On November 12th, I had an entry "Can North America Compete". We are currently working on a project to produce 1000 welding machines. They are GMAW welding machines and our plan is to produce a 250 to 300 amp machine, approximately 40% duty cycle. We are currently working on our design, gathering prices for the components required and initiating trial testing on various parts of the machine.
Welding machines are not totally foreign to us as our business uses welding machines extensively as we are metal fabrication company. However with our experience in the foundry industry, specifically induction melting equipment, a standard CV welding machine is very simple when compared to induction melting equipment. Some of our recent larger fabrication projects have included the shunt / back iron for Linear Induction Motors where special attention is given to the magnetic properties and issues arising from this. All these experiences make us very qualified to produce a CV welding machine.
I am sure there will be problems and we will learn new things as we proceed with this project however our experience gives us a very solid base to start with. If you are a supplier for welding machine components or have any special knowledge or insight in this field, that you would be willing to share with us, we would welcome any and all suggestions.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The Intimate Sound of Molten Metal
We received a request last week to quote 4 U-shaped, 1800 lb capacity iron pour ladles. It has been almost 2 years now since we have had a request to quote any ladles. Up to this point we would make anywhere from 5 to 20 per year ranging in size from 150 lb to 35,000 lb capacity. Not all of these would be pouring ladles, we have also made tundish and duplex ladles for aluminum and iron foundries.
This recent request got me thinking about ladles again, and one of the most compelling thoughts was the sound of metal pouring. After graduating from Carlton University in 1990, my first job was with Wescast Industries. Wescast had recently purchased Galtaco in Brantford Ontario and I was in charge of bringing the melt and pouring departments into operation.
During the early production days when the plant started pouring, only one shift would run five days a week. To keep the day shift supplied with iron we kept the three five megawatt eighteen ton, line frequency coreless furnaces running throughout the night.
During the late afternoons and nights only two melt operators would be in the plant. It was common for me to work the night shifts to help out, and get the iron melted that was required for the day shift. I liked to turn off all the over head fans, that way all you could hear was the hum of the coreless furnace, sometimes the hum was more audible than others and a work order would be produced to check the shunts. Occasionally in the early days, a capacitor would self destruct with much the same sound as that of a cannon going off, during which time your heart stops beating in total fear for your life.
What I remember and enjoyed the most about these nights, when everything was turned off was the sound of the motel iron. When you toss a large piece of steel or cast into the molten metal and you hear the splash, more like a kuplunk, as it is not really a splash. Similarly when the furnace is poured into a ladle there is somewhat of a bubbling sound as the stream of iron hits the pool of iron in the ladle. If you have ever stood at the base of a water fall where water falls into a deep pool, it is that sound, but denser. That is the best way I can describe it. Experimenting with a launder system for a reason I no longer recall, the sound of the iron running down the launder was very similar to water running through a narrow rocky creek, but again I would describe it as denser. Noting the sound for the first time was surprising to me. After some thought it became obvious that there would be a noise associated with the pouring of iron, but the foundry is such a noisy environment you just don’t think about it. The furnaces being lined frequency they were always turned off when pouring, so even the noise of the furnace was gone.
Many years later Industrial Revolution Ltd. installed fume hoods into an aluminum smelting operation, through the night a similar situation happened, the dust collectors were off for some work we were doing, however the operation was still pouring Aluminum from the coreless furnaces to a reverb holding furnace. During the few times it had to be done you could hear the molten aluminum running through the launder system. Interestingly aluminum does not sound the same as iron when poured.
When I describe the sound of the aluminum, iron or water, to me, the viscosity is similar, I think of pouring warm molasses or cold maple syrup, the viscosity is much higher and the sound is totally different. Iron, aluminum and water have the same viscosity sound in my head however they do not sound the same as the higher viscosity fluids. To me the sound is denser. If I was a musician, I would probably describe it as a pitch / tone difference, but I am an engineer.
I regularly tell people that in order to push the limits of their individual discipline, it is necessary to become extremely intimate with your subject. I would use the sound of molten metal as an example of the intimacy level I believe is required to be good at your craft. I am not implying for anyone to go out and learn the sound of molten metal, however, if you are able to notice and learn something that would seam useless to most people and apply it to your discipline; this demonstrates having achieved a level of intimacy.
