We talked with a number of major
companies in the midst of their planning
and strategizing for IMTS 2012,
with the thought of determining just
how much things have in fact changed
for exhibitors regarding the trade show
experience.
How well you conduct your inspections can be the difference-maker for securing high-value contracts from your
customers. And as with most other segments of the gear industry,
inspection continues striving to attain “exact science” status. With that thought in mind, following is a look at the state of gear inspection and what rigorous inspection practices deliver—quality.
The turbines are still spinning.
They’re spinning on large wind farms
in the Great Plains, offshore in the
Atlantic and even underwater where
strong tidal currents offer new energy
solutions. These turbines spin regularly
while politicians and policy makers—
tied up in discussions on tax incentives, economic recovery and a lot of finger pointing—sit idle. Much like the auto and aerospace industries of years past, renewable energy is coping with its own set of growing pains. Analysts still feel confident that clean energy will play a significant role in the future of manufacturing—it’s just not going to play the role envisioned four to five
years ago.
Indexable carbide insert (ICI) cutting
tools continue to play a pivotal role
in gear manufacturing. By offering higher cutting speeds, reduced cycle times, enhanced coatings, custom configurations and a diverse range of sizes and capabilities, ICI tools have
proven invaluable for finishing and pre-grind applications. They continue to expand their unique capabilities and worth in the cutting tool market.
It’s a brave, new hardware-software world out there. Players in the worldwide gear industry who don’t have plenty of both run the risk of becoming irrelevant—sooner than later.
The large gears found in mining, steel, construction, off-road, marine and energy applications—massive and
robust in nature—need to tackle the greatest production demands. This, in turn, means that a special emphasis must be put on the heat treating methods used to increase the wear resistance and strength properties of gears this size.
In the wide, wide world of moving
parts, the gears required for the big
jobs—the really big jobs—often experience big problems. Proper lubrication of these gears is paramount in industrial applications such as wind turbines, kilns, sugar mills, crushers, heavy construction, offshore drilling rigs, mining and quarrying.