Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
Hennig, Inc., Machesney Park, Ill., announces the opening of an additional facility on its 11-acre campus here, to accommodate the expanding power gen business of Hennig Enclosure Systems. This new facility is now open and houses all design, engineering, sales, marketing and manufacturing capabilities for this division of Hennig, a world leader in machine protection. Utilizing additional land area outside the new facility, Hennig will also be able to test all enclosure and fuel tank systems under full operating conditions for its customers. Load bank testing, resistance testing, airflow performance and sound level checks can all be performed in an actual outdoor environment.
In announcing this new facility, Robin Moore, Vice President of Engineering and Operations for the company, commented, “Our power gen business is ramping up substantially and we required expanded capabilities, additional staff and more capacity.” He also noted the larger work bays and four overhead cranes (two tandem 7.5 ton and two tandem 20 ton with max. 80,000-lb. lift) will complement the tank welding process, electrical assembly, enclosure assembly and a new in-house finishing department for wet paint and powder coating at this Hennig facility. The new location is conveniently located off Interstate I-90 at the recently completed Route 173 interchange for easy on/off logistics, a decided advantage in transporting the huge structures produced here.
At this new location, Hennig Enclosure Systems will produce turnkey enclosures and fuel tanks for OEM power generator customers, as well as architects, design/build firms, contractors and consulting/engineering companies who constitute its current customer base. Customers interact with the company by utilizing the network of Hennig field sales engineers and service centers, as well as the recently developed online configurator software at the company’s website.
Greg Champion, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, further noted, “Our customers will quickly benefit from the improvement in work flow and logistics provided by this new facility. Being immediately adjacent to the Hennig Global Headquarters will have many upsides for our customers and us alike.” Champion further noted Hennig now has 150 employees onsite at this combined facility, for a total of 450 worldwide.
Local Rockford, IL contractor Cord Construction completed this new facility in less than six months from the date the previous facility was acquired by Hennig in November, 2010.
Hennig Enclosure Systems will further offer a limited amount of indoor generator storage for customers at the new facility to provide additional benefit.
In addition to its work in the power generator market, Hennig, Inc. designs and produces custom machine protection and chip/coolant management products for state-of-the-art machine tools. Hennig products are designed to protect against corrosion, debris and common workplace contaminants. Manufacturing facilities are located in the U.S., Germany, France, Brazil, India, Japan, China and South Korea. Repair centers are located in Machesney Park, IL; Chandler, OK; Livonia, MI; Blue Ash, OH; Mexico City, Mexico; and Saltillo, Mexico.
To learn more about Hennig Enclosure Systems, visit www.hennig-enclosure-systems.com or contact:
Tim Waterman
Hennig Inc.
9900 N. Alpine Rd.
Machesney Park, IL 61115
(815) 316-5277
info@hennig.ame.com
www.hennigworldwide.com
Connect with Hennig online: 
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Hennig, Inc. designs and produces custom machine protection and chip/coolant management products for state-of-the-art machine tools. Hennig products are designed to protect against corrosion, debris and common workplace contaminants. Manufacturing facilities located in the USA, Germany, France, Brazil, India, Japan, Czech Republic, England and South Korea. Repair centers are located in Machesney Park, IL; Chandler, OK; Livonia, MI; Blue Ash, OH; Mexico City, Mexico; and Saltillo, Mexico.
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CHICAGO-On March 22, 2011, a group from the Manufacturing Summit led by Bob Vavra from Plant Engineering magazine, visited Dudek & Bock, a longtime world leader in springs, wireforms and light metal stampings for the automotive, appliance, housewares and other major high-volume, close tolerance markets. The purpose of the visit was to see how a seemingly traditional metalforming company, operating in the city of Chicago, sustains its leadership role in the world market, after 65 years in business. The attendees included representatives from various manufacturing and industrial service companies, all seeking to learn ways to improve their own operations.
The tour began with a presentation by Matt Puz, the Dudek & Bock vp for sales & marketing, supported by Mike Dudek and Raquel Chole, who head up the sales operations for the company, which operates plants in Chicago and Saltillo, Mexico.
