May 1996
Volume 2 • Number 1
PTDC
Fosters Start-Up Relationship
A
start-up relationship nurtured by the PTDC has resulted in the
formation of a new precision powder injection molding plant in
Corry, Pa.
Tom
Roche, former executive vice president of Erie Plastics and brother
of PTDC director Bill Roche, approached the center last summer
to investigate investment opportunities in cutting-edge technologies.
One technology demonstrated to Roche by PENNTAP senior technical
specialist Larry Partch was powder injection molding (PIM). "I
really liked it," Roche said of PIM, the art and science of making
metal parts by extruding, molding, debinding, and sintering a
feedstock mixture of powdered metals and plastic.
Partch arranged for Roche to visit the Particulate Metals Lab
at Penn State's University Park Campus to gather more information
on PIM; there Roche met Dr. Karl Hens, founder and director of
Penn State's PIM Consortium. Hens, who patented an improved method
of PIM that added a cross-linking step for greater dimensional
control, had already resigned his academic post to search for
investors for his new company, Thermat Precision Technology, Inc.
The
pair joined forces later that fall. "The PTDC was instrumental
in putting this together," Roche says. "Bill and Larry shepherded
the relationship. Without their help, I never would have found
the new technology, or Karl." Rather than relocate Thermat to
the technology-laden states of California or North Carolina, Roche
and Hens chose to base their company in Corry, Roche's hometown,
because the area's wealth of injection molders ensures steady
access to technicians, suppliers, and mold shops. Ridgway and
St. Marys, Pa., the country's powdered metal "capitals," are within
a few hours' drive. Economic incentives also made the location
favorable.
Although production equipment is currently being installed in
the company's 23,000 square-foot plant, start-up contracts are
being finalized with a U.S. gun manufacturer, an endo-surgical
equipment manufacturer, a California maker of heat sinks, and
a Swedish firm requiring precision tungsten-carbide cutting bits.
Thermat
holds the rights to 35 patents, so in addition to production of
precision parts, the company plans to license its technology and
turn key systems here and abroad; license rights have already
been sold in Japan. Thermat's patented feedstocks will also be
made available to license holders. Thermat can be reached at (814)
665-8437.
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PART
DESIGN WORKSHOP OFFERED IN JUNE/JULY: Pick Your Dates
The
popular Mold Designer's and Molder's Guide to Part Design seminar
will be offered twice this summer.
The
first session, to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, June 18 and 19,
fills two full days with intensive training. The course will also
be offered over four consecutive evenings beginning Tuesday, July
9, and continuing through the 12th.
This
hands-on seminar presents an overview of plastic part design,
material shrinkage, flow characteristic, and mold design, and
simplifies the complex relationship between these factors. It
will also discuss the sources of problems such as shrinkage variations,
warpage, no fills, gas traps, weld line locations, flash, core
deflection, steel fatigue, and methods for avoiding variations
in part size, shape and weight.
John
Beaumont, a PTDC-affiliated Penn State Erie faculty member, will
be the presenter. Beaumont holds bachelors and master's degrees
in plastics engineering from the University of Massachusetts at
Lowell and has worked for Ciba Vision Corp. and Moldflow Pty.
Ltd. He is founder and director of Penn State Erie's Plastics
Computer-Aided Engineering Center and currently sits on the national
board of directors for the Society of Plastics Engineers' Injection
Molding Division.
For
more information about the seminar, call Mike McDavid, Penn State
Erie Continuing and Distance Education representative, at (814)
898-6103. Tuition reduction for the Mold Designer's and Molder's
Guide to Part Design and Fundamentals of Injection Molding courses
is available to qualified participants through the Erie County
Technical Institute. For information and eligibility guidelines,
call the Division of Continuing and Distance Education at (814)
898-6103.
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Intensive
Training: INJECTION MOLDING SEMINAR BEGINS JUNE 10
A four-day Fundamentals of Injection Molding workshop is scheduled
June 10-13 at Penn State Erie.
The
first day of the workshop provides an overview of the injection
molding cycle. Injection control and plastics flow behavior during
injection molding will also be discussed that day. The following
day's topic is shrinkage and volume change considerations. Days
three and four cover problem solving and molding strategies.
