Best Practices
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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers
Driving Out Costs Using Manufacturing Project Management
May 23, 2013 10:51 am | by Manufacturing Business Technology | Videos | CommentsProject management is particularly effective in a manufacturing environment, considering the number of variables involved such as maintenance schedules and projects, run times, and quality control. But if you're like a lot of manufacturers, project management is really a five-letter word.
Webinar: Clean Up The Process
May 22, 2013 2:41 pm | by Manufacturing Business Technology | EventsProject management is particularly effective in a manufacturing environment, considering the number of variables involved such as maintenance schedules and projects, run times, and quality control.
2013 Society of Manufacturing Engineers Annual Conference
May 22, 2013 11:36 am | by Society of Manufacturing Engineers | EventsSharing information, driving innovation in manufacturing and preparing an advanced manufacturing workforce will be the focus of the 2013 Society of Manufacturing Engineers Annual Conference to be held June 2-4, 2013, at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Md.
Continuous Improvement: Real Improvement Or Mediocrity?
May 22, 2013 8:00 am | by Mark Latino, President, Reliability Center, Inc. | Blogs | CommentsIncremental improvements are more or less feel good measures that say to management “there was a problem and we did this to solve it.” In reality, most continuous improvements have come from technology advancements, not from employee performance advancements. Has the continuous improvement mentality caused manufacturing to settle for mediocrity?
Human Error Reduction Workshop
May 20, 2013 11:22 am | by Reliability Center, Inc. | EventsThis training provides attendees with the requisite skills and knowledge necessary to provide a rigorous understanding of human performance that will result in significantly reduced human errors and improved operational excellence in the workplace. this will answer the question "why" it happened.
Labor Productivity And Global Competiveness
May 20, 2013 8:00 am | by Simon Macpherson, Senior Director Operations, Kronos EMEA | Articles | CommentsWhen it comes to managing the workforce, very few industries are under more pressure than manufacturing. With tremendous price competition from developing countries and a world where products can be replicated across the globe and transported with ease, manufactures need to look at every aspect of their operations for competitive advantage and productivity improvements.
Crash Course: Spacer Shaft Alignment
May 16, 2013 8:03 am | by LUDECA Inc. | Videos | CommentsMisalignment between machines can cause unscheduled downtime, increased power consumption, and increased vibration. In this video, LUDECA focuses on spacer shaft alignments, describing the unique benefits, tolerances, and alignment methods specific to spacer shaft machines using laser alignment equipment.
MRO Data Key To Unlocking Cost Savings & Operational Efficiency
May 15, 2013 8:00 am | by IHS | Articles | CommentsMaintenance, repair and operations (MRO) groups at many companies are facing a major challenge: toxic MRO master catalogs stuffed with incomplete data on replacement parts, a problem that drives up costs and creates large-scale problems for multiple corporate divisions.
Mind The Gap
May 14, 2013 8:05 am | by Neil Mehltretter, System Design and Engineering Manager, Kaeser Compressors, Inc. | Blogs | CommentsVariable speed control compressors can be an important component of an optimized system provided that it is properly applied. Variable speed is not, however, a simple panacea for instant compressed air system efficiency. The dynamics of the control must be understood and the machines properly sized.
By The Numbers
May 10, 2013 3:42 pm | by Anna Wells, Executive Editor, IMPO | Articles | CommentsConveying equipment can’t just keep getting faster – it has to get smarter as well. Learn how market conditions, design elements, and maintenance issues work together to create positive trends in the conveyor industry.
That's A Wrap
May 10, 2013 3:38 pm | by Dan Schmidt, Business Development Manager, ITW Muller | Articles | CommentsIs the amount of load damage going up with the age of your stretch wrap equipment? Having trouble keeping up with production and the increasing number of SKUs and load configurations? Have a need to do more with less people and feel automation might be the answer? Would you save money on film and eliminate film breaks if you could just improve performance?
A Harder, Greener Cut
May 10, 2013 3:34 pm | by Rachel Leisemann Immel, Associate Editor, IMPO | Articles | CommentsWhile tooling may only account for five percent of the cost of producing a typical metal part, it can have an enormous impact on overall production efficiency, quality, and cost. Cutting tool consumers and manufacturers are considering emerging technologies, new tools, and new techniques to continue stay competitive in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
Vibration Detection For A Safe, Reliable Plant Floor
May 10, 2013 2:49 pm | by Rachel Leisemann Immel, Associate Editor, IMPO | Articles | CommentsThere is no such thing as a vibration free machine,” says Steve Matthews, business manager of VibrAlign’s service company, PdM Solutions, Inc. Rotor unbalance, sheave misalignment, worn bearings, loose bolts, and bearing lubrication issues can affect every machine on the plant floor. And when they do, costly and dangerous failures can result.