This recent request got me thinking about ladles again, and one of the most compelling thoughts was the sound of metal pouring. After graduating from Carlton University in 1990, my first job was with Wescast Industries. Wescast had recently purchased Galtaco in Brantford Ontario and I was in charge of bringing the melt and pouring departments into operation.
During the early production days when the plant started pouring, only one shift would run five days a week. To keep the day shift supplied with iron we kept the three five megawatt eighteen ton, line frequency coreless furnaces running throughout the night.
During the late afternoons and nights only two melt operators would be in the plant. It was common for me to work the night shifts to help out, and get the iron melted that was required for the day shift. I liked to turn off all the over head fans, that way all you could hear was the hum of the coreless furnace, sometimes the hum was more audible than others and a work order would be produced to check the shunts. Occasionally in the early days, a capacitor would self destruct with much the same sound as that of a cannon going off, during which time your heart stops beating in total fear for your life.
What I remember and enjoyed the most about these nights, when everything was turned off was the sound of the motel iron. When you toss a large piece of steel or cast into the molten metal and you hear the splash, more like a kuplunk, as it is not really a splash. Similarly when the furnace is poured into a ladle there is somewhat of a bubbling sound as the stream of iron hits the pool of iron in the ladle. If you have ever stood at the base of a water fall where water falls into a deep pool, it is that sound, but denser. That is the best way I can describe it. Experimenting with a launder system for a reason I no longer recall, the sound of the iron running down the launder was very similar to water running through a narrow rocky creek, but again I would describe it as denser. Noting the sound for the first time was surprising to me. After some thought it became obvious that there would be a noise associated with the pouring of iron, but the foundry is such a noisy environment you just don’t think about it. The furnaces being lined frequency they were always turned off when pouring, so even the noise of the furnace was gone.
Many years later Industrial Revolution Ltd. installed fume hoods into an aluminum smelting operation, through the night a similar situation happened, the dust collectors were off for some work we were doing, however the operation was still pouring Aluminum from the coreless furnaces to a reverb holding furnace. During the few times it had to be done you could hear the molten aluminum running through the launder system. Interestingly aluminum does not sound the same as iron when poured.
When I describe the sound of the aluminum, iron or water, to me, the viscosity is similar, I think of pouring warm molasses or cold maple syrup, the viscosity is much higher and the sound is totally different. Iron, aluminum and water have the same viscosity sound in my head however they do not sound the same as the higher viscosity fluids. To me the sound is denser. If I was a musician, I would probably describe it as a pitch / tone difference, but I am an engineer.
I regularly tell people that in order to push the limits of their individual discipline, it is necessary to become extremely intimate with your subject. I would use the sound of molten metal as an example of the intimacy level I believe is required to be good at your craft. I am not implying for anyone to go out and learn the sound of molten metal, however, if you are able to notice and learn something that would seam useless to most people and apply it to your discipline; this demonstrates having achieved a level of intimacy.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
GP & Larry the Cable Guy @ TKW
Industrial Revolution Ltd represents Crescenzi Induction Melting Equipment (CIME) a company from Italy with in our opinion, the world’s best pressure pour furnace design. In the fall of 2007 I received a call at home from TKW, a German based company, on a Sunday afternoon asking if I could be in Tennessee the next day for a meeting about the CIME furnace. Do to my busy schedule and the short notice for making travel arrangements it was not possible for me to get there in time; however I did make it there for Tuesday. Not realizing that they were expecting a formal presentation I had no choice but to wing it, putting something together in a mater of minutes from information I had on my laptop and relying on my not so impeccable memory. My audience consisted of about a dozen influential company officials and to add to my growing anxiety my first video conference was to include four additional company officials via video link from Wisconsin.
