End Uses

Magnetic Pickups Reduce Compressed Air Demand at Automotive Plant

By Nasr Alkadi, Ph.D., CEM, CSRM, Strategic Energy Management Consultant and Coach, CLEAResult

This article focuses on a project to replace vacuum cups with spring-return magnetic pickups for handling ferrous metal parts at an automobile assembly plant in Missouri. The application is most familiar in automotive stamping and body shop operations, but the lesson applies to any plant using vacuum cups to grab steel blanks, panels, brackets or formed parts. The original equipment in this case study used vacuum cups served by venturi devices.

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Sustainability at RR Donnelley

Compressed Air Best Practices interviewed Michael D. Manzella. Mr. Manzella is a Senior Vice President, Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality (EH&S), and also the Chief Sustainability Officer for RR Donnelley (RRD).

Sustainability at RRD starts with a philosophy. It is then executed through a global policy and objectives. RRD’s philosophy does not see sustainability as making a choice between being cost-effective and improving environmental impacts. On the contrary, sustainability represents integrating these two factors. This philosophy guides our sustainability objectives and strategies.
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Chrysler Finds Vacuum Savings of $400,000 per Plant

By Josef Karbassi, PIAB

A recent comparative vacuum technology study performed by Dr. Kingman Yee, as part of a Chrysler Summer Intern Professors Program, found that air consumption could be reduced by 98% when equipping a robot’s end-of-arm tooling with COAX® technology and a Vacustat™ check valve.
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An Automotive System Assessment

By Bill Scales P.E., Scales Industrial Technologies

This stamping plant is a 2.5 million-square-foot facility with over two thousand employees. At the time of the assessment, the plant was processing approximately 1,600 tons of steel per day into automotive vehicle components and parts such as body parts.
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Assessment Improves Electroplater Production

By Paul Shaw, Scales Industrial Technologies

Faced with rising energy costs, a large electroplating company sought to improve the efficiency and reliability of its compressed air system. After getting a quote from their vendor on a new 300-hp compressor to replace an existing unit, the company sought a comparison quote due to the significant investment the new compressor represented. Based on a recommendation from one of their customers, they turned to Scales Industrial Technologies.
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Blowers Save Energy at Aluminum Mill

By Brendan Smith, JetAir Technologies

Relatively few people realize that for a variety of industrial manufacturing applications, from air knife drying to simple blow-off nozzles, the use of high pressure compressed air that bleeds into the atmosphere represents a significant waste of energy.
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A Steel Processing Audit

By Hank Van Ormer, Air Power USA

This steel processing facility has been operating for over one hundred years. This facility is part of a large corporation with numerous plants around the world. This audit focused on the compressed air system on one side of the Works which we will call the “North Plant”.
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Audit Savings for Motor Coach Industries

By Ron Marshall for the Compressed Air Challenge®

Motor Coach Industries, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, is the largest manufacturer of intercity tour coaches for the tour, charter, line-haul, scheduled service, commuter transit and conversion markets in the U.S. and Canada. The company operates a four screw-type air compressor system at its Clarence Avenue plant in Winnipeg. To maintain adequate system pressure at the plant, Motor Coach was forced to run all four compressors 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Audit of Transit-Bus Manufacturing

By Ron Marshall, CET, CIM, Manitoba Hydro

New Flyer Industries is a Winnipeg based heavy duty bus manufacturer, supplying vehicles to the US and Canadian markets. The company specializes in vehicles with†alternative-fuel drives such as electric trolleys, gasoline-electric and diesel-electric hybrid vehicles; as well as standard diesel buses.
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