February
1996
Volume 1 • Number 4
Injection
Molding Training March 18 - April 9
The
process of injection molding will be explored in an upcoming eight-session
Fundamentals of Injection Molding seminar to be held March 18-April
9 at the PTDC.
The
seminar is a restructuring of the intensive four-day session held
in December for 11 employees of regional plastics manufacturers.
Rather than meet for four consecutive eight-hour days, this seminar
will be held from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. each Monday and Tuesday for
four weeks.
Fundamentals
of Injection Molding is an appropriate training vehicle for product
designers, apprentice mold makers, mold
builders, process engineers, purchasing agents, project engineers,
manufacturing engineers, materials engineers, CAD designers or
sales and marketing staff -- anyone who needs to understand the
basics of injection molding and be able to succinctly communicate
their understanding of the process or a product to others.
Topics
to be discussed during the hands-on seminar include:
-
the injection molding unit, the clamp unit and the mold pressure
and velocity control
- the
effects of temperature, pressure and molecular weight on plastics
flow
- the
relationship of temperature, pressure and volume
cavity pressure monitoring
- causes
of anisotropic shrinkage
- quality
planning
- troubleshooting
- traditional,
two-stage and three-stage molding
Bradley
Johnson, a PTDC-affiliated Penn State Erie faculty member, will
be the seminar instructor. Johnson has 11 years industrial experience,
most of which were spent as a design engineer and project/process
engineer at OSRAM SYLVANIA. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees
in chemical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic and State University
and an MBA from Gannon University.
Cost
of the program is $693 per person, but participants working in
a manufacturing or related environment may be
eligible for a training fee reduction from the Erie County Technical
Institute. For more information or to register, phone Mike McDavid,
Penn State Erie Continuing and Distance Education representative,
at (814) 898-6103.
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EMS,
Ergonomics and QS-9000 Topics for Spring
The
PTDC, PENNTAP and the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource
Center will continue its popular series of National Technological
University interactive videoconferences this spring with half-day
workshops on environmental management systems, ergonomics, and
QS-9000.
Marketing
Strategies: Improving Profits Through Niche Marketing is planned
Wednesday, March 13. "Shotgun" marketing strategies
that focus on sales volume can be costly in terms of resources
used and product quality. "Niche" marketing concentrates
resources on the right customers for the best return. Ways to
gain competitive advantage over competition by tailoring products
and services specifically to fit the needs of your target customers
will be discussed.
Pollution
Prevention Through Environmental Management Systems, a videoconference
produced by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME),
will be offered on Wednesday, April 10. Environmental management
systems, or EMS, shift companies into a preventative--rather than
reactive--mode for environmental compliance. Small companies can
rarely afford the luxury of a full-time environmental coordinator
to track changing state and federal laws; an EMS helps those companies
stay safely within current guidelines and prepare for future statues
using a minimum of financial and staff resources.
Engineering
Information Technologies: Maximizing Your Design Systems for QS-9000
will be offered the morning of
Wednesday, May 6. CAD and CAE allow small and midsize manufacturers
to participate jointly with large corporations on early product
concept and development. This seminar will discuss strategies
for meeting the most difficult element in the QS-9000 Automotive
Quality Standards: compliance and design control.
June's
workshop will be Ergonomics for the Manufacturing Workplace,
to be held Wednesday the 12th. Ignoring workplace design hurts
the bottom line. By implementing ergonomic principles companies
lower workmen's compensation and lost time costs. Other benefits
are increased worker productivity and work quality, lower injury
and insurance rates, and improved quality of life for employees.
NTU's
videoconferences are sponsored by the National Institute for Standards
and Technology (NIST) and produced by the NIST/Mid-America Manufacturing
Technology Center (MAMTC).
The
cost of each session is $60 per person and includes a workbook,
continental breakfast and lunch, if a wrap-around session with
local manufacturing experts is planned. All videoconferences will
be presented at Penn State Erie and the Penn State DuBois Campus.