Despite my best efforts, on a wing and a prayer, I was prodded, poked and roasted by almost all the attending parties. Surprisingly, during the presentation I began to take notice of a very familiar individual taking part in the meeting, “Larry the Cable Guy”. I will call him LTCG for short. A somewhat heavy set scruffy looking individual dressed in plad with a notably red neck demeanour. LTCG preceded to tell me that if I expected to sell a furnace to them I had better show up with my “A” game, and went on to explain to me in painful detail that my presentation was a piece of crap. Being the professional that I am, I noted his advise and thanked him for his feed back, explaining to LTCG and the rest of the group that my presentation was below par due to the short notice, and the fact that I was actually traveling, or making travel arrangements for 24 of the 36 hours since initial contact from TKW. Feeling discouraged by the preceding events and wondering what was to go wrong next the guys on the Video link asked me to leave the meeting and told another fellow to give me a tour of the plant.
Up to this point I had not seen the plant, or for that mater been given any information as to the plant layout. While touring the facility, I was convinced that this would be the last time I would see TKW Tennessee. At the end of the tour my guide walked me to the front door where goodbyes were exchanged. To my amazement the plant manager emerged to ask a few more additional questions and proceeded to tell me that TKW representatives were scheduled to fly to Italy to see the Crescenzi furnaces in operation.
The rest was history; the furnace was purchased and installed. Unfortunately two years later with the economic turn down, the plant is scheduled to be closed in January as noted in “Modern Casting”.
I have always been very impressed with the CIME furnace and the company itself, however during and after the installation I learned much more about both the CIME furnace and its manufacturer. Even more than before, I now have the utmost respect for the principles and designs of this equipment. There is some information on the Industrial Revolution Ltd web site regarding the CIME furnace with additional updates to come in the near future.
During the installation phase of the CIME furnace at TKW one of the odd and humours incidents occurred when Ing. Introna (Engineer GainPiero Introna who we call GP here in North America due to pronunciation issues of his real name, please note, there is no relation of GainPiero to the jeep driving, guinea pig on “Hammy Hamster” the popular 80’s kids TV show) from CIME was in Tennessee to discuss installation details. LTCG was sitting across from GP and my self and asked in a voice precisely reminiscant the comedy star “GP what got you into the furnace industry”. GP looked at me with the look I get when he does not under stand. I repeated to GP “what got you into the furnace industry” in my Canadian / Michigan voice. GP, now giving me his look of understanding, in his Italian accent then says “I graduated from university and started to work for a refractory company” LTCG reiterated with the same confused look GP gave me, prompting me to repeat, “He graduated from University and started to work for a refractory company” The conversation continued along the same lines for several minutes. All parties speaking English with the Canadian translating English between the two of them. I am now an official translator for southern USA English and Italian accent English. Perhaps I can broaden my resume and find work at the UN translating critical information between world leaders using apparently universal Canadian English.
Despite my best efforts, on a wing and a prayer, I was prodded, poked and roasted by almost all the attending parties. Surprisingly, during the presentation I began to take notice of a very familiar individual taking part in the meeting, “Larry the Cable Guy”. I will call him LTCG for short. A somewhat heavy set scruffy looking individual dressed in plad with a notably red neck demeanour. LTCG preceded to tell me that if I expected to sell a furnace to them I had better show up with my “A” game, and went on to explain to me in painful detail that my presentation was a piece of crap. Being the professional that I am, I noted his advise and thanked him for his feed back, explaining to LTCG and the rest of the group that my presentation was below par due to the short notice, and the fact that I was actually traveling, or making travel arrangements for 24 of the 36 hours since initial contact from TKW. Feeling discouraged by the preceding events and wondering what was to go wrong next the guys on the Video link asked me to leave the meeting and told another fellow to give me a tour of the plant.
Up to this point I had not seen the plant, or for that mater been given any information as to the plant layout. While touring the facility, I was convinced that this would be the last time I would see TKW Tennessee. At the end of the tour my guide walked me to the front door where goodbyes were exchanged. To my amazement the plant manager emerged to ask a few more additional questions and proceeded to tell me that TKW representatives were scheduled to fly to Italy to see the Crescenzi furnaces in operation.
The rest was history; the furnace was purchased and installed. Unfortunately two years later with the economic turn down, the plant is scheduled to be closed in January as noted in “Modern Casting”.
I have always been very impressed with the CIME furnace and the company itself, however during and after the installation I learned much more about both the CIME furnace and its manufacturer. Even more than before, I now have the utmost respect for the principles and designs of this equipment. There is some information on the Industrial Revolution Ltd web site regarding the CIME furnace with additional updates to come in the near future.
