Month: August 2010

Passing Time – It Ages Us All

Published on by exairwestLeave a comment

It is interesting to watch the annual ritual of students returning to school and their studies – whether it be Kindergarten to college campuses. It is a reminder for all of us about the passing of time.

Another reminder of the passing of time for me this year was EXAIR hiring the first batch of new employees with their birth dates in the decade of the 1990s.
Our growing business required increasing the workforce. We brought on a group of new people over the summer, several of them whose ages are less than the length of service of some EXAIR employees. EXAIR is approaching its 27th anniversary later this year. Our employees represent a diverse group of people and generations. Every decade from the 1930’s to the 1990’s is represented by our employee’s birthdates.

This mixture makes for an amusing exchange of ideas and comments. Some of our “young” employees are now realizing that they are twice the age of their co-workers. Conversely, I just overheard a 20 year-old guy telling his co-worker –“I am just like a young puppy, running around, yapping at the legs of an old dog like you”. The old dog he was referring to is 28 years old.
We work to get our internal communications across to our employees as much as we have had to adapt our marketing messages to our broad range of customers.

We are all passing through this life at the same rate – minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day. Some people seem in a hurry to end the journey – such as drunk drivers, texting while driving, hunting with John Cheney – while others seem determined to make it last as long as they can by being late for everything.

Everyone needs to try to enjoy the journey as much as they can, through their friends, hobbies and social activities, and work experiences. There is no rewind button on the life cycle.

Personally, I’m opting for the slow lane – I am having too much fun.

BTW –Next time you call in to talk to an Application Engineer – ask them how old they are in “Co-op years”. (“Co-op years” – one co-op year is equal to a 20 year-old engineering student from the University of Cincinnati)

Bob West
Chief Financial Officer
bobwest@exair.com

The Lighter Side of EXAIR

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If there’s one thing that makes EXAIR a special place to work, it’s that we really hold true to the mantra “work hard play hard.” Company picnics, cookouts and corn hole games – we take our fun just about as seriously as we take our jobs. Then on causal Fridays it’s a contest to see who can outdo our chief engineer’s outrageous Hawaiian shirt/cowboy boots combination. We are still waiting for him to sport a slide rule suspended from his belt.

Humor is good for the soul and a great release from the pressures of the past work week. So what good is all this to our customers…OUTSANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE. Playing together as a company fosters teamwork and that is what enables us to provide a quality product, on time, and at a competitive price.

This has been a particularly warm summer and the demand for our Cabinet Cooler systems has been intense. Customers are in a bind and need a solution quickly. As a team, from the manufacturing folks who have to work in the sweltering heat, to the order entry folks that need to expedite the paper work, we have maintained 99.8% on time deliveries.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com
http://twitter.com/exair_jp

Pick it up or stick it to a wall

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

So the applications that I am going to share with you come from earlier today.  Both of the applications involved our E-Vac Vacuum Generators being used for similar applications but in completely different industries.

 

The first gentleman was a construction worker that uses a core drill to drill holes through concrete walls.   He was working on a site using their core drill when all of a sudden the electric vacuum pump that holds the drill to the wall failed because the motor burnt up.   He was looking for something to replace the expensive electric motor and it had a few week lead time as it was not a normally stocked part for anyone he could find in the country.  When he started searching for Vacuum Generators he came across our website and decided to call in. 

The electric vacuum pump that burned up had very similar specifications to our largest E-Vac.  I recommended he take a look at the models 800017 and 810031 which are the largest In-Line E-Vacs that we offer. 

He then began to tell me that they already had an air compressor on site for a jack hammer.  After discussing with him the air consumption of the E-Vac he admitted that he would rather run something off of compressed air that has no internal moving parts and not another electric motor that could fail again and cost them a very expensive repair on the drill not to mention if it was to harm someone.  

The second gentleman called within an hour of the first and explained to me that they are a manufacturing company and have containers that they currently use a blower operated vacuum system to lift from a conveyor belt to a pallet on the floor.  The only problem with the system is that the containers are changing and the new shape of the lid will not allow their current system to work.  

After receiving a dimensioned drawing of his new container and lid I began to calculate and draw the vacuum cup system that would work for his application.   The containers could weigh anywhere from 60 – 100 pounds each.   Also with the shape of the new lid he was not able to lift from the center which would cause an unstable load if you only used one cup.  To further the complexity of the new system he also mentioned they would be running the old containers every now and then too so he needed to be able to lift either style of container.  

The system I designed for him included one 6” round cup that would lift the old containers and fit within the space for the large area on the new container.  Then I added two 2” cups to form a triangle that would allow the customer to lift the new rectangular containers level and safely but if he needed to lift the old container then he wouldn’t even have to switch out cups or lifting equipment at all.  This was achieved by using two Modular E-Vacs, one to power the main 6” cup and the other to power the 2” cups. 

As you can see our E-Vac Vacuum Generators are used across many fields and industries and sometimes they are even used for evacuation or sample retrieval.   If you have an application that you think might fit within these parameters, feel free to contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com

This is no Behavior for Going Back to School

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

Today is the last day of summertime freedom for my kids, school begins tomorrow. It is no longer OK to not know what time it is or sleep until 9:00 or 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning. No more sleeping in a basement fort on a Wednesday night. The daily events and zoo camp and vacation have all been recorded. The excitement created by the ice cream truck is gone…

But my kids are showing no signs of changing their behavior. They spent all day running around with the neighbors with no sense of responsibility for what was upon them. And more power to ’em…carpe diem!

Here are the creatures which greeted me when I got home, in no less-than eight containers from aquariums to bug habitats to jars with holes in the lids: Three big wood bees, two butterflies, one moth, one giant grasshopper, two little green grasshoppers, mating bugs, crickets, a red and black beetle, assorted dead bugs, one cicada and two cicada shells.

 
All in a days work - click for larger image

Along with the creatures were five kids. Four of whom struck me as quite loud compared to hearing co-worker volume levels all day. The fifth was merely quiet due to the kid tribe pecking order of speaking and his inability to shout anything bug related before I put the hush down on the unruly group of entomologists. I found myself thinking if they could only shout out the genus and species of these crawly creatures, they may be on their way to a worthwhile skill. Though I did hear a kid say “we know it’s a moth because it has those feathery antennae and he’s fat”.

I was also pleased that no one inquired further about the mating bugs, regardless of a clear “the birds and the bees” environment (though telling a kid to go ask her mother about it isn’t quite as hard as I make it out to be).

It also struck me that it is a good call to begin school on a Thursday, these kids clearly need a couple of days to adjust their behavior and wrap their heads around a whole week of school. You just don’t say goodbye to summer the same way you greet it – kids spend weeks daydreaming of summer so they greet it like an old friend with whom no time has lapsed and get right into action. They say goodbye with kicking and dragging feet, composing themselves only after it is no longer visible.

As “grown-ups” we can be happy we don’t have to make that slap in the face adjustment, but not so much that we wouldn’t enjoy a couple months off work. It is a slighter adjustment to move out of Cabinet Cooler system season and closer to Static Eliminator season during colder, drier weather ahead. But our kids will find that out soon enough. I am sure none of them is willing to give up that slap in the face adjustment at the end of summer in return for a job. Besides, at some near point in time I will arrive home to frustrated home-working kids and my seize the day opportunity to learn about feathery, fat moths will have been recorded as well.

Here’s to an easy transition back to school kids. Enjoy yourselves.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
KirkEdwards@EXAIR.com
http://twitter.com/exair_ke