You wouldn’t Steal A Car, Would You?

March 1, 2010 — ndraker

You have probably seen the preview video on a recently rented DVD or perhaps on YouTube. The slogan says, “You Wouldn’t Steal A Car, would you?” 
The video basically makes the parallel between downloading illegal videos and music to stealing a car a handbag or a television set. I have to say that I never really paid much attention to that little video until now.

I can now say that I know how those in the film and music industry feel about the subject. Basically, a “low-cost” imitator has been found ripping off my work. For us, blogs are a fairly informal communication tool meant to get the “meat and potatoes” details of a good application out there so you can benefit. Harmless enough, right?

Since our “low-cost” imitator can’t seem to muster up an original thought or design for that matter, they had to come knocking and stealing content from my blog last week not even 20 minutes after I posted my blog.

All I can say is you’re welcome. It would have been nice to have been asked to use the content first though.

So, if you want to read some good blogs with decent and original content, keep reading EXAIR’s blog. If you want to read a poor copy 20 minutes later, you can check out the “low-cost” imitation.

Back to the movie theme; if you have ever seen the movie “Multiplicity” with  Doug Kinney, played by Michael Keaton,  who finds he doesn’t have enough time to split between his wife, job and family, until he meets a scientist who offers to clone him. The problem was that each of the “copies” were not as good as the original. Unfortunately, for our imitators, that is what you as the customer will find as well. And with the “low cost” imitator being at least a 3rd  level copy providing “me too” product because they could not do a good enough job providing material for the 2nd level copy, it is everything they can do to buy the business by attempting to be the “low cost” guys.

If having top-notch service from knowledgable Application Engineers with an average of  13 years of experience in this industry and with this specific kind of product is important to you when considering your application needs, please contact us. We will go over your application with you. We’ll share our rich industrial experience and brainstorm with you about the options you have and determine together how best to proceed for your solution.

The low-cost guys battle on price because that is all they can do. They have no depth of experience to have the original thoughts necessary to write a unique blog or be a true asset you to you and your company.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

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Work is Fun If You Have the Right Tools

March 1, 2010 — japanfalone

This year Cincinnati has had the most snowfall in decades.  I’ve always dreaded shoveling snow but not  this year because I bought myself a snow blower. There is something gratifying about seeing the plume of snow being hurled into the air. Maybe it is a sense of conquest. It was so much fun that I cleared the neighbor’s drive too. I scored points and had fun too.

Having an inventory of tools may be a guy thing, and I plead guilty. Whenever the wife adds a honey- do to my list, it’s an excuse to go out and buy “the proper tools” for the job. Over the years my workshop has become fairly complete.  I would think this would be a coveted inheritance for my son but then that would spoil the sport of his putting together his own collection.

So what have I collected so far; Lawn tractor, roto tiller, wood chipper, rolling chest full of wrenches. You know the bare necessities of manly life. My most fun tool is a power auger that I bought last spring.

I look forward to spring but not the countless flats of flowers the wife brings home for me to plant. This must be universal because the men in the neighborhood share the same angst. Knowing there had to be a better way, I bought the power auger. I used it to drill a hole, throw the flower in, tamp in the dirt and finish long before the rest of the neighbor guys. Then just for a little male competitiveness, I popped a brew and wandered over to my neighbor to see how he was doing. Being the clear winner, I offered him the use of my power auger which seemed to have made its way around the neighborhood.

In our places of business, productivity is the name of the game. It’s not how hard you work but how much you get done. With the proper tools more can be accomplished with fewer man hours. That’s how you become competitive globally. Everyday I work with automation systems integrators. I am amazed at the ingenious concepts they come up with. Although EXAIR products make up only a small part of the overall project, I get excited being part of the specification process.

The latest opportunity was with an automated inspection and reject station.

The traditional method was to magnaflux the parts for internal fractures. This is an age-old process of flushing the part with a special fluid and holding it under a black light. Time consuming and the parts have to be cleaned.

The proposed method is to fixture the parts into a rotating table. They go under a proprietary detecting device that examines the part for internal fractures. If a fracture is detected, we used an EXAIR model 6013 high velocity air jet  to blow it out of the fixture and over to an EXAIR model 120024 Air amplifier to be vacuumed away to a quarantined area. No operator, no fluids, no added cleaning operation. That’s progress.

Until next week,
Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

Posted in Accessories, Air Amplifier, Super Air Nozzle. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

Are you in the pharmaceutical industry? Have you ever had this problem?

February 26, 2010 — ndraker

In the pharmaceutical industry it would seem that a lot of time and energy is spent on packaging and re-packaging tablets, gels, capsules and other forms of medication. One example that I just became aware of was the need to empty individual container bottles so that the product could be re-packaged due to a mis-print on label applied to the bottle.

In this scenario, the customer has to empty the bottles and get the product back into their packaging machine hopper. Besides being a real pain to have to open each bottle and empty, the customer also has to get these tablets back up into the packaging machine. The tool they decided to use was our 1-1/4″ 316 Stainless Steel Line Vac. The Line Vac had to be made of 316 stainless in order to be considered a normally accepted material for use in applications dealing with medications. The FDA regulates this.

The facts that the 316 stainless Line Vac was a normally stocked item for us and also that it was meant exactly for this type of “bucket and ladder” type conveying application made it a perfect fit for this particular application.

If you are in the pharmaceutical packaging business and can recall where you may have had similar applications for packaging, let us know.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

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Pneumatic Cylinder Blow Off

February 24, 2010 — kaedwards

We have a customer who manufactures pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders. The cylinders, of course, are round with some kind of machined end which has threaded holes and/or mounting features.

The manufacturer assembles and machines the parts and then runs them through a mineral spirits bath to remove any cutting fluids and oil.

Now they need to remove the mineral spirits from the cylinder to prepare it for a label. They currently do it by hand with an air gun. The air gun generally move the mineral spirits around the cylinder until it evaporates. The coverage area of the air gun they use is small and it takes too much time to remove the mineral spirits. They were trying to reduce the time necessary to remove the mineral spirits.

After consulting with the customer, EXAIR recommended a 3″ Air Wipe, which covers the product range diameters from 1″-2-1/2″ diameters. The operator is still picking up the cylinders but then simply running them through the Air Wipe which provides a one time 360 degree blow off.

I did also recommend some strategically positioned air nozzles to remove liquid from the holes and mounting features because the Air Wipe will not reach those areas on its own, but the customers needs were only to prepare the cylinder surface for a label.

The reduction in blow off time allows the operator to do additional tasks. Additional tasks which have become necessary to remain competitive today.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

Posted in Air Wipe. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
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