Raising The Bar
May 10, 2013 2:23 pm | by Krystal Gabert, Editor, Food Manufacturing | Articles | CommentsHearthside Food Solutions is a young company with deep roots. Co-founded in 2009 by a group of investors led by Hearthside Chairman and CEO Rich Scalise, the company strives to be the largest and best contract manufacturer of snacks in the country.
Don’t Get Wrapped Too Tight
May 10, 2013 8:05 am | by Greg Cober, Altra Industrial Motion Product Training Manager | Articles | CommentsA properly installed wrap spring clutch/brake will provide millions of cycles for applications where repetitive motion is needed. Care to insure proper mounting will achieve the best possible life and performance in repeating applications.
Why Manufacturers Need To Bulletproof Their Virtualized IT Environments
May 10, 2013 8:00 am | by Frank Hill, Stratus Technologies | Articles | CommentsToday, many popular manufacturing applications are certified for virtualization and with good reason. The benefits of virtualization, including cost control, higher productivity, and better long-term planning, are indisputable. Yet, some manufacturing engineers and plant IT departments are missing out on these benefits because they think virtualization involves too much risk — a point of view that is not entirely without merit.
Preventing Discharge Damage: Conductive Rolling Bearing Greases
May 6, 2013 8:05 am | by Heiko Stache, Manager Business Unit – Bearing Technology & Sabine Petri, Product Manager, Klüber Lubrication | Articles | CommentsDamage caused by electric discharge is a well-known issue, and today it is more prevalent than ever. It primarily affects rolling bearings in machines susceptible to static charging. In many cases, conductive grease made especially for these applications can provide an inexpensive and efficient solution to this problem, while at the same time ensuring optimum rolling bearing lubrication.
May 2013 - Behind Bars
May 3, 2013 5:09 pm | Digital Editions | CommentsIn this issue, Hearthside Food Solutions manufactures snack bars for some of the world's largest food companies, industry experts talk vibration detection for critical machinery, innovative manufacturers work to develop new avenues for conveyor efficiency, and more.
Why Parts Fail Workshop
May 1, 2013 10:40 am | by Reliability Center, Inc. | EventsThis training provides an understanding of how it is possible to make order out of chaos when things go wrong. The workshop is designed to teach attendees how to identify failure modes by reading fracture surfaces of parts such as bearings, shafts, fasteners, seals, belts, and other materials to determine physical root causes. This will provide the answer(s) to "what happened."
Three Examples Why Cheaper Equipment Isn’t Always Less Expensive
April 26, 2013 8:05 am | by Carol Thorsen, Wynright Corporation | Blogs | CommentsPerhaps one of the most significant contributions the Internet has made to our daily lives is the ability to find the rock-bottom price for just about anything we need to purchase easily. With a quick search on the right keywords, we can find exactly what we’re looking for and save a lot of money to boot. Or so it would seem. The truth is that strategy works for some items but not others.
The Dirty Dozen: Finding And Fixing Company Culture
April 26, 2013 8:00 am | by Steven Shaffer, President, Shaffer Consulting | Blogs | CommentsAs we grow up, we often get wonderful gifts from mom and dad. Gifts such as intelligence, passion, communication and leadership skills. We also get gifts from different mentors, which can complement the ones from our parents. As adults, business leaders bring these childhood gifts — or lack thereof — to the companies they lead.
How Clouds Can Dominate Sunny Florida
April 24, 2013 4:43 pm | by Anna Wells, Executive Editor, IMPO | Blogs | Comments2012 saw the widespread acceptance of cloud computing, “including the validation of the model by some of the largest software companies in the world.” So as leading vendors continue to invest the resources in making this technology smarter, more reliable, and easier to use, manufacturers can do their fair share by giving these innovative solutions a little attention as well.
LUDECA Brings Precision Laser Alignment To PA, NY
April 23, 2013 1:22 pm | by LUDECA | EventsLUDECA is bringing Precision Laser Alignment to Pennsylvania and New York with their 1-day Machinery Alignment Seminar. This workshop will cover how to Monitor and Measure Thermal Growth, Measure Multi-Coupling Trains as well as Alignment of Bores of Compressors, Engines and Pumps.
CAGI Data Sheets: An Apples To Apples Performance Comparison
April 17, 2013 8:00 am | by Werner Rauer, Compressors Product Manager, Kaeser Compressors, Inc. | Articles | CommentsComparing compressor performances across different manufacturers has long been a difficult task. For a many years, it was all too easy to present data that, although accurate, was potentially misleading. Manufacturers were selective about what information they published as well as what conditions they chose to specify performance. The result was a numbers game that the buyer frequently lost.
How To Increase Your Revenue With KeyedIn
April 16, 2013 12:42 pm | by KeyedIn Solutions | EventsThis is the second in the KeyedIn™ Manufacturing Ideas in Action webinar series that is designed to help show small to mid-sized manufacturers how they can speed up their estimating process, increase revenue and gain important new insights into their business.
