Aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has been using additive manufacturing for prototyping since the 1980s, but just recently began producing service parts using a metal powder-bed process. The components the company is building will be part of the PurePower geared turbofan PW1500G engine, to be used in Bombardier aircraft.
The video above illustrates the production process for one such component. Beyond the significance of the engine, the video is worthwhile for its succinct depiction of the steps involved in additively manufacturing a metal component, both before and after the actual build. Fast-forward to the 1:20 mark to catch this step-by-step footage. Source: Modern Machine Shop
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The dark clouds from last winter's massive flooding in southern India continue to lift, with the country's manufacturing activity powering ahead on the back of a consumption-led recovery. The headline reading for the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index hit an eight-month high of 52.4 in March, putting it in expansionary territory for the third consecutive month. The services gauge also ticked up, climbing 2.9 points to 54.3. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while anything below signifies contraction. ![]() Output rose 3.2 points to 54.2, the highest reading since August. Production growth was "widespread," with consumer goods growing the fastest, according to Pollyanna De Lima, an economist at Markit, the U.K. financial research company that compiles the surveys the index is based on. De Lima said the survey respondents reported a strong upsurge in new business inflows amid robust demand, especially domestic demand. The March index for new orders rose to a eight-month high of 53.9, while that for finished stocks contracted 0.6 point to 46.4 as inventory turnover sped up. India's manufacturing PMI typically falls by an average 0.6 point between February and March, according to Sonal Varma, Nomura's India economist, citing readings over the past decade. "This year's 1.3-point rise is indicative of an improvement in the underlying trend, primarily led by strengthening domestic order demand," said Varma, adding that "rising urban disposable incomes amid low inflation [are] partially offsetting the weakness in rural demand." ![]() India's consumer price index growth slowed to 5.18% in February after accelerating for six straight months. The Reserve Bank of India has set a target of easing inflation to 4% by March 2018, a level that the bank's governor, Raghuram Rajan, said would help curb the rupee's extreme volatility and create an environment conducive to foreign investment. In addition to lower inflation, also boosting urban consumption are falling oil prices, government-led wage hikes and monetary policy, said Pranjul Bhandari, HSBC's chief India economist, in a research note on April 7. He said that consumption gains, if sustained, would resuscitate investment in the medium term. ON THE MEND Manufacturing activity in a number of other emerging Asian economies is also improving. Indonesia's manufacturing PMI of 50.6 in March marked the first return to expansionary territory since September 2014. Respondents said a revival in new orders prompted them to accelerate their buying activity. The stocks of purchases index moved above 50 for the first time in more than a year. South Korea saw operating conditions deteriorate at a slower pace, and Taiwan's PMI rebounded by 1.7 points to 51.1, up from February's negative reading. New orders rose 3 points and export demand climbed 2.4 points. Annabel Fiddes, the Markit economist who conducted the survey, said the growth was supported by price cuts. "Companies continued to discount their selling prices in order to secure new work," said Fiddes. "Unless global economic conditions start to improve and demand picks up, it is uncertain whether Taiwan's manufacturing sector can sustain the current upturn in growth momentum into the second quarter." Source: Nikkei Asian Review Manufacturers and parts suppliers are looking to capitalize on new opportunities while wrestling with issues related to capacity, investment—and yes, even talent development—to wring more productivity out of their operations. Despite bumps in the Chinese economy and global stock markets, the Federal Reserve reported that manufacturing output in the United States grew 0.5% in January 2016, rising 1.2% over the same time last year. Meanwhile, a survey by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) indicated that new orders and production grew in January 2016.
With a cautiously optimistic eye on 2016, manufacturers and parts suppliers are looking to capitalize on new opportunities while wrestling with issues related to capacity, investment—and yes, even talent development—to wring more productivity out of their operations. Among manufacturing executives we’ve met, several topics consistently emerge as critical to driving growth and profitability. Operationally, they are focused on optimizing equipment utilization and maximizing uptime. Also critical is competing through their ability to provide customers with exemplary service. Last, they’re working to manage and empower different generations within their workforce. Following are some of the best practices that we’ve taken away from those discussions. Optimize your equipment utilization With demand growing in many markets, finding the hidden capacity in a plant is critical to minimizing the need for significant capital investment and confidently dealing with customer requests for quotes. Today, many manufacturers rely on juggling spreadsheet models to schedule production. A more effective approach is employing software designed for scheduling production in real time against finite (real) capacity constraints. This lets you run what-if scenarios to fit shifting demands while taking into account tooling and downtime for scheduled maintenance. In addition to fitting demand into every bit of processing time available, you also gain solid insights into available capacity for additional business. Software functionality for finite capacity planning complements lean initiatives to create breathing room in floor schedules, and it can result in some very tangible returns. For example, one medical device components maker reported that scheduling improvements led to a 50% reduction in scrap material and $36,000 annual savings in overtime costs. Source: IndustryWeek.com Castings Technology International has recently developed its Replicast process to produce impellers that have inherently challenging narrow passageways. ![]() As a result, Replicast can now be used to produce correctly balanced impellers up to a metre in diameter with high dimensional accuracy and superior surface finish. Furthermore, an optimisation of the Replicast process has reduced the cost of impellers by around 30%. Replicast uses ceramic shells formed around sacrificial replica patterns, made directly from CAD designs using additive manufacturing technologies or machined from polystyrene. At the same time, the company says that there has been shift of focus among pump users and manufacturers towards the total cost of pump ownership and ‘up time’. At least one manufacturer has moved from focusing on a casting’s ticket price to how much it costs them to buy the raw casting, process it and install it in a pump. “The oil and gas, chemical process, power and water purification industries are all beginning to focus on total cost and realising how financially damaging it can be to suffer any down time because of pump failures,” says Cti’s Richard Gould. The switch makes Cti’s impellers far more attractive since they have significantly lower, to zero, non-conformance costs, require little or no detailing and far less finish machining, thanks to the company’s near-net-shape process, the company says. Using traditional casting processes, ensuring impeller blades are perfectly balanced and of a suitable surface quality, thickness and geometry to ensure a long service life, delivering maximum flow rates, is difficult to achieve, the company says. It is not unusual for blade thicknesses to vary when impellers are made using sand moulds and, although they can be dynamically balanced in air, that does not mean they will remain balanced during operation, when pumping a fluid. Improving the surface quality of the impeller’s blades is also difficult and expensive because protective shrouds severely restrict access. The company adds that new designs can be produced in half the time it would take if a conventional wooden pattern had to be made, modifications can be made just as rapidly and it is far easier to reverse engineer a product, using a coordinate measuring machine to collect the data to produce a CAD design from which the sacrificial pattern can be made. Tests have shown that pumps using Replicast impellers are 10% more efficient than impellers made by traditional methods, which means pumps can be smaller, further reducing material and manufacturing costs. Source: Machinery |
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