The presentation recapped the history of the company, from its humble beginnings in 1946, when Mike Dudek’s grandfather Joe and his partner Stan Bock started the business with two four-slide machines for springforming and a commitment to vertically integrated manufacturing, product quality and efficient operation of the factory that was and is the envy of the industry. Dudek & Bock today maintains over 500 machines for use at both plants, retrofitting and rebuilding them in their Chicago factory, plus the company produces over 90% of its own tooling to minimize reliance on outside sources and the attendant cost/delivery issues. Currently, the company produces over 1500 products to order.
Puz also detailed the precision with which the operations of both plants are monitored, both in terms of employee productivity and machine utilization. Karen Pacana, one of the company’s account managers, addressed the scheduling of raw material purchases and shipping strategies, while Ken Kveton, part of the business development team for the company, spoke on the constant oversight exercised at Dudek & Bock to insure lower PPM and to streamline business integration between the two plants. Dudek & Bock recently purchased another supplier to the automotive industry and melded the operation into its Chicago plant. That company concentrated on the automotive seating industry, where Dudek & Bock was already established. As Mike Dudek observed, “We saw an opportunity to expand our product reach in the seating business, not only with the in-house capabilities we already had but also through this compatible company, who was making torsion springs and related products. The acquisition went smoothly and we are quite pleased with the results to date.”
Collectively, the automotive and appliance business represent 80% of the gross revenue at Dudek & Bock, as Matt Puz noted in his presentation. Selling to these high-volume, critical dimension industries is very challenging, as Puz further observed. “For several years recently, we invested over $1,000,000 annually in new CNC equipment to better serve our customers, through increased automation and capacity utilization at both our plants.” Karen Pacana added, “While some products are produced in the Mexico plant for local automotive business, most of it happens here in Chicago, affording us optimum control of the manufacturing and logistics. This reduces carrying costs and allows us to build a safety overrun into our jobs, which frequently gets used for aftermarket repair operations.”
Complementing the core competencies of spring, wireform and light metal stamping production at Dudek & Bock, the company also maximizes its value to customers by providing a number of secondary operations on products, including all the following: welding, riveting, inline tapping and extrusion plus drilling, swedging, grinding, tapping, deburring, stress relief, shot peening, degreasing, some coating and oven curing, plus specialized packaging to suit customer requirements.
Raquel Chole noted that the employees from the Mexico plant, nearly all young and all well educated, are frequently brought to Chicago for machine cross-training and instruction on the protocols used by the company for production evaluation. “This policy gives the employees a great sense of belonging to our organization and company culture, plus they come away from the experience here with multiple skill sets that can be utilized at the Saltillo facility.”
Eipe Varghese, the vice president for quality at Dudek & Bock, proudly discussed how the company has achieved ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO/TS 16949 certification. “Our full audit procedures and constant attention to continuous improvement protocols at both plants have made a big difference in the overall efficiency of the company. This reduces cost, improves delivery achievements and keeps us a valued supplier to our demanding major markets.”
Puz concluded the presentation with a detailed discussion on the “cost of quality” at Dudek & Bock. “We utilize world-class metrics to keep us a world-class company,” he said with no small amount of pride. “Quality has become part of our culture here and we review everything related to our machines, labor, overtime, earned hour ratio and more.” The result has been an outstanding 25% higher efficiency for man hours worked, over the last eight years, Puz noted.
Dudek & Bock is committed to a “design for manufacturability” strategy and utilizes an Advanced Production Quality Planning (APQP) process to make optimum use of the machinery and secondary operations in-house to produce products to specification and in the most efficient manner possible, Puz concluded.
Following the presentation, the group was led on a full tour of the Chicago plant, where Mike Dudek explained the Value Analysis/Value Engineering (VA/VE) concept that drives a key component of the company’s continuous improvement policy. “We frequently take a product that’s been made a certain way and, by using our production equipment and secondary operation skills, we are able to remove weight and improve the manufacturability of the product, without compromising the performance or quality in any way.” He further noted that, as a supplier to automotive, safety factors in the end product are constantly monitored. “We sample all our products throughout the run, including on every new spool of wire or coil of metal. This is a further back-up to what our quality department does on all incoming shipments.”
