Articles
Money-Saving Ball Screw Repairs
January 10, 2013 11:42 am | by Mike Fitzpatrick, General Manager, PSI Repair Services Inc. | CommentsWhen it comes to high-precision positioning for rotary-to-linear motion, the ball screw provides unequaled reliability and performance. These highly efficient components are commonly found on machine tools, robots and precision assembly equipment.
Margin Meltdown: When Costs Drop, Should Prices Follow?
January 10, 2013 9:18 am | by Eric Hills, Chief Evangelist & Senior Vice President, Zilliant | CommentsIt never fails, does it? You finally pushed those price increases through — to reflect the fact that your input costs have been going up dramatically — and the market takes another turn. Input costs are now speeding in the opposite direction and your customers are expecting — or rather, demanding — price decreases.
Lean Manufacturing: The Skinny on the Facts
January 9, 2013 12:56 pm | by Frank Hill, Stratus Technologies | Comments2012 has come and gone. With a new year staring us down, it’s time for new resolutions. Resolutions involve change, which can be tough for manufacturers. Many manufacturers are conservative in their approach to changing IT solutions — solutions they have become extremely reliant upon and familiar with.
Wishing the Energy Independence Act a Happy Anniversary
January 9, 2013 9:51 am | by ABB | CommentsABB, a global leader in power and automation technologies, engineers products and systems serving nearly every industry category. Almost always, no matter the industry or application, there is an electric motor at work. The challenge for engineers — and one of the keys to American energy independence — is simple: do more with less.
A Fool with a Tool Is Still a Fool
January 7, 2013 2:53 pm | by Michael Menard, Author, A Fish in Your Ear: The New Discipline of Project Portfolio Management | CommentsAny software you implement in your organization should enable or enhance a business process. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly believe that the software or technology itself is the solution, when in reality, technology is at best 10 percent of the value equation — the other 90 percent is based on the human factor.
How to Maintain Your Conveyor System Like a Pro
January 7, 2013 12:59 pm | by Diane Blair, Director of Customer Service Field Operations, Intelligrated & Ryan Balzer, Case Conveyor Product Manager, Intelligrated | CommentsWhen conveyor systems experience unplanned downtime, the costs add up quickly, especially during peak seasons. If one minute of downtime stops 350 cases from going out, and a case is worth $40, then that one minute of downtime could cost a company $14,000 in lost opportunities.
Sometimes Success Means We Break the Rules
January 7, 2013 9:29 am | by Alan Nicol, Executive Member, AlanNicolSolutions | CommentsRules are important, especially when it comes to governance, but they cannot possibly anticipate or address every single scenario that might come along. Not every process solution fits within the guidance of the process improvement methodologies we know. Sometimes, the best solution to the challenge comes from doing what our methodologies would decidedly not do.
The Year Ends on a Better Note in U.S. Manufacturing
January 4, 2013 12:50 pm | by Jon Minnick, Associate Editor, Manufacturing Business Technology | CommentsThe overall economy continued to grow for the 43rd consecutive month while economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded, moving the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) back over the 50 percent mark in December, according to the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.
Getting Your Capital Acquisition Process in Gear for the New Year
January 4, 2013 9:35 am | by Sudeep Menon, Global Practice Leader of Equipment, Engineering and Construction, Procurian | CommentsTo compete and win in today’s marketplace, manufacturers have begun to re-evaluate what was once a technical undertaking and an administrative afterthought: the capital acquisition process. For decades, multi-million dollar decisions about essential equipment buys have been left to the engineering department, and while their in-depth knowledge is essential, achieving real efficiency and real savings requires something more.
Five Ways to Minimize Manufacturing Downtime
January 3, 2013 12:48 pm | by Tom Bonine, President, National Metal Fabricators | CommentsDowntime is dangerous to any manufacturing group. After all, the old saying that compares time to money is true. If people or machines are idle, then products are not being made, which certainly affects the business’s bottom line — minimizing manufacturing downtime makes money for a company.
