Tag: productivity

Priorities of Work

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Triage, priorities of work, MoSCoW Method, ABCdE, the list could go on and on. These are all methods to help you prioritize your day. I have blogged about my first career as a field service/training on CNC machines. This was something that I was baptized into. During the day-to-day here at EXAIR, and during GORUCK events, it became solidified in the way I approach almost any project and most of the days.

If you Google or use your favorite search engine for What are Priorities of Work, then you may get a list something like what is shown above. I’ve heard many of these over the years, but it wasn’t until one of the GORUCK events I was doing that it truly sank in that if I am not addressing the appropriate tasks first, then I wouldn’t have time for them later. When I was in machine tool, it meant evaluating all the issues preventing the customer’s machine from operating and making sure the longest lead time parts were ordered first, then the ancillary problems after. The goal was always to get the machine back up and running as fast as possible to get the customer back on schedule.

In endurance events, the priorities are to assess yourself, hydrate, if blister/skin care is needed, take care of those, and consume calories if needed. Then, take off your shoes and socks, lie down, elevate your feet, and sleep. Chatting and socializing can happen during, or it can wait until after.

Optimizing a compressed air blow off, reducing wasted compressed air, and maintaining the existing system can very often get knocked down on your priority list. The fact is, these priorities of keeping production moving and then ignoring subservient tasks can add up over time. This can then be the reason you are not able to keep production moving. That’s why here at EXAIR, we help you with a triaged list of priorities when it comes to maintaining your compressed air system.

The six steps to compressed air optimization are laid out to make it easy to check off the big-ticket items first and put the most back into your system. We can also help every step of the way with just a few clicks. Simply request a chat, reserve a video meeting with an Application Engineer, call, or email.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS
National Business Development Manager

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

EXAIR Internationally

Published on by John Ball2 Comments

I would like to share a conversation with a company that I visited in Singapore.  They manufactured natural rubber material, and they were having issues with material sticking inside the oven.  In our conversation, they would have to stop the process in order to clean the area near the chopping blades where the rubber material would collect.  The system would have to be shut down for the entire day to clean the oven which lost profits and production yields.  I was familiar with this company, as they were global. 

I remembered that I helped their American counterpart with the exact same application.  I was able to make a quick recommendation for the same product; two model 110260SSPKI 60” (1,524mm) wide Stainless Steel Super Air Knives with Plumbing Kits.  They purchased and installed the Super Air Knives to generate an air curtain to keep the rubber material from sticking to the wall and forcing it into the grinder below.  This helped them to save a lot of money for unscheduled shutdowns.  If the U.S.A. company was able to share this information with their foreign counterpart, it would have been a great cost savings for the corporation as a whole. 

Since the establishment of EXAIR in 1983, customer satisfaction, quality, and quick turnaround have always been the cornerstone of our business model.   And with this type of business model, our company continues to grow each year.  Now EXAIR is recognized as a brand of excellence worldwide.  With thousands of products in stock, we are able to ship with over a 99.9% on-time delivery.  EXAIR offers free expert technical advice and share solutions to pneumatic issues through EXAIR Blogs, application library, and social media. 

In today’s market, many companies are global and have plants and facilities throughout the world.  If details like cost savings, safety, increased productivity, problem solving, and energy efficiency would be shared; it would be very beneficial for everyone.  It can help to grow profits, protect employees, improve throughput, and save energy which will help to protect the environment.  Since EXAIR is a leader in these areas with compressed air products, we can help you and your affiliates with pneumatic solutions. 

EXAIR sells direct in the U.S.A and Canada, and we have over 50 distributors located throughout the rest of the world.  EXAIR has structured our world-wide presence by country in our International Map located on our website.  It is simple to use.  To find a distributor, click on this link, International.  Fill in your Name, Email, and Country you wish to find.  We also ask if you would like to receive news about EXAIR products in the future.  You can select “Yes” or “No”.  If you would like to obtain information monthly from EXAIR about new products, special notices, or featured products, then click “Yes”.  And, if we do not have a distributor in your area, EXAIR has an International Department that can assist you directly. 

There are many ways to save money within your industry.  And one way is to use your compressed air efficiently.  If you or your affiliates use compressed air to cool, dry, clean, convey, vacuum, or remove static electricity, EXAIR can improve your process.  And if you have locations outside of U.S. and Canada, we can still help you.  You can contact us directly or visit our International Map.  You may find someone near you that can speak your language and discuss the values that EXAIR can provide.  You will be glad that you did.  And if we do not have anyone in the country and you wish to speak to us about becoming a Distributor, you can contact us through our form here: International Distribution.

John Ball
Application Engineer

Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Photo: International Flags by GDJ.  Pixabay license.

EXAIR Super Air Wipe Greatly Increases Productivity & Saves Money!

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Late last year I received a call from a customer that was using EXAIR Super Air Knives to create an air curtain that protected the lens on their Robotic Welders from weld spatter.  The EXAIR Super Air Knife accomplished this by virtue of its design to deliver a uniform sheet of laminar air flow across its entire length.  While this greatly improved the life of the welder lens and reduced maintenance time, further improvements were needed.