During the installation phase of the CIME furnace at TKW one of the odd and humours incidents occurred when Ing. Introna (Engineer GainPiero Introna who we call GP here in North America due to pronunciation issues of his real name, please note, there is no relation of GainPiero to the jeep driving, guinea pig on “Hammy Hamster” the popular 80’s kids TV show) from CIME was in Tennessee to discuss installation details. LTCG was sitting across from GP and my self and asked in a voice precisely reminiscant the comedy star “GP what got you into the furnace industry”. GP looked at me with the look I get when he does not under stand. I repeated to GP “what got you into the furnace industry” in my Canadian / Michigan voice. GP, now giving me his look of understanding, in his Italian accent then says “I graduated from university and started to work for a refractory company” LTCG reiterated with the same confused look GP gave me, prompting me to repeat, “He graduated from University and started to work for a refractory company” The conversation continued along the same lines for several minutes. All parties speaking English with the Canadian translating English between the two of them. I am now an official translator for southern USA English and Italian accent English. Perhaps I can broaden my resume and find work at the UN translating critical information between world leaders using apparently universal Canadian English.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Who Is John Galt?
It has been noted that I appear to be a huge John Galt fan. That is John Galt the main hero of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. To date I have not read any of Ayn Rand's material, however listening to the CBC, stories and thoughts of her's come up time to time.
To the library we go, actually on line to see if it is in, and it is not, the last person to take it out has not returned it and it is over due. Atlas Shrugged is a 1088 page book, no wonder it is overdue.
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." -- John Galt
Not sure if this is me or not, will decide after reading the book.
The last few books I have read and really liked;
- John Gray, Black Mass
- John Gray, Straw Dogs
- William D. McArdle, Exercise Physiology
The last book I have read and really did not like;
- Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code
- I did not see the movie, but I kept hearing how great the book was. When it first came out my wife bought it for me, I tried to read it a few times but I could not get past the first few chapters. So a few months ago I decided I am going to read the book to the end. Thought was it must get better, but it did not get better. Now I am debating if I should rent the movie or not.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Can North America Compete
Can North American industry compete against the manufacturing sectors of Asia or Eastern Europe? We at Industrial Revolution strongly believe that the answer is yes!
The uniform consensus in North America is that the low labour rates and other favourable conditions in overseas markets, which contribute to lower cost finished goods represent a huge leverage towards all but low production quantities and high tech items.
Industrial Revolution would like to challenge the believe that North America cannot compete with Asian or Eastern European countries and invite any company currently purchasing or planning to purchase manufactured goods form these markets to allow us to quote on this work.
A future blog will be posted to show a case study that will demonstrate that we can be competitive.
Starting today, if you have a product that is currently being manufactured over seas, give us a chance to quote. We can be competitive on landed at your door price head to head with any manufacturer in the world.
The uniform consensus in North America is that the low labour rates and other favourable conditions in overseas markets, which contribute to lower cost finished goods represent a huge leverage towards all but low production quantities and high tech items.
Industrial Revolution would like to challenge the believe that North America cannot compete with Asian or Eastern European countries and invite any company currently purchasing or planning to purchase manufactured goods form these markets to allow us to quote on this work.
A future blog will be posted to show a case study that will demonstrate that we can be competitive.
Starting today, if you have a product that is currently being manufactured over seas, give us a chance to quote. We can be competitive on landed at your door price head to head with any manufacturer in the world.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Starting The Blog
Some are hesitant to publish this kind of info to the public, especially as they don't want competitors to know what their secrets are; I'm not concerned with keeping this information confidential. My only secret is intensity; i believe in my will to work, out perform and endure to be greater than any one of my competitors'. I feel as if writing this information online will even further motivate me. Interpret this how you will, arrogance or otherwise, but this is a real look inside MY head.
You can expect to see what I am currently quoting on, business successes, failures, problems, plans etc. I am sure this blog will evolve over time. Blog updates will be sent regularly and possible a few times a day.
You can expect to see what I am currently quoting on, business successes, failures, problems, plans etc. I am sure this blog will evolve over time. Blog updates will be sent regularly and possible a few times a day.
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