Page 4 - MetalForming April 2010

Contents April 2010
Volume 44 — Number 4
Cover Story
12 Making its Mark in the Medical-Device Market
Features
16 Lights-Out Laser Cutting 18 Two Years, Two New
Press Lines
Tooling Technology
24 Sensing Strategies for Part Ejection
Commentaries
Editorial ........................2
Energy-Saving Green Schemes, Part 1
Brad F. Kuvin
TheScienceofForming ............22
Troubleshooting—Data Versus Experience
Stuart Keeler
Tooling by Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Combination Blanking and Drawing
Peter Ulintz
MetalformingElectronics............30
When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Sensing George Keremedjiev
The Business of Metalforming . . . . . . . . . 32
Communication: Revisiting the United Pitch
Michael Bleau
YouandTheLaw .................38
What’s New at OSHA
Douglas B. M. Ehlke
Blackman on Taxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
When Your Professional Says, “It Won’t Work,” It Usually Means, “I Don’t Know” Irving L. Blackman
Departments
News Fronts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 TechUpdate .....................8 Metals/CoilProcessing .............10 Tooling Update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 New Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Ad Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Serving those who create precision metal products using stamping, fabricating and other value-added processes.
“A smaller carbon footprint...will help us attract new customers,” says Erick Ajax of E.J. Ajax & Sons.
EDITORIAL BRAD F. KUVIN
Energy-Saving Green Schemes, Part 1
While you can’t cost-cut your way to prosperity, there’s certainly some low-hanging energy-savings fruit ripe for the picking. The “green schemes” that follow offer some great ideas for any fabricator/metalformer. They result from a brief survey of a handful of forward-thinking metal- formers working hard to be green, while saving money at the same time. I received more input than I could fit into this column, so look for more ener- gy-saving advice next month.
Stamper/fabricator E.J. Ajax & Sons, Fridley, MN, has implemented several energy-conservation measures, and also recycles all waste products including scrap metal, oil and leftover raw mate- rials, as well as used light bulbs, office paper, beverage cans, batteries and used computers. The firm’s energy-conser- vation steps include installing high- efficiency lighting, turning down the thermostat, and installing motion- detecting light switches.
“Our green investments have result- ed in a 15-percent reduction in water, gas and electricity,” says vice president Erick Ajax, “an annual savings of about $10,000. Our biggest benefit, though, will be the reduction in our carbon footprint to make parts for our customers. We’re confident a smaller carbon footprint is becoming much more important to many of our current customers and also will help us attract new customers.”
Keats Manufacturing Co., Wheeling, IL, completed similar projects, replacing its halide lights with new T-8 fluorescent lamps while receiving a $9000 credit toward the cost of the project. “Monthly energy savings equate to more than $1500,” says company president Wade Keats,
“so payback for the project should be slightly more than 5 months. And, while we were at it, we installed motion sensors to the light switches where we could, since the T-8s take no time to warm up.”
Metal fabricator and stamper Lay- strom Manufacturing, Chicago, IL, had been heating its 68,000-sq.-ft. 90-yr.-old building with a pair of oil-fired steam boilers that it converted to natural-gas use some 25 years ago. Replacing the boilers earlier this year with a new high- efficiency steam boiler improved effi- ciency by as much as 20 percent. The firm also installed high-efficiency alu- minum windows that eliminated the use of portable heaters around the office, and allowed the firm to dial down the thermostat to reduce natural-gas consumption.
Finally, consider metal-service center Three D Metals in Valley City, OH, which just installed a 100-kW wind turbine to help power its 160,000-sq.-ft. facility. The unit will produce an esti- mated 200,000 kWh of annual renew- able energy, more than 20 percent of the company’s energy needs. A Three D Metals’ spokesperson tells me that the initial cost for the project rang up at $500,000 and the firm received $350,000 from a tax credit combined with state and federal assistance. In all, Three D Metals estimates a payoff in 6 yr.; life expectancy of the turbine is 20 to 25 yr.
Editor
bkuvin@pma.org
2 METALFORMING / APRIL 2010
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