Penn
State Erie faculty member and PTDC affiliate Brad Johnson will
be the workshop presenter. Johnson holds bachelors and master's
degrees in chemical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic and
State University and was formerly a project/process engineer at
OSRAM/SYLVANIA Inc.
Additional
information and registration applications are available from Mike
McDavid, Penn State Erie Continuing and Distance Education representative.
Phone (814) 898-6103. Tuition reduction for the Mold Designer's
and Molder's Guide to Part Design and Fundamentals of Injection
Molding courses is available to qualified participants through
the Erie County Technical Institute. For information and eligibility
guidelines, call the Division of Continuing and Distance Education
at (814) 898-6103.
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TECHNICAL
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE PLANNED
Plans are nearing completion for Penn State Erie's Plastics Industry
Technical Conference, to be held Aug. 1 and 2. The conference
will be held in place of the college's annual RETEC event.
Concurrent
workshops on Thursday, Aug. 1 will include three-hour sessions
on powder injection molding, injection molding processes, principles
of project management, computer-aided engineering, rapid commercialization,
and gas-assist molding.
Friday's
concurrent sessions will cover rapid commercialization, mold design
methods, applied problem solving, plastic processing, and mold
flow characteristics. Lunch is provided on both days; Friday's
lunch will include an address by a keynote speaker.
Display
table space is still available for industrial, corporate, and
vendor exhibits. For registration and accommodation information
or to reserve an exhibit table, phone Mike McDavid, Penn State
Erie Continuing and Distance Education representative, at (814)
898-6103.
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MEMO
TO MANUFACTURERS: 1995 Assessment Completed
The
National Institute of Standards and Technology, funding partner
of the PTDC, recently conducted its second annual review of the
PTDC, and is pleased with its findings.
Part
of the review required us to evaluate our goals against our accomplishments.
For example, we estimated we would perform 50 facilities demonstrations
during 1995; the actual total was 73 demonstrations, or 146 percent
over goal. We exceeded our quota by 250 percent for education
and training by offering those services to 175 establishments
during the year. Software demonstrations were also more popular
than originally projected; the 73 establishments we assisted was
365 percent of our objective.
In all, new contacts were made with 292 companies. These successful
outcomes are important, because providing PTDC funding represents
a new direction for NIST -- we are the first and only center that
caters exclusively to one industry. Most Manufacturing Extension
Partnerships are jacks of all trades, but we're charged with concentrating
solely on plastics manufacturing and processing. Thus far, the
experiment is highly successful.
This
year the PTDC will reinforce its role as a national center for
authoritative information on the plastics industry. We plan to
survey our clients in Pennsylvania and Ohio to find out how we
can better meet their needs, and make our capabilities available
to other Manufacturing Extension Partnerships, which don't have
as much experience with our unique industry. We hope to develop
partnerships with original equipment manufacturers in the automotive
and electronics industries, and with material and equipment companies.
Most
of all, we're making new hires and reserving capacity for other
MEP affiliates, and for local and distance education efforts.
For individuals and companies that require educational services
greater than what are offered by secondary vocational education
-- but are not yet ready to commit to an associate or baccalaureate
degree program -- we'll serve as the region's premier center for
non-credit plastics education.
-
Bill Roche, PTDC Director
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VISIT
US ON THE WEB
Net
surfers can now visit the PTDC on the World Wide Web. Our address
is http://ptdc01.bd.psu.edu.
The
new Website contains an overview of PTDC services, an equipment
list, profiles of staff members and affiliated faculty, success
stories, back issues of the PTDC News, and contact names and telephone
numbers. A link to Penn State Erie's School of Engineering and
Engineering Technology provides information on academic offerings
for the plastics engineering technology degree programs.
Future
additions will include links to other plastics-related Web pages,
design hints and tips, and a virtual tour of our facilities.
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SAVE
THE DATE
Dedication ceremonies for the buildings that house the PTDC are
planned for Friday, Sept. 20. Details are forthcoming; look for
specific times and activities in the August issue of the PTDC
News.
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