How to Select the Best Vendor For Your Plastic Machined Components

Not all plastic machining vendors are equipped to offer all parts. Others may not be able to give you the best prices. The following guidelines can help you locate a fully qualified, cost effective plastic machining specialist:

Material Knowledge

Quiz potential vendors on their knowledge of various materials and applications. Ask them to share the information they have from the material manufacturers. Do they have any property charts or plastic material handbooks to give you?

Specialists in plastic machining should have a wealth of up-to-date information. Material knowledge is a critical area. Good plastic machining firms must be willing to help educate you with the best choices and help find the most appropriate material for your application.

Purchasing Practices

A metal machine shop is not likely to have the material knowledge you need, or have the plastic purchasing power to provide you with the best price.

Likewise, find out if the plastic machining vendor candidates you are considering can purchase materials directly from the material manufacturer. If they rely on plastic distributors for materials, make sure their vendors are up on the latest material technology. Plastic technology is constantly changing, with new materials being introduced all the time.

One of your goals should be to make sure that your plastic machining firm's materials purchasing practices are as good as yours.

Equipment

Ask about the type of equipment your potential vendor is using. The well-equipped plastic machining vendor will look pretty much like a well-equipped metal machining shop, but the bona fide plastic specialist will have equipment that has been adjusted, retooled and re-built expressly for machining plastic material.

The right equipment will machine plastic using the correct speeds, feeds and tooling, and won't pose the threat of contamination faced when metal-machining equipment is utilized. Proper equipment will also insure higher quality parts, with better finishes free of chips, burrs and other imperfections.

Quality and Price

Quality, of course, is directly related to price. Make sure the vendors you interview can provide the highest quality part at the lowest price. Plastic machining vendors can keep errors to a minimum if they are highly process driven, are ISO Certified, use documented SPC procedures, and own the proper inspection equipment such as CMM or video inspection systems. The company with the fewest errors will produce the highest quality and at the lowest cost.

Make sure the supplier is familiar with each machining process you need for your application, as well as with the specific plastic material you will be using. Experience, more than anything else, will help make sure a supplier offers you the most cost-effective part with the best quality.

Looking For The Best

Selection of a truly qualified vendor is extremely important in today's business environment. The time it takes to ask the right questions will pay big dividends - helping you obtain high quality machined plastic parts. Even though the rules for service and quality seem to be continually evolving, getting the best part at the lowest possible cost is still the golden rule of purchasing.

Engineered Plastic Products Corporation is the premier supplier of plastic machined parts. EPP Corp has extensive experience manufacturing critical parts to the aerospace, military, fluid handling, instrumentation, and medical industries. Capabilities include: custom plastic milling, custom plastic turning, custom plastic screw machining, custom plastic manifolds, and assembly.

EPP Corp is ISO 9001:2008 certified, SBA certified, CCR Registered, and has over 35 years of experience providing cost effective plastic machining with minimal production times.

Electric Fork Lift Trucks - Nice Surprise, or Nasty Shock?

With us all becoming more and more aware of our carbon footprint - and with legislation to stop us forgetting - alternatives to the standard combustion engine are beginning to introduce themselves in the retail markets; and the industrial sector has largely made the switch already, only relying on fossil fuelled machinery for external work. So, an impetus exists to reduce this carbon foot-print, but what are the advantages & disadvantages to this new technology?

Whilst it is true that, for many applications, diesel powered, heavy-duty forklift trucks are indispensable, such as on construction sites - where the terrain, distances, and tasks demand diesel tanks to be practical and efficient. No electric forklift can really match the diesel engine in practical applications, having to recharge batteries is a ruinous hindrance for heavy industrial usage. In fact it is not recharging of batteries that disgruntles electric forklift owners, but the hugely costly replacement of batteries, with a lifespan which - although not directly comparable - is just a few years, compared to older technology that can last decades. So even in these 'softer' environments, the electric lift trucks, whilst unlocking work opportunities previously impractical or illegal, come with a potentially heavy financial burden attached.

Electric Fork lift trucks, like standard electric cars, have few internal moving parts, this makes them extremely quiet during operation. For indoor environments then, particularly those where the public or a large workforce is present, this quietness can make the difference between being able to work around them within the law or not at all. This lack of noise pollution - and associated health and safety legislations - means that lifts can be used 24 hours a day in warehouse settings, or even on retail sites. Low noise equipment like this is also perfect for use during exhibitions, conferences and residential areas - where noise pollution laws exist here too. Though as I shall disclose later, this quiet and almost gentle demeanour may not be without its consequences.

