Fabrication: Beyond Flat Plate
In any business, adding capabilities and services can have a measurable impact on the bottom line. And many fabricators have expanded their offerings to attract customers from new industry sectors. This could include adding painting, welding, laser cutting, beveling or bending to a company’s operations.
Living in a 3-D world, more fabricators are beginning to venture beyond flat plate cutting to diversify their offerings. But processing pressure vessels, boilers and similar 3-D objects generally presents some unique and significant challenges. As with any traditional job, cutting operations must be fast, simple to set up, and produce clean and accurate results that won’t require added manual cleanup. When it comes to 3-D objects, however, this is often easier said than done.
The dome cutting process typically includes creating openings in the dish end of the vessel to allow for the welding of inlet pipes or slicing or trimming of the edges and to prepare the end to be welded to the vessel body. Accuracy is critical as the cross-sections of the cut edges must meet the requirements of the subsequent welding process. Depending on the wall thickness, V, X or K cuts with constant or variable bevels must meet the prescribed accuracy. Failure to do so means poor quality, excessive scrap and lost contracts.
Read more here.
MANUFACTURING MONTH IN REVIEW
Companies choose to mark the occasion in any number of ways. While some are content to simply wave the banner, others like Cincinnati Incorporated are making a real difference in the lives of students and the future of the industry. Each year in October, Cincinnati Incorporated (CI) hosts students from the area’s local high schools, vocational schools, and technical colleges. These days include facility tours, a chance to interact with the company’s engineers and professionals, and an opportunity to see some of the industry’s leading machine tools in action.
Read about it here.
Drilling and Milling Solutions Turn Cutting Machines into Multi-Functional Production Centers
Fabricators throughout North America have wider access to some of the industry’s most sought-after cutting equipment. Fabrication processes often require high-precision holes, threads, or countersinks. Whether its flanges, end plates, heat exchanger tube sheets or generally any stress-exposed bolted joints, there are many applications where it is technologically necessary to create the holes by drilling. While there are jobs – especially those with large quantities of holes in a single workpiece or assembly – where using a dedicated boring machine is most efficient, there are also many parts that require just a few holes and perhaps some threads.
Ideally, these parts would be manufactured with a single machining center including cut contours, markings, and machined holes. But, lacking this option, this work is usually done manually, or via a separate mechanized drilling process adding time and cost to the job.
Read more here.
How Simulation-based Training Enhances Visual Literacy
Visual Literacy is a subset of Sensory Literacy, a broad term that describes how critical thinking, is fueled by information acquired through the senses. This visual literacy is defined as the ability to interpret, negotiate, and draw conclusions from information presented in the form of images.
There is no shortage of examples. Charts, maps, and graphs convey geographical information, demographics, sales data, and similar information much more clearly than words. A photograph or video validates an event better than dialogue, hearsay, or an online post.
Read this article to learn how simulation-based training is bridging the learning gap for new equipment operators.
Built to Tilt
Representing some of the world’s most reputable CNC machine tool builders, United Precision Services provides equipment to North American manufacturers focused on producing medium to large
parts using machining and fabrication processes. A recently announced partnership between the company and MicroStep, a CNC cutting machinery manufacturer, injects new technology into the market in the form of bevel cutting mild steel and stainless steel on a traditional gantry-style machine using a rotator head using fiber laser technology.
I caught up with United Precision’s national sales manager, John Prevish, to learn a bit more about this bevel cutting technology and what benefits this partnership brings to the North American metal fabrication market.
Read the interview here.
From the supply chain disruption to mounting material and overhead costs, and tightening delivery schedules, manufacturers across the board are challenged on multiple fronts. As baby-boomers age out of the workforce in record numbers, you can add a labor shortage to the list. And, as if they needed more to worry about, consumer demand is on the rise forcing manufacturers to do more with less.
Cincinnati, Inc. (CI) is answering the call with a new wave of press brake technology designed to automate and streamline metal fabrication. Recent innovations include the Sheet Following System, Dynamic Thickness Compensation, and an automated press operation solution known as ROBOFORM.
Read the article here.
How to reduce the risks of new construction technology adoption
Innovative digital technology has found a home on today’s construction sites, and so has the complexity that goes along with it. In the air, drones are surveying the landscape to measure volumes and create interactive 3D topographical maps. On the ground, contractors are deploying next-generation machinery to make worksites safer and more productive. What may have been a futuristic pipedream a few years ago is quickly becoming standard for construction sites all over North America.
A number of factors are driving the adoption of these innovations, including the increasing pace of competition, as well as shifts in the composition of the skilled labor force. But while some organizations began adopting and assessing new technology some years ago, others are only now coming to grips with these tools. Fortunately for newcomers, there is a pathway to reducing the risks of technology adoption.