Monitoring the total production and all incoming jobs is done at biweekly staff meetings, observed Raquel Chole. Here, company managers review the performance issues of all machinery at both plants, plus perform an assessment on the incoming workflow. Energy use, IT issues, capacity utilization, “stretch opportunities” within an existing customer or market and manufactured product potential are all evaluated in an ongoing manner, through this process.
Eipe Varghese conducted the tour of his quality department, detailing how PPAP and segment checks are performed on all jobs at Dudek & Bock, sometimes in compliance with customer mandate, but more often to the stringent internal protocols established long ago by the company itself. “We perform load testing, full data capture and record keeping on all the work cells in the plant.” He noted the Mexico facility has a mirror image quality lab. “Gaging is often built in-house but we use external calibration services, as well, to be sure we’re on track at all times.”
In touring the machine maintenance department, Mike Dudek mused, “This is our old-fashioned art department, our black magic, if you will.” The department is staffed with many longtime Dudek & Bock employees, who have not only run every piece of machinery in the building, but are able to repair and retrofit it, as well. On a typical piece of heavy wireforming machinery, Dudek noted, “…you might be looking at $300,000 to buy it new, while our guys can make one of our old machines run as good as new for maybe 20% of that amount. Big difference.”
All in the group agreed this forward-thinking company was a fitting end to the Manufacturing Summit.
For video of this event, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=64D854D474995127
Agency contact: Tim Daro Bernard & Company 847-934-4500
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No. 905 is an electrically-heated 1200°F(~648.89°C) high temperature walk-in oven from Grieve, currently used for heat treating. 120 KW are installed in Incoloy sheathed tubular heating elements. Workspace dimensions are 48” wide x 180” deep x 72” high.
The oven has 10” thick insulated walls comprised of 2” of 1900°F block and 8” of 10 lb/cf density rockwool, an aluminized steel exterior and a Type 304, 2B finish stainless steel interior. A 12,500 CFM, 10-HP recirculating blower provides universal front to rear airflow to the unit.
The unit is also equipped with a 7” insulated floor with truck wheel guide tracks and a flatbed loading truck with a 5000 lb capacity. The external frame works with lifting eyes to allow this 18,000 lb oven to be moved by crane. It also features inner and outer gaskets; the inner gasket seals directly against the door plug and the outer gasket seals directly against the front face of the oven.
Controls onboard No. 905 include a digital programming temperature controller, free standing remote control panel, manual reset excess temperature controller with separate contactors, SCR power controller, strip chart recorder and recirculating blower airflow safety switch.
For more information, please contact: THE GRIEVE CORPORATION, 500 Hart
Road, Round Lake, Illinois 60073-2835 USA. Phone: (847) 546-8225. Fax: (847) 546-9210. Web: www.grievecorp.com. Email: sales@grievecorp.com. Attention: Frank Calabrese.
Agency Contact: Tim Daro: 847-934-4500
Continue readingWisconsin foundry prospering from its use of technology, including MAGMASOFT® simulation software for metalcasting
Schaumburg, IL – Premier Aluminum is an ISO 9001-2008 certified permanent mold aluminum casting and machine shop in Racine, Wisconsin with a reputation for partnering with its customers to find flexible and cost-effective solutions for a variety of products. The company serves the quantity casting market, from a few hundred castings per year to annual volumes of fifty thousand and more. Premier positions its capability in the market as a one-stop shop for finished machined, permanent mold aluminum castings.
Premier has invested in all necessary tools and facilities to enable full collaborative engineering with its customers. Its current goal is to achieve the desired casting quality by further reducing costs and decreasing time to market for its customers. This progressive approach to working with customers by utilizing advanced technical tools in an R&D facility will now be referenced as the Technology Center at Premier Aluminum.
The Technology Center will now be available to any Premier customer or potential customer who wishes to work closely with the Premier Engineering Team to quickly and accurately develop new products or re-engineer already existing ones. Its engineering team boasts 50+ years experience in metalcasting, plus the latest advancements in the aluminum foundry industry. To better serve its customers, Premier employs such advanced software as Solidworks, MAGMASOFT® and other engineering tools to enhance customer confidence in tool life, product quality and efficient manufacturing processes, through a more predictive and trackable engineering protocol.
