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On the site now: 53814 articles from 5580 suppliers!

...from 17 articles and news releases just added to the site:

EXCLUSIVE: One parts cleaning system uses various media

Vacuum Assisted Inorganic Organic Cleaning System by EMO enables chlorinated hydrocarbons, hydrocarbons and modified alcohols to be used in one parts cleaning.

Exclusive article from Kyal Machine Tools

Pneumatic torque wrenches are faster, lighter

Norbar Torque Tools has updated its pneumatic torque tools' gearboxes to offer units that are faster, lighter, smaller and much more easier for operators to handle.

Product/Service News from Norbar Torque Tools (16 May 2008)

Laser marking firm awards best distributor

Electrox has awarded 'Distributor of the Year' to its German distributor, Haberstroh, for increasing laser marking equipment sales several times over during the past twelve months.

Company news from Electrox (16 May 2008)

Latest Special Report from Manufacturingtalk:

Machine tools go on show worldwide

In addition to general and specialised manufacturing shows in Europe, there are two major international machine tool related events this year, writes Mike Page.

» See all recent Special Reports...

Using ultrasonics to inspect bearing condition

The most reliable way of checking the condition of bearings is to use ultrasonic inspection devices, writes Mark Goodman, as these systems give a warning before bearing temperature rises.

Background article from Alpine Components

Precision moulder cuts energy costs by 67%

A precision plastics moulding company reported that a Boge frequency controlled screw compressor has brought compressed air energy cost savings of 67%/year.

User application article from Boge Compressors (16 May 2008)

All 17 technical articles, news releases, and user applications today...

From the Manufacturingtalk Editorial Newsletter this week

Mike Page Mike Page, Editor writes:
 
:

One wonders sometimes where the idea of always having the latest consumer products is going to take us. On May 4, 'The Sunday Times' UK newspaper included a 12-page 'Industrial Trends' advertising supplement for the Siemens Group. It covered the design and manufacture of products ranging from cars and trains, through steel plants to postal sorting systems and aircraft baggage handling.

I think many of us are aware that, for example, car customisation is very much a growing trend. To satisfy it, the manufacturing system engineers have to come up with some very slick automation systems. Such systems increasingly are able to manage the individual styling (that is trim selection and interior fittings, such as audio systems) as well as adding on advanced ('there's a truck just behind you!) tracking systems and the like. There is a section 'Factory of the future' which discusses - and again many of us are familiar - the growing versatility of simulation systems. Without simulation, some advanced automatic manufacturing systems would now be very difficult to assess in terms of efficiency, viability and practicality.

Siemens pointed out one trend, as far as cars are concerned, and again some of us are aware of, that companies can now bring out new car models in every two to three years as compared with every five to seven years, say, in the 1990s. Certainly the more financially well-off among us will do that. You then have a growing cascade of cars that are perceived as 'obsolete' descending to the less well-off who only buy second-hand. Even then, the frequency of car-changing will increase and the unwanted ones will grow an ever higher mountain of scrap.

More people are changing mobile phones (or 'handies' as they are called in Germany) every few months. One could not but fail to be impressed by the phone that one of my offsprings bought recently, which has a 3.5 megapixel camera in it! You paid a lot of money only a few years ago for a digital camera with that capability. So, somewhere, there is a growing heap of 'obolete' mobile phones - though I imagine those salvaged get passed on to the 'undeveloped/developing' countries. It was in Vietnam in 1997 I saw a guy riding a water buffalo (or some similar bovine job) in a rice field while talking on his mobile phone. Quite a contrast in technology usage!

Coming back to cars, one could imagine that if a car can be so extensively 'customised' and, perhaps one day 'individualised', then maybe the owner won't want to dispose of it! It could be one solution to the growing amount of energy wastage (as put into making the cars and mobile phones in the first place). One could imagine having a basic car platform and every few years, one swaps the body - or the platform - in a 'body swap shop' so that you can either keep the super energy-efficient platform and have the latest gizmoes in a brand new, customised/individulised body, or vice-versa. That would be a step in the right direction in terms of overall energy saving.

Such ideas are there, and the prototype fuel-cell powered, or other non-IC engine powered vehicle platform combined with customised body/gizmores/trim styles is one idea that may yet materialise in the car advertisements and showrooms. What I have not seen happen yet (though I guess someone, somewhere is offering it) is a tailor using a digital scanning system, combined with a laser profiling system and an automatic sewing system that can give you a tailored suite 'while you wait'.

In whichever direction technology takes us, I hope we all won't wake up one day to find everywhere cluttered with 'obsolete' gadgets! Even so, it is a very exciting time for designers and production engineers alike!

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