Just about every industry has one thing in common: a large population of electric motors. These units can either be in current use, or set aside as spares. Even small operations can have many – but in large plants, the numbers can be staggering. The days of one-to-one replacement are in the past for most companies. The breakdown of
Continue reading »Improving the Productivity of Factory Workers by Empowering Them
Productivity is a trending topic for manufacturing facilities all over the world. Maximizing output while minimizing waste and downtime is a key goal for any operations department. A key area of focus in this search for productivity is empowering workers at the machine level. Live signaling and diagnostics, access to proper tools, and reasonable processes for improvement can dramatically improve
Continue reading »Three Reasons You Should Use a Quick Exhaust Valve on your Pneumatic Cylinder
In a cylinder application, a quick exhaust valve is a simple shuttle valve. This valve allows air that is coming out of a cylinder to be directed to atmosphere instead of flowing back through the directional valve. While this may seem like a simple change in the air release, it can have a big impact on performance. Quick
Continue reading »Extending Machine Life by Repairing Industrial Electric Equipment
In today’s ever-advancing world, electronic control equipment touches virtually all facets of industry. From compressors to cranes, just about every piece of equipment has some level of electronics controlling it. With that comes the potential for that system to fail. What happens when they fail? Production time is lost, efficiencies are reduced, perishables perish, other
Continue reading »Centralized or Decentralized AC Drives
Over the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of industrial motors controlled by variable frequency drives, or VFDs as they are commonly referred to. VFD use greatly improves system performance, efficiency and flexibility on machinery, fans, pumps conveyors or other types of equipment, whether complex multi-motor networked control systems or
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