One of the company’s most effective engineering tools is MAGMASOFT®, provided by MAGMA Foundry Technologies, which is a software used to assist engineers, designers and buyers in the metalcasting industry. Premier’s engineering group utilizes MAGMASOFT® to optimize the casting design as well as to refine the casting process from the outset. MAGMASOFT® blends science, technology and experience from diverse areas of the casting process to create a package that utilizes the complex physics of casting to simulate the results prior to creating the mold. This technology-based strategy, combined with years of experience serving the global foundry market, allows Premier to optimize its designs for castability, quality and overall lowest cost.
In today’s environment, Premier is seeking all possible ways to be competitive and work together to find solutions that ultimately benefit the entire supply chain. Supply chain efficiency reduces time to market and engineering costs, emphasizes collaboration and yields sound manufacturing processes that will increase customer competitiveness. The company is committed to this technology-driven approach and seeks the opportunity to share it with current customers and prospects alike.
Premier’s sales manager, Kevin Kelly, is currently inviting customers and prospects to send their product experts to the Technology Center for an opportunity to collaborate with the company’s engineers on any new products or existing designs. During the visit, customer or prospect teams will be able to access the Internet, collaborate face-to-face with Premier’s engineering staff, gain knowledge of the aluminum casting processes and utilize any of the technology tools, especially MAGMASOFT®, to bring their product to market faster, more efficiently and at a lower overall cost.
For more information on this announcement, please contact:
Kevin Kelly – Sales Manager PREMIER ALUMINUM 3633 S. Memorial Dr. Racine, WI 53403 Phone: 262-554-2100, Ext. 130 Email: kevin.kelly@premieraluminum.com Web: www.premieraluminum.com
OR
Steve Sikorski – Vice President of Applications & Technology MAGMA Foundry Technologies, Inc.
10 N. Martingale Road, Suite 425 Schaumburg, IL 60173 Phone 847-969-1001, ext. 223
Email: ssikorski@magmasoft.com Web:www.magmasoft.com
Agency contact: Tim Daro Bernard & Company 847-934-4500 tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
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Fred Phillips, Regional Manager of SIGMA Plastic Services, Inc. will be giving a seminar on “The Next Generation of Injection Molding” at the June 30th SPE GGS lunch.
In-depth injection molding simulation software has typically been used by analysts who have the expertise to setup the complex mesh model required for simulation. With advanced simulation technology from SIGMA, injection molding simulation is easier to use and more accurate than ever. This opens the door to product designers, project managers, and engineers in charge of polymer injection molds and processes, as well as analysis groups. Companies no longer need to rely on a “meshing expert” to employ injection molding simulation.
The presentation will highlight the power of injection molding simulation when considering 3D mold components, cooling channels, the complete runner system, and part geometries coupled with multi-cycle analysis. Simulation is a must-have tool for companies wanting to evaluate ‘what if’ scenarios of the entire injection molding process early in the design and tooling stages.
Where: Exponent, Inc. 149 Commonwelath Drive, Menlo Park, CA
When: Thursday, June 30, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM (lunch provided to those attending the seminar)
Cost: Lunch: $20 non-members, $15 members, $10 students/unemployed/retired – cash at door or via Paypal
Cost: Webinar: $10 – Paypal only. WebEx invitation will be sent upon receipt of payment
RSVP: Jennifer Hoffman at jhoffman@exponent.com; RSVP by noon, Tuesday, June 28th.
The process orientation of MAGMA5 illustrated using die casting
During the upcoming GIFA 2011 show in Dusseldorf, Germany, Magma will present its new software generation for casting process simulation, MAGMA5. At the 300 sq. m stand 12A16, the company will demonstrate how casting process simulation with MAGMA5 can be used for optimization at all stages of casting manufacturing to contribute to foundry profitability. MAGMA will show the newest version MAGMA5 5.2 with extended capabilities for all cast materials and processes, introduce its new software MAGMA C+M for the simulation of the core production processes and provide a view into the future of autonomous optimization of casting processes. Additionally, MAGMA is participating in the initiative “ecoMetals” from the Messe Düsseldorf, which supports companies who develop innovative products and processes leading to a more efficient use of energy. MAGMA will demonstrate, using practical examples, how the application of casting process simulation considerably increases a foundry’s energy and resource efficiency.
