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Back-to-the-future CAM fights offshore outsourcing
When Bud Hanna bought SCP Plastics in 1999, the Booneville, MS, injection molding shop looked more like 1966, the year the company was founded. Hanna quickly started to invest in new technology, including two sets of vertical and horizontal milling centers with Computer Numeric Controls, along with the latest software to automate the engineering and precision machining of molds. After just six months, the automation transformed the ancient SCP shop into one of the most technologically advanced of its kind anywhere.
"R&B and SolidCAM have made us competitive globally
in tool building," says Hanna. "I honestly feel like I can compete with offshore toolmaking
operations as a result of this software."
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Design firm/multi-shot material molder takes "Too-Kool" idea from concept to reality
Vern Olson has a soft spot for startup operations. The founder and chief designer of ProCo Technologies knows that some inventions with the most likely potential for huge sales success never seem to get off the ground. In many cases, the idea that is intended to catch the eye of retailers and the pocketbooks of consumers falls far short of having the right combination of critical design and benefits, proper use of the latest polymeric materials and production savvy, not to mention a key ingredient, a venue to get it to a vast potential market. But ProCo's work with Too-Kool Recreation bucked that trend, producing one of the hottest selling pool accessories of 2006.
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Die Castings Standards Explained
NADCA offers its latest Product Specification Standards for Die Castings to die casters and OEMs in print, CD, and online formats. This comprehensive resource provides specification, design and production guidance, plus valuable new information such as an alloy selection, an improved checklist for purchasing die cast parts and an expanded casting examples section. Visit
www.diecasting.org/oem/specs
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Digital surgery with touch feedback could improve medical training
Combining the sense of touch with 3D computer models of organs, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are developing a new approach to training surgeons, much as pilots learn to fly on flight simulators. With collaborators at Harvard Medical School, Albany Medical Center, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the team is developing a virtual simulator that will allow surgeons to touch, feel, and manipulate computer-generated organs with actual tool handles used in minimally invasive surgery.
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System proposed for reducing false product returns
Retailers' common view that the
"consumer is king" has increasingly led some customers to abuse their power, claiming returned products are flawed when they actually have no defects, says Mark Ferguson, assistant professor of operations management at Georgia Tech College of Management. Ferguson has conducted research on how to reduce the growing incidence of
"false failure" returns, products with no verifiable cosmetic or functional flaws. They are estimated to cost U.S. manufacturers $100 billion a year.
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The Die Has Been Cast
Specializing in aluminum, zinc, brass, and bronze, Modern Die Casting sets the standard in production ready parts. Expertise in casting technology is added to your design specs to identify any factors that may affect production or quality. A variety of alloys are available with 21 cells for hot- or cold-chamber die casting, and a full maintenance shop for die repairs. Add to that, precision machining and finishing with just-in-time delivery and warehousing, and you'll know why
Modern Die Casting has been a success since
1937. To find out more, visit
Modern Die Casting
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