGA output for the VisionView application software, allowing operators to connect to any size VGA monitor without a PC. The new hardware option enables operators to connect the VisionView VGA to an Ethernet network using an RJ-45 LAN cable, and at a resolution of 640 x 480 and 800 x 480, plus XGA resolutions of 1024 x 768.
Flipping The Switch On Safety
May 24, 2010 10:06 am | Product Releases | CommentsPilz (Canton, MI) offers safe, economical safety gate and position monitoring with the PSENmag, which provide non-contact safety switches on the input side and evaluation devices on the output side. The PSENmag switches have a compact design and rugged housing, ensuring a long product service life.
Soldering Made Accurate
May 24, 2010 10:05 am | Product Releases | CommentsCount On Tools Inc. (Gainesville, GA) has announced that the company now manufactures Pillarhouse AP-1 universal nozzles for its entire line of selective soldering machines. The nozzles can consistently apply flux and solder to component leads without disturbing nearby SMT components.
Industrial Torch Accessories
May 24, 2010 10:04 am | Product Releases | CommentsThermal Dynamics (St. Louis, MO) has released a new electrode (p/n 9-8232) and 120A cutting tip (p/n 9-8233) specifically-designed for the automated SL 100SV torch. In automated applications, this pair provides an increased part life and improved cut surfaces. The 1Torch performs with virtually all plasma cutting power supplies, not to mention high-frequency, CD, and touch start systems.
Building Faster Retractable Conveyors
May 24, 2010 6:32 am | Articles | CommentsRetractable conveyor systems are used in many industries, but most often in food and pharmaceutical. The determining factor in the performance of these systems is speed. The sytem comprises transpositors, shuttles, dealers and reciprocators, which can be thought of as: Dealers deal out rows of products.
Battle Bots Educate Youth On Manufacturing, Engineering
May 24, 2010 6:24 am | by Pamela Kan, President, Bishop-Wisecarver Corporation | Articles | CommentsI first learned about the FIRST program while traveling with one of my salesmen. We called on several companies where somewhere within the course of the meeting one of the engineers would reveal their involvement as a mentor in a group called FIRST . I realize now that these mentors during the time of the competition are extremely dedicated and devote many hours to their teams and probably think of little else.
China Promises Currency Reform, More U.S. Imports
May 24, 2010 5:00 am | by Joe McDonald, AP Business Writer | News | CommentsBEIJING (AP) — China promised currency reforms Monday as it opened a high-level dialogue with Washington but said it will decide the pace and pressed for an end to U.S. curbs on high-tech exports. President Hu Jintao made the pledge at the start of the two-day meeting, apparently trying to defuse a key irritant as officials began wide-ranging talks on financial market reforms, trade and reviving global growth.