Read the entire article here.
Confessions of a Simulator Skeptic
When it comes to training, today’s complex equipment requires an equally sophisticated learning environment. And while younger tech-savvy workers are generally quick to embrace simulation-based training as an effective tool, many established operators remain convinced that nothing can replace on-the-job field training.
As a construction worker with more than two decades of experience under his belt, Gary James’ view of training simulators was tainted with a skepticism not uncommon among veteran equipment operators. He saw simulators as overly simplistic and unrealistic, only useful for novices, and in no way a reflection of actual jobsite conditions.
Read it here.
Tactical Toolbox: A Quoting case Study
RC Industries, located in Elkhart, Ind., is a full-service fabricator and supplier of complex metal parts to the North American transportation industries. In addition to storage systems, toolboxes, and bumpers, the company offers advanced custom fabrication and engineering services. Since opening its doors in 1994, RC Industries has grown to a staff of more than 140 employees running and operating an impressive array of metalforming equipment.
This case study details how SecturaSoft is helping the company to streamline the quoting process and win more jobs. Read the story in the February 2022 issue of Shop Floor Lasers magazine!
Neapco Further Extends Global Implementation of Campfire Software
Campfire Interactive, Inc. (Campfire), the leading provider of portfolio profitability management in the automotive sector, announces that Neapco is continuing its implementation of Campfire software to include support for supplier RFQ and corporate sustainability initiatives. This is the latest stage in a launch of Campfire software that began in the first quarter of 2021.
With over 3,200 employees at 11 locations around the world, Neapco is the automotive industry’s leading driveline solution supplier. Today the company is widely leveraging Campfire’s product suite to standardize and enhance critical business processes and financial measures globally. This includes Campfire’s OMSF module (Opportunity Management and Sales Forecasting), which was launched earlier this year, and quoting module, which will be launched in Q1 2022. Today the automotive supplier has begun implementation of the Campfire module for PPM (Program and Project Management) and will soon kick off eRFQ (Request for Quotation for suppliers).
“Campfire is pleased to see that Neapco is implementing our full product suite,” said Campfire President and Chief Executive Officer, Pradeep Seneviratne. “This will enable Neapco to manage their entire digital profitability backbone with one global enterprise system that provides immediate answers to complex business queries.”
Diverse systems and processes present challenges and improvement opportunity for nearly every manufacturer. For globally dispersed suppliers, such as Neapco, opportunities and subsequent returns are multiplied exponentially.
“Campfire has established a reputation within the automotive community for supporting informed decision-making and unlocking profit potential,” said Neapco Vice President, Advanced Manufacturing, Ray Adamczyk. “We’ve turned to Campfire to streamline critical sales opportunity and vehicle program data management across the enterprise. This allows us to standardize critical business processes and financial measures, centralize the management of all information related to volume, cost, price, capacity, and timing; and respond to RFQs faster and with more accuracy. Results from earlier rollout fully validate our expectations; and we are continuing toward full implementation of an end-to-end solution.”
Campfire eRFQ
As a single system for quoting, costing, pricing, and change management, Campfire automates quoting from RFQ through cost computation, price computation, and reporting. Campfire’s new eRFQ module allows customers to extend that automation to what is required from their suppliers in the preparation of quotations. This not only streamlines and accelerates the process but eliminates common data entry mistakes.
Campfire Chief Operating Officer, Dan Meyer, says it should come as no surprise that Neapco is one of the first customers to adopt the new eRFQ capability. “Within today’s highly competitive automotive supplier landscape, responsiveness is critical to securing new contracts,” said Meyer. “Quotes must be generated quickly with the highest degree of accuracy. Campfire accelerates RFQ response while ensuring maximum profitability. Forward-thinking companies like Neapco embrace and leverage innovation as a competitive advantage; and Campfire is pleased to contribute to their success.”
Sustainability Support
Recently the two companies collaborated on a presentation during World Quality Week to communicate a shared vision and steps to advance process efficiency, product quality, and sustainability practices. To support this initiative, Campfire’s sustainability scorecard will be employed to capture, measure, and manage key sustainability value drivers from Neapco suppliers and to Neapco customers.
“For the world’s manufacturers sustainability is no longer optional,” said Chris Fenton, Neapco Vice President of Global Quality, Continuous Improvement, and Sustainability. “By tracking such key areas as water consumption, CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and renewable energy down to the part level, Campfire allows us to extend sustainability in our sales and sourcing activities. As an industry leader, and steward of our planet, we embrace this responsibility and demand the same of our suppliers and partners.”