MAGMA5 – optimized simulation
Autonomous optimization of casting processes and layouts, shown here for gating optimization in die casting, is the future of casting processsimulation.
MAGMA5 5.2 introduces several new simulation capabilities: new process modes for permanent mold, low pressure sand and low pressure die casting, as well both hot-chamber and cold-chamber die casting, allow for detailed process-specific definitions. The software also supports process design by controlling process parameters during a simulation run. For gravity casters, process modules for DISAMATIC and investment casting are now available.
At GIFA, MAGMA will also present its newest developments for the quantitative prediction of as-cast and heat treated local microstructures and properties in aluminum, iron and steel castings. MAGMA5 simulates sand and reoxidation inclusions during mold filling and predicts defects related to molding materials. MAGMAnonferrous calculates the final microstructure and mechanical properties for aluminum alloys considering the metallurgy, inoculation, and hydrogen content of the melt. MAGMAiron predicts local microstructures for iron materials from graphite growth through to the distribution of phases making up the matrix. MAGMAsteel calculates macrosegregation in steel castings and the local microstructure resulting from heat treatment.
The stress module MAGMAstress for the first time offers casters the option to calculate thermally induced casting stresses in permanent molds for all manufacturing steps, including heat treatment and finishing, in order to predict casting crack problems and distortion. The simulated distortion results can be evaluated just as on a coordinate measuring machine and compared directly with real measurements. For the first time, the new module MAGMAdielife facilitates the evaluation of the effects of tooling design and thermal stresses on the durability of permanent molds.
MAGMA Core+Mold – transparency in core production
With MAGMA C+M, the simulation of the core shooting process is possible for complex tools, shown here for three cores including blow tubes in a single core box.
With MAGMA C+M, MAGMA introduces an integrated tool for the simulation of core production processes. MAGMA C+M simulates core shooting, blowing and hardening of organic and inorganic cores. Processes where binder hardening is driven by a catalyst gas as well
as core production with tempered core boxes are supported. MAGMA C+M considers all aspects of core production starting from the core shooter, in order to calculate the flow of the air-sand mixture based on the real shot parameters. An integrated database provides the ability to specify the characteristics of the sand and the binder system as well as core box vents and blow tubes. The program simulates gassing, purging and the curing reaction of gas-hardened cores. The design and control of core box tempering for heat-cured cores (hotbox, croning, inorganic) is effectively supported by modeling of heating cartridges and oil channels. For inorganic cores, MAGMA C+M calculates the drying of the core in the heated core box as well as due to transport of water vapor by hot air during gassing. MAGMA C+M takes advantage of all the functionality of MAGMA5 and is available as an add-on module to MAGMA5 or asa stand-alone product.
Autonomous optimization is the future
With autonomous optimization, foundrymen can make use of simulation in order to pursue their objectives for quality and cost. Autonomous optimization makes proposals for the right casting layout or the optimum process parameters. The virtual test foundry in the computer enables variation of parameters and systematic examination of influencing variables leading up to the optimum configuration. Based on the fundamental physics embedded in MAGMA5, the program finds the best possible dimensions and positions of ingates, as well as the location of feeders and chills including their optimum size. Using industrial examples, MAGMA will present state-of-the-art capabilities and provide a view into the future of optimization.
MAGMA – very involved
At the accompanying WFO Technical Forum, MAGMA will give presentations on the topics of aluminum casting, core production, and optimization. At the NewCast exhibition, which takes place in parallel with GIFA, simulation specialists will discuss the prediction of residual stresses and distortion in cast iron components.
MAGMA also has a further exhibition stand (12A15) as part of the “Get-In-Form” project “Youth-Technology-Future” (“Jugend-Technik-Zukunft“). Here, the attractiveness of work as a professional or specialist in the metal casting industry will be illustrated to students and apprentices in an entertaining and interactive manner.
