By Jim Hazelwood Everyone who must use PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for arc-flash and shock protection will gripe and complain. Maybe that is a bit extreme, but follow me here. Some will complain about heat of the coveralls, or worse, the moon suit. How about the face shield? All scratched up maybe? Hearing? Hard to…
When we chose to implement an engineering co-op program several years ago, we knew from the beginning we wanted it to be structured and purposeful. That purpose was to create a pipeline of young engineering talent to replace the aging engineers who were retiring, giving electrical engineering students exposure to the real world of automation…
When you start wiring electrical panels at age 16 in your dad’s electrical business, you are pretty much assured of being involved with electricity as an adult. That was how Ben Payton, our new manager of construction services, got involved with electricity. Even though he graduated from Auburn University with a business management degree, Ben…
Since our founding, employees have repeatedly demonstrated big hearts. Whether it was helping out fellow employees that had experienced a house fire or other loss, contributing to spousal medical costs not covered by insurance, or putting together care packages for members of the military serving overseas. They showed it in groups that participated in Habitat…
A major textile firm, a producer of bed linens, had a problem. They were experiencing unscheduled downtime of 40 percent in their 20-year-old production line, requiring considerable overtime to make delivery commitments. As you would expect, this was having a huge impact on their bottom line, and they needed to upgrade their control systems to…
The Internet. The explosion of wireless technologies. The Industrial Internet of Things. Technologies and trends that have been shaping, and will continue to shape, our world and the industries in which we work. As you face the challenges of plant modernization, especially in the areas of automation and controls, you will also face the challenges…
We first posted about the relationship between water and energy in 2011 and have made numerous other posts since then with updates on this issue. Because such a large part of the costs experienced in water distribution and the wastewater treatment process are for energy, this is an issue of great interest within our industry. The subject…
By Bruce Koppenhoefer Whenever major trade show events come around, managers everywhere have to ask themselves the “why” question: Why should I and/or my staff attend? What will we gain? And those are important questions to ask. Even if the related travel expenses aren’t much, there’s still employee time to consider: what could they be…
What do you do to follow up a record year of order performance? You get lean and prepare to do even better. Our production facility is regularly seeking ways to improve productivity, and last year we implemented several ideas our shop teams identified (shop improvements blog). After finishing fiscal 2017 with a record volume of…
by Andrew Green There’s money to be made in your plant. And it can be had without buying new robots, hiring more production workers, or making the R&D department work overtime. It’s a good bet your equipment and motors can be run more efficiently, producing significant savings in energy expenditures. So how can you tell…