While reduced noise is a huge advantage, many reasons to choose electric trucks is their eco-friendliness. Businesses with any commitment to reducing their carbon footprint should explore using electric vehicles whose emissions are an easily crunchable and digestible 0%.

Electric trucks therefore, facilitate reaching 'those targets' without sacrificing efficiency and increasing running costs, and could even open up new opportunities to work closer to the layman and unsociable hours.

But wait. There's a problem here. It's all very well 'savings the planet' and being able to work around the public, saving their hearing. And even saving the business money. However, these benefits - at least in the short-term - may well be unavoidably off-set by increased litigation, time off work, and a decreasing reputation. Why? The answer is that these super quiet machines, that encourage working around the public and at night, risk your business suffering increased incidences of both minor and serious accidents. There are about 8000 reportable accidents involving fork lift trucks every year in the UK. These are often where people have been rammed or crushed, or where the vehicle has attempted a load that's either to heavy or unbalanced and collapsed.

So how can we keep this new technology, improve safety and off-set some of the introduced maintenance costs?

Many forklift trucks already come with added lights and reverse sirens, however the tines are often neglected. This is exactly the area we can now target to increase safety and decrease costs. How? The products are known as forklift protective sleeves. It is a type of extremely durable, yet energy dispersing, poly-urethane, that is fixed to the end of the forklift tines. They primarily save you money by reducing product damage/wastage, and damage to racking and fixtures. They look simple, but the amount of energy effectively absorbed and dispersed is quite incredible on impact (it has to be seen to believed really, luckily there are videos on their website) Colliding into objects at forces that would normally pierce right through a strong ABS crate/pallet, or severely damage racking, is diminished to not even a scratch in most cases where the sleeves are fitted.

They are a high visibility color which improves safety naturally. This bright yellow color at the ends of the tines provide a visual reference point for the driver (a marked improvement on metal that reflects its surroundings). This feature is particularly useful when the tines are at high levels, aiding co-ordination for the driver. And this visual reference point is - equally - able to help the staff loading products on to the forklift to better judge where, say, one load ends and another begins.

So for dramatic reductions in damage to both warehouse facilities, product and people, protect your tines with the only product in the world specifically designed to do so.

For more information about the product, and how we can save you money and improve safety, please visit our UK website.

Engineering Maintenance for Machine Safety

Machines are an important part of modern society. They are needed in almost all walks of life from small machines such as coffee grinders to the massive industrial machines which manufacture our consumer products. All of these machines need to be properly maintained in order to ensure that they continue to work correctly. Without this machine maintenance, the devices could break down, stopping production and sometimes risking the health of the people operating them. In large industrial machines, engineers need to regularly maintain the system, often stripping it down and inspecting every part.

Engineering Maintenance is a discipline which ensures that machines are serviced and maintained regularly. This practice helps to ensure machine safety, helping to keep it running for longer and preventing accidents which could seriously damage the business. By regularly arranging machine maintenance, whether it needs repairs or not, companies keep their tools working for longer and ensures that they comply with government health and safety directives. Effective Engineering maintenance should be performed at a time when the machine is not needed for quick jobs, in order to allow the engineer to closely inspect the device and ensure that it is in good working order.

As well as ensuring machine safety through the inspection and maintenance of the machine, workers need to be protected against the possibility of harm. Engineers can help in this process by installing custom-built machine security guards. These are designed to defend the operator against flying parts or broken pieces from the production line. Working rather like riot shields, these machine security guards deflect the pieces causing them to fall harmlessly to the ground. With new health and safety laws being implemented every year and with people struggling to catch up with the latest design improvements in machinery, these safety guards have become an important part of factory life.

By operating a regular engineering machine maintenance schedule owners of factories can ensure their productivity and the safety of their workers. Machines which are serviced regularly will last for many years and the production line will continue to function. Regular inspections, either yearly or bi-yearly, will allow the engineers to spot problems the minute that they occur and also guarantee that the machines will keep working. Breakdowns cost an industry hundreds of thousands every year and there is no alternative to maintenance. The cost of an annual inspection, even if it means shutting off part of the production, is nothing compared with the cost of losing several weeks work due to the failure of a machine. Keeping the maintenance regular will also keep the machine working safely, which is vital if owners and managers of factories which wish to keep their business running.

