Y-Blog

t’s been said taking something apart is easier than putting it together. If you’re in business to dismantle and recycle wood pallets, you might say otherwise. Taking apart (or dismantling) wooden pallets is dangerous, deafening and draining for employees. The work in pallet recycling plants is largely manual labor, and it’s always challenging to recruit and retain staff for a job that has people in constant contact with band saws, debris and vibration. Yet, the job is critical because the pallet, literally and figuratively, supports the nation’s supply chain. Read More

Some technologies are loved. For other technologies, there’s no love lost. Like your cable provider, waterjet cutting fills a need, but it’s an uneasy (if long-standing) alliance. Since the 1990s, top automotive interior trimmers have relied on waterjet cutting to remove flash from instrument panels, carpets and headliners. However, our surveys show many trimmers would be happy to do without the energy consumption, noise and occasional product mishap that comes from relying on a laser-like stream of water compressed to 40,000 psi for cutting and trimming. Read More

Two hundred forty minutes could save you $240,000 or more on your manufacturing process, but unlike those GEICO® commercials, not everybody knows that. Some of the companies that are in the know, however, say it’s because they agreed to a plant audit. A plant audit is a when a perceptive supplier visits your factory to meet with your production team, listen to your production supervisors and study how you are manufacturing piece parts. The process takes about four hours or roughly half a day, but the payoff can be more than worth it. Read More

Imagine you’ve decided to automate an application. You’ve chosen robotics to be the fulcrum, but you need a robotics integrator to help you reach your goal. Once you have researched whom to speak with, how do you compare these integrators? There are 4 "Cs” to sizing up any integrator; I define them as concept, cost, capabilities and capacity. Read More