Machine Building

Thermal imaging assures packaging quality and cuts costs

To check the integrity of its cardboard packaging, Recochem - a manufacturer of household chemical products and automotive fluids - used to extract boxes from the production line for destructive testing to establish if the hot melt adhesive had been applied in sufficient quantity and accurately. It was a time-consuming and expensive task but, thanks the FLIR thermal imaging, quality control is now fully automated and only sub-standard boxes are scrapped.

19th October 2017

Tufnol "˜makes the grade' with new Firth of Forth road bridge

Tufnol Composites has supplied specialist products to the new state-of-the-art bridge across Scotland's Firth of Forth, the Queensferry Crossing.

18th October 2017

samosPRO Compact provides additional safety for SOVEX

The use of Wieland Electric's samosPRO Compact at SOVEX has reduced wiring, reduced installation time, lowered the complexity of the control system and provided seamless integration of safety with the control function.

16th October 2017

Plastic bottle maker reduces energy use with motor-drive package

When a 23-year-old plastic bottle blow molding machine was failing to deliver its proper output, Northern Ireland's PrimePac faced a dilemma. The machine uses a hydraulic motor to run an extruder on a blow molder. Because it had spent its life running 24 hours a day, five days a week, its motor was operating inefficiently and suffered poor speed-holding properties.

13th October 2017

Robot: the "˜employee' that helped a small subcontractor grow

Having worked in industry for 10 years, Jesper Larsen decided to go it alone. In April 2016, he set up Vivo Production, invested in two CNC machines and single-handedly established a very successful subcontracting business. Output ranged from batch production through to prototypes, typically for the wind power and offshore industries.

12th October 2017

Yokogawa to conduct PoC test of remote pump monitoring service

Yokogawa Electric Corporation has begun working with Iwaki Co., Ltd. on a proof-of-concept (PoC) test for a remote pump monitoring service. This service will use an Industrial IoT (IIoT) architecture that is currently under development by Yokogawa. The PoC test will examine the market potential for such a service and investigate means by which it may be offered.

10th October 2017

Goodfellow delivers specialist materials further than most

Goodfellow supplied platinum wires that played a vital role in the Cassini-Huygens probe when it collected data from Saturn.

9th October 2017

How igus linear systems can help the Fukushima clean-up team

In March 2011 the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, located on the Pacific coast of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, was severely damaged by the TÅhoku earthquake and ensuing tsunami. During the chain of events, three nuclear reactors were without suitable cooling and underwent a catastrophic meltdown. The clean-up and decommissioning has required thousands of scientists across the world to invent, develop and deliver new or improved techniques for nuclear debris removal and site remediation.

4th October 2017

Movicon SCADA takes heat treatment to next level

An innovative steel heat treatment process developed by Refrattari Brebbia Srl in the Italian city of Varese near Milan is based on a Movicon SCADA control system, available in the UK through Producs4Automation.

3rd October 2017

VSD compressor saves £47,000 per year for packaging manufacturer

Kingsmoor Packaging Ltd (KPL) has increased production capacity and improved its energy efficiency as a result of installing an Atlas Copco GA90 VSD compressor. The decision provides KPL with the flexibility to meet future growth and follows an extensive plant operation review that included undertaking an iiTrak system energy audit.

2nd October 2017