About software for casting process simulation
Casting process simulation software considers the complete casting process including mold filling, solidification and cooling, and also provides the quantitative prediction of mechanical properties, thermally induced casting stresses and the distortion of cast components. Simulation accurately describes a cast component’s quality upfront before production starts, thus the casting layout can be designed with respect to the required component properties. This results in a reduction in pre-production sampling, but also the precise layout of the complete casting system leads to energy, material and tooling savings for the foundry.
The range of application of MAGMA solutions comprises all cast alloys, from cast iron to aluminum sand casting, permanent mold and die casting up to large steel castings. The software supports the user in component design, the determination of melting practice and casting methodology through to mold making, heat treatment and finishing. This saves costs consequently along the entire casting manufacturing line.
During the last 10 years, the use of casting process simulation has become a valuable business asset for many foundries. MAGMA5 now expands the capabilities of casting process simulation and will further accelerate the acceptance of this technology.
About MAGMA
MAGMA offers comprehensive solutions to the metal casting industry, casting buyers and casting designers worldwide. The MAGMA product and service portfolio includes the powerful modular simulation software MAGMASOFT®,with the newest release MAGMA5, as well as engineering services for casting design and optimization.
Today, MAGMASOFT® is used throughout the metal casting industry, especially for the optimization of cast components in automotive and heavy industry applications.
MAGMA Giessereitechnologie GmbH was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Aachen, Germany. A global presence and support are guaranteed by offices and subsidiaries in the USA, Singapore, Brazil, Korea, Turkey, India and China. Additionally, more than 30 qualified partners represent MAGMA around the world.
For more information on this release, please contact:
Christof Heisser President MAGMA Foundry Technologies, Inc. 10 N. Martingale Road, Suite 425 Schaumburg, IL 60173 Phone 847-969-1001 ext. 225
Email: cheisser@magmasoft.com Web: www.magmasoft.com
Agency contact: Tim Daro Bernard & Company 847-934-4500 tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
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No. 874 is an electrically-heated 650°F(~343.3°C) indexing chain conveyor oven from Grieve, currently used for processing pallets of PVC parts on mandrels. 40 KW are installed in Incoloy sheathed tubular heating elements. Workspace dimensions are 42” wide x 84” deep x 15” high.
The oven has 5” insulated walls and an aluminized steel interior and exterior. It features three zones: 2’ long open belt loading zone, 7’ long insulated heat zone with recirculated airflow and 4’ long open unloading zone. The mandrels holding product move through the oven on two strands of 60 pitch roller chain on 35” centers, powered by a ¼ HP motor drive with fixed speed of 32 inches per minute.
A 4200 CFM, 3-HP recirculating blower provides vertical downward airflow to the workload, while a 325 CFM powered forced exhauster is also onboard. Motor operated vertical lift doors are provided at each end of the oven.
Controls onboard No. 874 include SCR power controller and fused disconnect switch. A PLC controls temperature and conveyor indexing.
For more information, please contact:
THE GRIEVE CORPORATION
500 Hart Road
Round Lake, IL 60073-2898
Phone: (847) 546-8225
Fax: (847) 546-9210
Web: www.grievecorp.com
Email: sales@grievecorp.com
Attention: Frank Calabrese, VP
SAM 600G machine being introduced to the foundry market at open house, to be held at Hunter Automated near Chicago on May 19
Schaumburg, Illinois (USA)-Hunter Automated Machinery today announces an open house, to be held at company headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois, near Chicago, next Thursday, May 19, from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. During this event, plant tours will be conducted, plus demonstrations will be offered on a new grinding center from Maus, one of Hunter’s machinery partners, whom Hunter represents in North America.
The SAM 600G is a fully automated CNC automatic grinding center, compact yet powerful, with four-tool capacity and a product load/unload time less than four seconds. 
Built with a rotary turntable for loading/unloading of the workpieces, this Maus machine can significantly improve the finishing operations. Multi-spindle grinding is programmable for cutting of risers and gating, plus surface and internal grinding.
In the North American market, Hunter also represents Space’, Primafond and Versatile, all builders of related foundry equipment for metalcasting.
Hunter and its partners will all be exhibiting at GIFA, the international foundry exposition, upcoming June 28-July 2, 2011 in Dusseldorf, Germany.
