The following is a letter received by the Compressed Air Challenge from a concerned individual. Queries such as these are common if someone attends a CAC seminar. Question: We have a new maintenance supervisor that has turned down our shop air pressure to 86 psi, supposedly saving operating cost. My opinion is it should be […]
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Manufacturing matters: International update
Hereβs a look at regional manufacturing reports from the past couple of weeks. Singaporeβs Gross domestic product shrank an annualized 1.4%in the three months through March 31 from the previous quarter, when it rose 3.3%, the Trade Ministry said today. Bloomberg reports that the city-state stuck to a policy of allowing gradual gains in its […]
NFPA data shows slight decrease in pneumatic shipments
The National Fluid Power Association’s 12-month graph of moving averages shows that pneumatic shipments, as well as hydraulic shipments, decreased slightly in February 2013. The latest data published by the NFPA shows that industry shipments of fluid β¨power products for February 2013 decreased 11.8% compared to February 2012, and it also decreased 3.5% cβ¨ompared to […]
Manufacturing matters β Leading in clean energy
David Danielson, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, announced a Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative at the ribbon cutting of a new facility, the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Danielson said this represents the type of public-private partnership necessary for the U.S. to lead in clean […]
Looking forward to IFK 2014
One of the best fluid power technical conferences in the world is the every-four-year IFK event held in the lovely city of Aachen, Germany. I’ve had the good fortune to attend the conference twice in the past, and I know that next year’s 9th IFK will be an important fluid power event for both manufacturers […]
How efficient are your air compressors?
Just what is your facility’s leakage level? How efficient are your air compressors? These are questions you can answer for yourself with some quick and inexpensive tests involving a calculator and a stopwatch. The answers you find could surprise you. For compressors that use load/unload controls, there is an easy way to roughly estimate the […]
5 reasons you need to attend the NFPA Annual Conference
Weβre only 8 days out from the National Conference of the National Fluid Power Association, the organizationβs premier annual event. If you donβt yet have your flight to Phoenix booked, I suggest you get on it as soon as possible! This yearβs conference has the theme βSucceeding in an Increasinglyβ¨Competitive Environmentβ and the lineup of […]
Looking down the road at manufacturing
We have a problem with manufacturing in this country. We havenβt seen real leadership from Washington for years on either side of the aisle, and the numbers that lie ahead are pretty daunting. And thatβs not just from the perspective of losing jobs. The Manufacturing Institute says that of the companies they survey, on median, […]
Air compressor failures: Fix or replace?
Many decisions are made in keeping compressed air systems running smoothly, but one of the most important is equipment selection. From time to time, equipment failure forces us to choose to repair our old air compressor or select a new one. Often, for a major component failure, the cost of the repair of the compressor […]
6 mistakes engineers make in mounting and specifying air cylinders
1. Inappropriate sizing When it comes to air cylinder sizing, bigger is not necessarily better. A cylinder that is larger than necessary will cost more to purchase and end up costing more money to operate, because oversized cylinders require more air capacity to function. On the other hand, a cylinder that is undersized will be […]