Shot Blasting Machines

In Tumblast, a conveyor belt rotates inwards, inside the chamber of the shot blasting machine & the components are loaded on it as per the size & capacity of the machine. The door is than closed. Rotor is switched on for throwing Shots or Grits on the components. By this process, the loaded components get a universal finish. Abrasive medias such as Shots or Grits are continuously fed by the elevator of abrasive media. All the dust extracted in the process goes to the attached dust collector. On completion of desired time period, the door is opened & than the conveyor belt is driven outwards. As a result the components can be removed from the chamber. An automatic loading system can also be attached to the shot / grit blasting machine.

The Tumblast shot / grit blasting machines are available in many sizes, right from a 2 cu ft capacity machine to a 15 & 20 cu ft capacity machines. Some of the sizes are: 20" x 27", 20" x 42", 27" x 36", 30" x 43", 36" x 42", 42" x 42" as well 48" x 48".

Similarly, Hanger model Shot blasting machines are available in Single / Double door type, Centralised hanger type as well a monorail type. In this model, the components are hanged instead of loading on the conveyor belt. Rest of the process is same. The hanger rotates for a universal finish using multiple rotors depending upon requirement. The benefit is that the components do not touch each other in the process of finishing and hence are scratch free.

Swing table model shot blasting machines are suitable for bigger or heavier components or if the smaller parts are to be shot blasted only one side. Many sizes are available from a minimum 36" of table to 120" of table in sngle as well double doors.

Continuous conveyor model shot blasting machines are suitable for smaller components which are to be shot blasted only one side with a single rotor. Multiple sides can be finished by using multiple rotors. Components are fed from one side & removed from the other side duly finished.

The spare parts mostly wearable are made from ni hard or alloy steel to get the maximum life.The main spare parts include the Rotor, Blades, Spring locks, Cage & Impeller, Cage adapter, centre plate, Top segment, Side liners, Round plates as well the conveyor belt. Few precautions are necessary while running the machine.

The Tumblast model of Shot blasting machine if to be used for finishing of smaller components is best suitable and very cost effective. we can be contacted with details of your components for a suitable size & model of shot blasting machine.

Preparing for Christmas Orders

As we begin to enter the autumn and winter months many companies and factories will be preparing for the busiest time of the year. For some companies this time of year yields 80% of their business orders and preparation for this is key to success. How do they manage to keep up with the huge demands?

Large warehouses and despatch depots ramp up their production annually. The last two months of the calendar year in America take many business from the negative red to the positive black. Companies plan for this huge spike in spending, benevolence, giving gifts, and personal consumption of gifts. The season brings a rapid explosion of purchases that must be met with professionalism and timeliness.

Therefore, large companies with large amounts of capital prepare for this surge in sales through increased productivity. The productivity of these warehouses and despatch depots is based on both human capital, brick and mortar capital, and technology capital.

While a surge in machinery is not really possible due to specialized training, maintenance, costs, etc., it still does happen to some degree. Additional forklifts are employed for use through rental companies. Pallet turners are used in abundance. Picking and packing robots are used throughout the calendar year and are really tested for productivity during the final two months of the calendar year.

Surprisingly, while machinery and technology maintain an increasing hold in our economy, nothing can really replace human capital, especially in a time pinch. Without fail, most warehouses experiencing a spike in seasonal productivity rely heavily on human capital. Temporary hiring agencies experience a frenzy of activity during November and December annually. Often, October also displays increases in temporary hiring movements.

Temporary workers are efficient for many reasons, thus making them ideal choices for seasonal spikes in productivity. Seasonal workers can be paid less, do not require certain types of insurance, can do basic labor with minimum training, and do not require long-term investment by the company. Furthermore, they can more easily be released due to the seasonal nature of purchases in material goods in America.

Companies will begin to hire these temporary workers as early as September and as late as December. For the most part, these seasonal workers will be let go immediately after the spending frenzy has ended in the first two weeks of January. Their work in warehouse productivity is not seen by most of America, but is certainly necessary to field the amount of demands that the American people present during the final months of the calendar year.