Prepare for the Inevitable: The Four Cornerstones of Career Insurance
January 3, 2013 9:23 am | by Dr. Marty Martin | CommentsThere is more to job security than mastering job search skills. There are plenty of books about resume writing, networking, interviewing and developing a LinkedIn profile. These job search skills are important, but not sufficient in an age when companies and even entire industries are undergoing radical changes.
Strategy, Reliability and Service
January 2, 2013 12:26 pm | by Alan Nicol, Executive Member, AlanNicolSolutions | CommentsDo you have a product strategy? What is it? Does everyone taking part in its development know what it is? Answering these questions can be the key to brand reputation and business success in an era of fickle customers.
Experts Offer Five Perspectives on Poultry Industry Future
January 2, 2013 9:15 am | CommentsWith high feed costs, increased government regulations and intensifying consumer demands, the future of the poultry industry is difficult to predict. At the Poultry Solutions Seminar held in Hannover, Germany Nov. 12, a number of distinguished poultry industry experts discussed their cutting edge research and the issues that they believe will be of most importance in 2013.
Sensing The Wireless Future
December 21, 2012 9:23 am | by Janine E. Mooney, Editor, WDD | CommentsSensors enable engineers to establish wireless techniques that will ensure the reliability of data transmission, eliminate disturbance by other wireless devices, ensure data security (and safety), and lower the power consumption and price.
FM Rewind: Top Stories Of 2012
December 21, 2012 8:00 am | by Krystal Gabert, Editor | CommentsAs 2012 comes to a close, the Food Manufacturing editors have put our heads together to recap the top food news stories of the year. Today we present the top 10 most-read stories of the year, according to readers of Food Manufacturing newsletters. Stay tuned all week as we bring you the year in review.
Cloud-Based Voice Helps Distributors Exceed Customer Expectations
December 20, 2012 12:42 pm | by Keith Phillips, President and CEO, Voxware | CommentsIn an industry where high velocity, tight margins and aggressive customer service commitments are the norm, the increased demands of the holiday season provide additional stress on distributors’ fulfillment resources. Regardless of the added pressure, distributors know the importance of getting their customer’s orders correct and exceeding their expectations in the order-to-delivery cycle.
FM Rewind: Biggest Disasters Of 2012
December 20, 2012 8:00 am | by Krystal Gabert, Editor | CommentsAs 2012 comes to a close, the Food Manufacturing editors have put our heads together to recap the top food news stories of the year. Today we bring you the top industry disasters and debacles of 2012. Stay tuned all week as we bring you the year in review.
Enabling The Digital Plant
December 19, 2012 12:17 pm | by Dan O’Brien, Global Leader, Collaborative Manufacturing, Honeywell Process Solutions | CommentsGlobalization is presenting industries with myriad challenges to growth, sustainability and profitability. Vertical markets across the process industries are confronted daily with these challenges, and compete in an increasingly rigorous environment marked by tighter regulation, growing margin pressures and an aging workforce, among other issues.
FM Rewind: Favorite Features Of 2012
December 19, 2012 8:00 am | by Krystal Gabert, Editor | CommentsAs 2012 comes to a close, the Food Manufacturing editors have put our heads together to recap the top food news stories of the year. We’ve taken into account reader feedback as well as our own favorites in order to present you with some of the most interesting articles we ran in 2012. Stay tuned all week as we bring you the year in review.
Embracing Technology For Recall Preparedness
December 18, 2012 12:05 pm | by Mike Edgett, Director, Industry Marketing, Process Manufacturing, Infor | CommentsFood companies are no strangers to the world of product recalls. Most modern companies have a detailed, yet very manual process in place for handling a recall scenario. The objective of a plan is to ensure that any suspect product is quickly removed from commerce and to help the company manage specific customer requirements as well as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) guidelines.
