Materials handling equipment is undervalued in terms of its contribution to industry. Our economy is composed of many ingredients, and materials handling equipment are the utensils that mix the ingredients. For people within the industry, it’s easy to see the value of materials handling equipment. Industry professionals have the right vocabulary, they have the experience and they have the awareness of everything Continue reading
Vibratory feeder manufacturers have their work cut out for them. Some manufacturing processes are just easier than others. Let’s go through a couple of examples. Suppose your company wants to manufacture hammers. Depending on how much of the process your company is involved in, the extent to which your work is complicated ranges from low to moderate. If all you do is shape the metal hammer and pop it onto a stick, then that’s all you have to do: shape a metal hammer and pop it on a stick. If you’re involved with, say, cutting down the wood and mining the Continue reading
On May 8-10 of this year, companies from all over the world will converge on the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago for the International Powder and Bulk Solids expo. There companies will have the opportunity to apprise themselves of the latest in materials handling technologies, meet with other experts in their fields, get in touch with suppliers and generally share in one of the few moments where large groups of professionals get to talk about their trades with Continue reading
During the summer after my graduation from high school, I did some landscaping work for my uncle at his house. A few of my tasks included pulling out shrubs by tying them to a four-wheeler and speeding away, painting a chimney while suspended by a rope tied to a shoe horn and dredging the depths of a water channel to make the channel deep enough for a pontoon boat. All of those tasks were equally ridiculous, but the channel-dredging took the cake in terms of unpleasantness. I don’t know if you’ve ever smelled the bottom of a lake before, but take my word for it that there are smells out there that are worse than the worst smell you ever recall smelling.
What was worse than the smell, though, was the redistribution of the dregs. It had to be done by hand, shovelful after shovelful. My uncle decided that the slop from the bottom of the lake should be placed on his lawn, which at that point was barren, because he thought it would support grass growth (how that turned out is another story). The problem for me was that I was expected to distribute the Continue reading
When I was first becoming exposed to the concept of vibratory feeders, it wasn’t quite clear to me what they were used for or why they are necessary. I had worked in a warehouse before, and I had been involved in preparing products for shipping, so I knew that the need for product and materials handling within industry is important. However, when I was working in a warehouse, one of my jobs was to load boxes onto a roller conveyor and push them towards the shipping line. The function of the roller conveyor was perfectly obvious; it made the movement of Continue reading
It might be hard for an outsider to understand why vibrating feed machines are necessary. First off, it might not be apparent to such a person what a vibrating feed machine is. After all, most vibrating feed machine varieties look like inverted cones suspended over long troughs with one open end. Once that person learned that the cone (which is usually called a hopper) is used to feed materials into the trough and that the trough moves those materials as it vibrates, the question of the machine’s ultimate purpose still remains. Why dump materials through the hopper onto the vibrating trough and from there onto something else? Why not just Continue reading
by Steven B. Soule, Manager of Manufacturing, Conveyor Dynamics Corporation
Vibratory feeder image courtesy of Eriez.
Industry is always changing and evolving, but there are some things about industry that will never change. Among these things are the need to have access to materials, equipment and shipping methods. One of the most important unchanging needs of industry is the need to move products and product ingredients from one place to another within an industrial facility. There are many different methods that industry takes advantage of in order to meet this need. A few examples of these materials Continue reading
Parts feeder image courtesy of Suncoast Feeders, Inc.
Earlier this week, the USA’s 3rd quarter GDP performance data were released, and according to experts the country’s GDP actually grew by 2.5%, a far cry from the nearly 9% per quarter losses registered during the financial crisis. Economists tell us that signs are pointing to recovery, albeit a slow one. The published data revealed that investment in manufacturing output rose, though industrial output fared somewhat poorly because of reduced demand for aircraft parts. The results suggested, though, that when looked at in Continue reading