FEATURES

Automation

Bar Feed Considerations For High-Speed, Lights-Out Machining

There are design elements incorporated into today’s 12-foot, magazine-load bar feeders that make them more useful for high-speed and untended operation. This article looks at some aspects to consider before purchasing a 12-foot bar feeder.

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Chip Compactor Squeezes Out Savings

Kurt Manufacturing Company (Minneapolis, Minnesota), learning from experience, believes it has developed a highly efficient recycling system that produces significant savings.

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Cutting Tools

Chip Control Solution Provides Increase In Tool Life

Replacing the traditional ISO-style inserts with a reaming system solved a chip buildup problem in bore finishing of injector bodies.

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Parts Cleaning

Improved Parts Cleaning Technology Leads To Environmental Compliance

This company's aqueous parts washer's limitations and design were causing problems, which led the shop to purchase a parts cleaning technology that eliminated many of the parts cleaning processes it was doing at the time.

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Living Large In A Materials World

He lives and breathes aluminum, stainless, carbon steel and brass because that’s what has brought him this far. However, his methods for winning in business show he’s not your typical material guy.

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Supporting Lean Manufacturing With Digital Photographic Internal Audits

Visual management has been and will continue to be a key driver in the manufacturing world. Lean principles are predicated on visual activities. 5S — the building block of all lean activities — is based on the motto, "A place for everything and everything in its place." Cellular manufacturing focuses on isolating machinery and tools within an area of the plant in order to increase efficiency. Alarms, flashing lights and other poka-yoke techniques are visual assurances of compliance in work cells.

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Waste Management

As an avid gardener, I always notice the plantings and landscaping when I make visits to manufacturing shops. The foundation plantings, shrubs and the neat appearance of the landscaping are meant to convey a positive image about the plant, the premises, the company and its people. However, I seldom take photos of the landscaping on my visits. What I really long for is a photo of a nice trash dumpster.

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Industries

For Plateau Honing, Consider Ball Style

The ball-style hone is a specialized abrasive tool that is instantly recognizable by its unique appearance. For engineers in the automotive, aerospace, manufacturing and machining industries, this application-engineered hone, characterized by the small, abrasive globules that are permanently mounted to flexible filaments, is a flexible, low-cost tool for sophisticated surfacing, deburring and edge blending.

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