For further information on this announcement, interested parties may contact:
HUNTER AUTOMATED MACHINERY CORPORATION
2222 Hammond Drive Schaumburg, IL 60196
Phone: (847) 397-5110
Fax: (847) 397-8254
Email: info@hunterfoundry.com
Web: www.hunterfoundry.com
Connect with Hunter Foundry online: 
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The Maus SAM 600G, a CNC grinding center for cast metals finishing, will be introduced to the North American foundry market at an open house, to be held at Hunter Automated in Schaumburg, IL, near Chicago, on May 19.
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CHICAGO, April 5, 2011 — At this year’s AERODEF show in Anaheim, California, Siemens will demonstrate new solutions and services for machine tool end-users and manufacturers. Under the theme, “Productivity in motion,” the presentation will focus on turnkey solutions for the aerospace manufacturing industry.
For machine tool end-users and OEMs, Siemens will exhibit new value-added services ranging from condition monitoring and manufacturing IT to innovative solutions for CNC training and machine tool retrofit, as well as the newest innovations in CNC (computer numerical control), motor and drive technology.
SOLUTIONS FOR MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE
Condition Monitoring and Manufacturing IT are two value-added services that are continuing their introduction to the U.S. machine tool market.
Condition Monitoring is an internet-based service from Siemens that supports maintenance processes while simultaneously forming a platform for cross-company service and support between OEMs and machine operators. Services can be configured over secure Internet connections from anywhere in the world via a standard PC, an internet connection and a web browser.
Manufacturing IT solutions from Siemens provide software tools for fast, easy integration of machines in a production network, while ensuring that production planning, scheduling and execution
is always problem-free and based on the very latest data.
An entire line of powerful software modules for production machines ensures optimum integration of the machines in the IT-environment and supports a wide range of different functionalities including:
SOLUTIONS FOR AEROSPACE
For the aerospace market, the new Sinumerik 840D solution line is the latest in CNC technology that increases performance and user productivity. The Sinumerik 840D sl is a universal and flexible CNC system featuring the innovative Sinamics S120 drives that can be used for up to 31 axes. It is a distributed, scalable, open and inter-connecting system offering a wide range of specialized functions for milling, drilling, turning, grinding and handling technologies.
The Sinumerik 840D offers users innovative features that increase productivity on the manufacturing floor, especially the challenging segments of high-speed and five-axis aerospace machining.
SOLUTIONS FOR THE JOB SHOP
For the job shop, the new Sinumerik 828D numerical control will be presented. Perfect for
mid-range machine tools, the Sinumerik 828D is designed to address the needs of complex milling and turning machines in the job shop segment. It combines CNC, PLC, operator panel and axis control for six CNC measurement circuits in a single, robust operator panel.
The Sinumerik 828D is capable of full graphical, high-level language command and supports ISO programming that is customary in the United States. Programming time can be further reduced for small-batch production with the use of the ShopMill and ShopTurn graphical workstep programming system, while high-level language programming can be used in conjunction with programGuide to significantly reduce programming times for large-scale serial production.
With the introduction of the Sinumerik 828D, modern PC and mobile phone technology is now available to the mid-range machine tool. Extensive online help animations and a new type of input prompting system with moving picture sequences provide the basis for exceptional user convenience. USB, Compact Flash (CF) card and Ethernet ports enable high-speed data transfers onto storage media or integration of the control system into corporate networks. Through the use of its Easy Message functionality, the Sinumerik 828D offers production status monitoring by text messaging (SMS). Depending on the recipient’s profile setting, the machine will transmit information about workpiece machining status, report on the tool condition currently in use and send machine maintenance bulletins to a mobile phone, anytime and anywhere. These combined functions are designed to help keep machine downtime to a minimum.
SOLUTIONS FOR CNC TRAINING
Newly introduced to the American machine tool industry, and based upon the new Sinumerik Operate user interface, SinuTrain is the ideal solution for control-identical CNC training.
With SinuTrain, actual NC programs are developed and simulated, to speed the program generation protocol. In this way, machine tool operators not only learn the control language commands, but they also visualize part programs on a PC screen that are identical to the machine tool’s screen. As a further benefit, programs generated through SinuTrain can then be used on actual machines.
