November
1995
Volume 1 • Number 3
Industrial
Resource: Catering To The Exclusive Needs Of The Small And Midsize
Manufacturer
Like competition itself, competitive advantage is a constantly
moving target.
To
help manufacturers in Pennsylvania's 13 northwestern counties,
PTDC clients and other manufacturers should be aware that the
Erie-based Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center Inc.
offers timely and cost-effective services in many key performance
areas, including:
- Plant
Layout and Automation
- Production
Planning and Inventory Control
- Use
of Computers on Shop Floor
- Development
of Marketing Strategies
-
Integration of Manufacturing Systems
-
Statistical Process Control
-
Lead Time Reduction
- Workforce
Training and Development
- Manufacturing
Systems and Processes
- Quality
Management Improvement Processes
- ISO
9000 Implementation
- Export
Assistance
- Procurement
Assistance
- Business
and Marketing Planning
- Youth
Apprenticeship
"The
Northwest Pennsylvania IRC exists for no other reason than to
serve the small and midsize manufacturers in the region, those
with fewer than 500 employees," David L. Andersen, executive director,
explains. "Because making them more competitive is our sole mission,
we're a program that's easy to do business with, and offers quick
response."
The
Northwest Pennsylvania IRC was established in 1988 as a private,
nonprofit corporation; it is one of eight IRCs located across
the commonwealth. It frequently links manufacturers with private
consulting and training firms, subcontractors and suppliers, universities
and economic development organizations; subsidies are available
for qualified projects.
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PENNTAP
Videoconferences: DuBois New Site For Spring Manufacturing Videoconferences
A
new site for the popular and well-attended National Technological
University (NTU) live interactive videoconferences for small and
midsize manufacturers will be offered beginning in January. The
Pennsylvania Technology Assistance Program (PENNTAP) will now
downlink the video-conferences at the Penn State DuBois Campus
as well as at Penn State Erie.
NTU's
"Modern Manufacturing: The National Videoconference Series for
Successful Small Firms" focuses on technology applications, business
processes and manufacturing concepts to improve a company's competitiveness
and productivity, and showcases companies that have successfully
applied new manufacturing processes.
NTU's
videoconferences are sponsored by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) and produced by the NIST/Mid-America Manufacturing
Technology Center (MAMTC). They are presented locally by the PTDC,
PENNTAP, and the Northwest Pennsylvania IRC.
The
first spring videoconference, Tooling Up for the Internet,
will be held beginning at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 10. The
topic to be covered is using the Internet for company operations,
including information gathering, marketing, order entry, inventory
control, sales and Electronic Data Interchange.
Simulation
in Today's Manufacturing will be offered on Wednesday, February
14. This videoconference, produced by the Society for Manufacturing
Engineers (SME), will discuss the practical application of simulation
with an emphasis on cost savings. Development and costs of UNIX-
and PC-based systems will be covered.
Marketing
Strategies: Improving Profits Through Niche Marketing is scheduled
for Wednesday, March 13. A niche marketing strategy concentrates
resources on the right customers for the best return. Learn how
to identify your best target customers and develop a method for
finding and dominating industrial niche markets.
Other
upcoming spring videoconferences will be Pollution Prevention
Through Environmental Management Systems (EMS) on Wednesday,
April 10; Engineering Information Technologies: Maximizing
Your Design Systems for QS-9000 on Wednesday, May 8; and Ergonomics
for the Manufacturing Workplace on Wednesday, June 12.
The
cost of each session is $60 per person and includes a workbook,
continental breakfast and lunch if a wraparound session with local
manufacturing experts is planned. All videoconferences will be
presented at Penn State Erie and the DuBois Campus. For more information
or to register for either site, call PENNTAP at (814) 898-6139
or FAX (814) 898-6006.
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Lab
Acquires Thermoset Injection Molding Press
A
Bucher TS45 thermoset injection molding press has been acquired
by the Penn State Erie plastics program. Like five of the lab's
seven presses, the new thermoset injection machine was received
on consignment from the manufacturer. The new press allows students
and PTDC researchers to run a variety of thermoset materials,
including phenolic, melamime and BMC without first performing
transfer or compression molding.