For more information or to register for either site, call PENNTAP
at (814) 898-6139.
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TECH
DEPLOYMENT EVENT AUGUST 1-2
A
Plastics Industry Technical Training Seminar is scheduled for
August 1 and 2 at Penn State Erie. Based on an exit survey taken
after last year's event, applications-oriented workshops are the
most popular attraction, so they will make up the bulk of this
year's offerings. Advanced and basic topics will be covered, including
injection molding, gas-assisted molding, rapid prototyping and
tooling, powder injection molding and MoldFlow training using
Silicon Graphics workstations.
Tables
will again be offered for industrial exhibitors and vendors.
If
you'd like to request that a workshop be offered on a specific
topic, contact Bill Roche, PTDC director, at (814)
898-6132.
The
registration deadline will be July 26. For more information, to
request registration information, or to reserve an exhibit table
at the event, call Mike McDavid, Penn State Erie Continuing and
Distance Education representative, at (814) 898-6103.
Back
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A
Pollution Control Seminar For Plastics Manufacturers
The
PTDC and the Northwest Regional Office of the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection (PADEP) have joined forces to offer
a Pollution Prevention and Compliance Seminar for Plastics Manufacturers
on Wednesday, March 6.
The
seminar's focus will be pollution prevention opportunities and
waste management compliance for companies that manufacture plastic
parts. Strategies that both reduce waste and save money will be
discussed, as will compliance regulations and plastics-specific
pollution prevention strategies.
The
seminar will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 1 p.m. Lunch is
included.
For
cost information or to register, contact Mike McDavid, Penn State
Erie Continuing and Distance Education
representative, at (814) 898-6103.
Back
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MEMO
TO MANUFACTURERS:
Education Opportunities
There's an old chestnut that says you can catch a fish and feed
a man for a day, or teach him to fish, and he'll feed
himself for a lifetime. That's an apt analogy for the PTDC's approach
to education.
Providing
educational opportunities that increase the region's competitiveness
is one of the PTDC's stated missions. Our home base at Penn State
Erie is ideal for fulfilling this core objective. Anyone who has
visited our office knows that we are literally sitting on top
of the country's largest academic plastics processing laboratory
and a highly competitive school of engineering and engineering
technology. Our complete access to the former's technology and
the latter's expertise
makes our location golden.
Also
golden is the fact that in many cases the Erie County Technical
Institute can absorb as much as 50 percent of the training costs
for local manufacturers.
Another
chestnut says that education is the one investment you make that
can never be taken away from you. True. But it does lose its luster
with time, particularly in an evolving field like plastics processing.
Because of our unique industrial/academic focus, you are guaranteed
the primary or brush-up education you receive through the PTDC
-- and the computers, software and machines you use here -- is
cutting-edge.
In
addition to the four-day Fundamentals of Injection Molding workshop
detailed on the cover of this newsletter, the PTDC and the affiliated
Plastics Computer-Aided Engineering Center this spring will host
a two-day hands-on session on polymer structure and flow. Day
one will cover polymer characteristics, the technology of molding
machines, material shrinkage and processing strategies. On the
second day part design guidelines, benefits and consequences of
design choices and common part and mold design mistakes will be
discussed. Processing lab work and an introduction to MoldFlow
using Silicon Graphics workstations will provide hands-on experience
over the two days.
Dates
for the polymer structure and flow workshop haven't yet been decided;
if you're interested for yourself or your
workforce, contact John Beaumont, director, Plastics Computer-Aided
Engineering Center, at (814) 898-6482.
As
satellite technology improves, the PTDC will forge a commitment
to distance learning. Representatives of companies intrigued by
our educational offerings but unable to participate in our on-campus
classes should contact me regarding training in your workplace
or via satellite.
You'd
be surprised how far our fishing pole can reach.
-
Bill Roche, PTDC Director
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