SinuTrain is available for different needs and budgets including a trial version, a study version, a single-user license and an educational license. It is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Simplified Chinese, and requires Windows® XP (32-bit). Support for Windows 7 (32- / 64-bit) coming in 2011.
For more information about CNC solutions and services from Siemens, point your web browser to www.usa.siemens.com/cnc.
For specific product information and inquiries:
SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC.
DRIVE TECHNOLOGIES
MOTION CONTROL
MACHINE TOOL BUSINESS
390 Kent Avenue
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Phone: 847-640-1595
Fax: 847-437-0784
Web: www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
Email: SiemensMTBUMarCom.sea@siemens.com
Attention: John Meyer, Manager, Marketing Communication
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SiemensCNC or Twitter: www.twitter.com/siemens_cnc_us.
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Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/industry.
The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/drivetechnologies.
Continue readingSixteen precision 112.5º gearboxes fully manufactured, tested, assembled and shipped in ten weeks; run at 1800 RPM on 100 HP
Excel Gear, Inc. of Roscoe, Illinois announces the completion of a sixteen gearbox order in only ten weeks. Seems rather normal, until you see the application, namely, one of the world’s largest ever vibratory pile drivers, the APE Octokong, to be used for erection of an over/underwater structure, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in China. The machine is being built by American Piledriving Equipment, Inc. (APE) of Kent, Washington. In use, the sixteen gearboxes regulate timing on the vibratory power transmission for the apparatus needed to secure the pilings in the riverbed or sea floor. For a video of this amazing machine design, see www.apevibro.com.
Using its “design for manufacturability” approach, according to N.K. “Chinn” Chinnusamy, Excel Gear president and its chief engineer, the company manufactured the spiral bevel gears, machined the castings, engineered special Teflon seals, created 
special stainless steel breather caps and holes to accommodate the tremendous pressure build-ups and air dissipation requirements in the system, then heat treated and assembled the units, finally testing them in the Excel quality inspection lab. Each component was hand-washed and inspected for chips, the alcohol-wiped, run with oil, inspected and re-cleaned.
The sixteen gearboxes, filled with environmentally-friendly biodegradable canola (vegetable) oil and protected with special Teflon bearing seals, are used in pairs at each of eight stations to provide the sequential vibration to the massive assembly that holds the piling above the insertion tube. As the piling vibrates, it literally shakes its way into position. (This is shown in the video.)
“The toughest part of this job…and there were many tough parts,” comments Chinn, “was to get the shaft keyways aligned properly in orientation to the surfaces of the spiral bevel gears. The math involved here was staggering.” In addition, Chinn notes that special fixturing had to be built to facilitate the machining of the very large surface areas involved on this job. He proudly reports that the very first test runouts saw keyway alignments within 0.0005” of parallel. 
Another aspect of this immense job was the need to minimize backlash for noise and distortion. The offset bearing calculations needed the highest accuracy possible and, owing to the very nature of spiral bevel gearing, this was an immense math and machining challenge. Excel maintains a battery of the largest gearmaking machines in the industry, as its customer base comprises heavy materials handling equipment, naval vessel gun turret builders, barge off-loading crane and other manufacturers where huge gears and precision motion are both required.
Despite the timing of the job, Excel Gear shipped the order ahead of schedule by several days, satisfying the customer completely. Chinn acknowledges several suppliers who greatly assisted Excel in the completion of this job. Youngberg Industries of Belvidere, Illinois performed some of the heavy fabrications needed, while Reliance Gear of Addison, Illinois did spiral bevel gearwork, a highly specialized service, and General Surface Hardening in Chicago handled the carburizing and hardening in the heat treat processes on the 4320 alloy steels used. Finally, Chuck Schultz of Beyta Gear Surface in Winfield, Illinois did some consulting and spec writing on the job.
For more information on this success, please contact: EXCEL GEAR, INC. 11865 Main Street Roscoe, IL 61073 Phone: 815-623-3414 Fax: 815-623-3314 Web: www.excelgear.com Email: sales@excelgear.com N.K. Chinnusamy, President 