The
new press will be used both for undergraduate education and research
purposes.
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Test
Drive CAD Software Before You Buy
Small
and midsize molders who decide to take advantage of software that
links mold design, material, process, and part design now have
a new option: trying before they buy. Penn State Erie offers this
service through its Plastics CAE Consortium. Members of the Consortium
receive training, expertise, and hands-on experience that allows
them to evaluate different simulation packages on actual projects
with minimal financial risk, according to John Beaumont, director.
"CAE
technologies can minimize the challenges inherent in developing
new molds and plastic parts through cooling, shrinkage, warpage,
and structural analyses," Beaumont says. But acquiring the technology
can seem like a circular riddle: before you purchase hardware
and software, you must assess a package's capabilities. To do
that, you need an opportunity to see how it meets the challenges
of your designs. To do that, you need training in order to utilize
the package. And to train, you need hardware and software.
"During
our two years of participation in the Consortium," says Fred Zeyfang,
vice president of manufacturing and engineering, Alliance Plastics,
"We evaluated over 15 projects that used new and existing molds.
The experience proved to be a low-cost, low-risk means of advancing
our engineering efforts." This story is reprinted with permission
from the September 1995 issue of Injection Molding magazine. The
now-renamed Plastics CAE Center is an affiliate of the PTDC. For
more information about the Center, call John Beaumont, director,
at (814) 898-6482.
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RETEC
'95 - Emerging Technologies Of Most Interest
Over 100 plastics professionals attended the Northwestern Pennsylvania
Society of Plastics Engineers' (NWSPE) Regional Technical Conference
(RETEC) held August 9 and 10 at Penn State Erie.
Emerging
technologies and trends in plastics processing, such as gas-assisted
injection molding, powder injection molding, rapid tooling and
prototyping and process simulation for injection molding, were
the topics that most interested attendees. In a follow-up questionnaire,
the attendees recommended that next years PTDC technology transfer
event feature workshops on emerging and conventional plastics
technology. Our laboratory, the largest academic plastics processing
lab in the country, received high marks. Because you enjoyed them,
we'll continue to plan hands-on lab activities.
We're
taking all comments under advisement as we plan the 1996 RETEC;
dates and times will be announced in an upcoming issue of the
PTDC News. If you didn't have an opportunity to add your two cents
but would like to, or need more information about attending or
hosting a table at RETEC, contact Bill Roche, PTDC director, at
(814) 898-6132, FAX (814) 898-6006.
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Memo
To Manufacturers New Rapid Commercialization Consortium
In
the plastics industry, it's not uncommon for the start-up costs
of a part that will ultimately sell for all of a nickel to exceed
$100,000 once a mold is designed and built. Add to that tooling
modifications that might be needed to make the part meet specs,
and you're talking real money.
One
of the biggest challenges facing American manufacturers - particularly
plastics manufacturers - is providing high quality value-engineered
parts, components, and products while minimizing the time from
conceptualization to delivery of the manufactured product. When
the financial risk becomes excessive, developers are reluctant
to experiment with new processing techniques or ways to optimize
design or productivity. The bottom line to this dilemma is that
high costs and long delivery times send tooling work that was
once done domestically - much of it locally - to overseas plants.
The
number of methods for rapid part and tool design are increasing
every day. The PTDC and Penn State Erie hope to eliminate some
of the risk involved with new technology by forming a Rapid Commercialization
Consortium (RCC). The RCC will focus on three of these technology
areas:
- Computer-based,
value-added engineering incorporating part design, stress analysis,
and flow analysis technologies;
- Stereolithography
and other prototyping methods;
- Rapid
tooling from prototypes, directly from CAD data, or from other
methods.
In
all methods, the RCC will use concurrent engineering, that is,
simultaneously designing and engineering part and mold for optimal
manufacturability.
Proposed RCC services and activities include a referral network,
project management, site visits, economic development services,
stereolithography services, technology surveillance, rapid tooling
capabilities, and process selection consultation.
If you or your company would be interested in joining the RCC,
give us a call at (814) 898-6345. There's no need to make a commitment
now. We'll just make sure you're contacted with more information
once the RCC is up and running.
-
William Roche, Director
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