The event that triggered this was the challenge they received from their customer (one of the big 3 automobile manufacturers) to increase their output of welded seat frames by 50%.  While the EXAIR Super Air Knives greatly reduced lens maintenance the consensus was further improvements would facilitate the goal of increasing output 50% .

Super Air Knife laser application
Using the Super Air Knife to protect the welding lens

 

This started the discussion on the possibility of using the EXAIR Super Air Wipe, even though it is primarily used for drying/cleaning of long continuous flow products its airflow pattern (see illustration below) was able to direct the weld splatter down and away from the lens.  This ultimately proved to be more effective at protecting the lens than the laminar air curtain provided by the EXAIR Super Air Knife.

Air Wipe - how it works
Air Wipe – How it work

The installation of the EXAIR Super Air Wipes started on 12/16/2017 and was completed on 12/23/2017. The original production rate was 480 pair of SUV rear seat frames per day running 3 shifts 24/6.

Laser Above SAW Front
Robotic Welder fitted with EXAIR Super Air Wipe

After the Installation of the EXAIR Super Air Wipes, they had improved the production rate to 750 pair/day running 3 shifts 24/5 days per week.  That equates to a productivity increase of 156%, far exceeding the goal of 50%!

Before using the EXAIR Super Air Wipe their maintenance department would clean the Cover Slide on the Laser Welding Head – 3 times per day at approximately 20 min x 3x daily x 6 days / week 6 hours / week.  “With the EXAIR Super Air Wipe we found that we can weld for 10 days before cleaning the Cover Slide” says the customer.

Each Cover Slide costs $195 and those were being replaced weekly, it was a pleasant surprise to find out that only a small amount of dust collects on the Cover Slide now, which is cleaned off in less than a minute

In 10 weeks of Operation they have not replaced a single  Slide since the EXAIR Super Air Wipe has nearly eliminated pitting from the weld spatter.

Also, Cleaning of the Slides is now performed on Saturday’s at the leisure of the maintenance team and not under the strain of production time. The Labor Rate for Maintenance is $75/hour x 6 hours/week = $450 X 50 weeks/year $22,500 plus the cost of the replacement windows at $195 each x 25 weeks = $4,875 savings per year.  Total savings after implementing the EXAIR Super Air Wipe = $27,375 per welding machine!

With the maintenance & replacement cost savings alone it is an easy calculation to make on the purchase of the EXAIR Super Air Wipe’s. That figure is not counting the productivity increase of 156% which allowed them to meet their customers delivery schedule and reduce overtime!

If you would like to discuss increasing the efficiency of your compressed air usage, quieter compressed air products and/or any EXAIR product,  I would enjoy hearing from you…give me a call.

Steve Harrison
Application Engineer
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ROI – Worth Looking at the Details

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

ROI or Return On Investment is a way to gauge the productivity or profit/loss from money spent on an investment. In business, companies will use this information to determine if a project or investment is worth the risk, ultimately leading to a net profit gain as the end result.

Don’t waste your money

In my own personal experience, my wife and I were considering buying into a timeshare vacation property a few years ago. To enter into the agreement, the company required a $ 22,000 “buy-in” (financed of course) and a recurring cost of approximately $60/month for the next 22 years. This would have afforded us 124 “points” for nightly stays on our planned vacation. Their timeshare rentals are tiered into different room types – Studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom or a 3 bedroom villas – with each room type costing a certain amount of points. For us to maximize the length of our stay, we would have to select the studio room which would have given 6 nights at a total of the 124 points.

We have visited this popular vacation destination several times so we know what the average cost is to spend a week on property and purchase theme park tickets for our stay. When we booked on our own, we spent on average a little less than $ 3,000 for 7 days which included our room each night and 6 day park passes per person.

The timeshare rental cost was just for the nightly stay, it didn’t include any park tickets, food or other recreations. On average, the cost for 6 days worth of park passes per adult is close to $ 450.00 and per child it was around $ 400.00. Considering there are 2 adults and 1 child (at the time) we had to pay an additional cost of $ 1,300.00.

So if we joined the timeshare and stayed for 1 week once a year, it was going to cost us approximately $ 3,020.00 ($ 1,720.00 (timeshare cost) + $ 1,300.00 in tickets). In this case, it was actually going to cost us MORE in the long run than if we booked a yearly vacation on our own (< $3,000), leading to a negative ROI. (not to mention, I really didn’t want to commit to the same vacation for the next 22 years!).

When discussing replacement compressed air blowoff solutions with a customer, many times they look at the purchase price of the device and question if it’s worth it for them to make a change. If you follow along with our blog, you will notice that over the last few months we have submitted several different entries relating to this topic, like replacing drilled pipe with our 12″ Super Air Knife resulting in a 47 day ROI or where a customer replaced 4 open copper tubes with our 1110SS Nano Super Air Nozzle and recurring their expenses in just 38 days. In these instances, we show the calculations in regards to the true cost of ownership and how quickly you can recover capital funds when considering the whole scope of the project.

At EXAIR, we are committed to providing Intelligent Compressed Air® Products that reduce compressed air consumption leading to a more efficient process, as well as increasing operator safety. If you are considering an EXAIR solution for your current process but have questions about price or performance, contact one of our application engineers for assistance.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Little things add up image courtesy of Nic McPhee via creative commons license