Richard Daley and Bruce Katz’s Op-Ed in the LA Times caught our eye, highlighting the ever-changing nature of manufacturing, here and abroad:

Corporate cost calculations undergird the newfound appreciation of U.S. manufacturing. The offshoring of manufacturing was rooted in harsh economic realities: rock-bottom wages in nations such as China and the aggressive attraction and infrastructure strategies of foreign governments. Yet labor costs are rising in China, and concerns persist about the protection of American intellectual property there. Energy can be cheaper here, and more reliable. The tsunami in Japan, supplier of many high-tech components, revealed the fragility of far-flung supply chains for many U.S. companies.

As corporations reevaluate their bottom lines, national leaders must reassess the critical role of manufacturing. Its jobs pay 20% more on average than non-manufacturing work and are more likely to provide benefits. It employs a disproportionately high number of less-educated workers and tends to spark job growth in service-based industries. And, in the words of Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO ofDow Chemical Co.: “Where manufacturing goes, innovation inevitably follows.”

This is a refreshing antidote to the often one-dimensional coverage of our industry in the news media. Look for more innovation in domestic manufacturing in the years to come.

Eagle Technologies Group is an industry leader in the design and implementation of factory automation systems worldwide.

Water Lines

Overlooked Corrosion

Fragile Wiring

Mold

From the Wall Street Journal:

U.S. manufacturers are more competitive with global rivals than at any time in recent memory. Energy costs and other expenses are falling, manufacturers say. And U.S. workers’ pay has become more competitive with foreign wages.

It all means investors should spend more time focusing on shares of chemical companies, auto and steelmakers, and other manufacturers, analysts say.

…

“Manufacturers are increasingly likely to bring at least some production back to the U.S. while established players reinvest for further productive capacity and productivity improvements over the coming years,” according to the Bank of America report.

Part of the reason manufacturers are becoming more competitive: Foreign workers are seeing rising pay, even as U.S. labor costs barely rise. Chinese factor workers have seen annual pay increases of more than 10% in the last two years.

Recent weakness in the U.S. dollar also is helping U.S. exports. Rising domestic energy production is helping as well; petroleum and coal products represent 10% of U.S. manufacturing production, up from 3% in 2000, Bank of America says.

That’s all why more American companies are moving manufacturing plants back to the U.S.—a shift some call “reshoring”—while some foreign companies are expanding here. French tire maker Michelin, for example, recently announced it would build a new global factory in South Carolina.

The truth is, U.S. companies have always excelled in manufacturing, and they continue to find new, exciting ways to create the best products in the world at competitive prices. We believe that the best is yet to come.

Eagle Technologies Group is an industry leader in the design and implementation of factory automation systems worldwide..

Lean manufacturing is all about rooting out and replacing wasteful methods, processes and products.
Once the waste is found, the company’s work goes beyond elimination to finding ways to prevent the
waste from occurring again. Value-added calculations are also considered along with wastefulness.
Companies can look in the usual places to find waste to eliminate. This includes the actual waste
or trash, electrical usage, weatherization and more. However, that still leaves several areas and
opportunities for getting the most out of a lean manufacturing experience.

Rework, Repair, Replace

One easily overlooked area is in the machinery found throughout the plant. Some may be working
well past their prime and others may be relatively new, but inefficient for the job. These machines cause
waste in time and production. They also tend to take more energy to use and more space
on the plant floor, as newer and more environmentally friendly models are smaller and more energy
efficient. Another problem is the production itself. Machines that are older and more inefficient also
tend to produce more defective products that must be reworked or tossed away. When considering
target areas for eliminating waste, look at the machine making the goods as well as the equipment used
to maintain them.

Raw Material Waste

Raw materials are wasted in a few ways in a plant. Many companies have found that the bulk of raw
material waste occurs during production. This area provides an opportunity for not only saving raw
materials, but converting them into reusable materials. The metal casting industry has devised ways to
recapture the molten metal lost during casting to use again in the process. The raw material recaptured
is better material than that recycled from used metal. Recapturing raw material wherever possible saves
money spent on materials.

Other areas to look for waste in a plant are in freight in and out, obsolete and even packaging excesses.
The spirit of lean manufacturing is finding anything that can be eliminated in part or as a whole in
order to boost production and savings. Along the way, many companies find that they also streamline
their assets, updating them as well. The environmental benefits are often a byproduct.

Eagle Technologies Group is an industry leader in the design and implementation of factory automation systems worldwide.

Pollutants and Risky Materials

Extraction Risks

Disposal Hazard

Eagle Technologies Group is an industry leader in the design and implementation of factory automation systems worldwide.

Preventive Maintenance

Inspection Advances

Engineering and Production Communication

Water is the base ingredient for many drug products. It is also used in cleaning the equipment
and to alter the makeup of other drugs. Like other substance, water carries pathogens, minerals
and other contaminants that can actually change the composition of the drug. Bacteria within
the water can cause illness in the person ingesting the drugs. An outbreak is also possible if the
bacteria-riddled water is used to create batches of a drug.

To prevent contamination and accidental drug alterations, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration enforces water classification policies that are use throughout the pharmaceutical
industry. These policies based on the following eight categories of water, separated by their
usage and level of sterilization.

• Non-potable Water: non drinkable or non-potable water used in pressure washing, floor cleaning, and similar activities
• Potable Water: used in mixing up components of the drug that will become the material used in another stage. Not used in making drug inject able or for irrigation.
• Purified Water: used for thinning drug solutions, diluting them for use.
• Water for Injection: dilutes the injected drugs.
• Sterile Water for Injection: water pre-sterilized and packaged for diluting injected drugs. Intravenous fluid bags are an example.
• Sterile Water for Inhalation: pre-packaged, sterilized water used for nebulizers and similar medical devices.
• Bacteriostatic Water for Injection: pre-packaged, sterilized water that is treated with solutions to stop the reproduction of bacteria in water used to dilute injected drugs.
• Sterile Water for Irrigation: pre-packaged, sterilized water used to clean open wounds. The water is free of pathogens that can infect the wound.

These water categories are necessary in maintaining drug composition and preventing the
contamination of the products by pathogens and other chemicals. The water used in the most
vulnerable ways, injections, irrigating wounds and for inhalation, are given the most attention
through sterilization. The prepackaging is necessary to ensure that the water is protected from
pathogens between the factory and the medical establishment that will use it.

In drug manufacturing, there is more to water than tap or filtered. The filtrations methods,
packaging and treatment of the water for its specific use varies. The variation, however, is
enforced to ensure that any incidents of contamination are not found in the water used to create
the drug.

Eagle Technologies Group is an industry leader in the design and installation of factory automation systems worldwide.

To avoid the costs, time and production lost from a mechanical breakdown, manufacturing companies
have developed a handful of processes concepts and strategies. These maintenance management
systems each control the tasks required to keep a machine functioning. They also dictate the way in
which manufacturers address the breakdown of company machinery. Deciding which system to use
takes careful consideration and an understanding of how each individual machine works. Only then
can you incorporate a predictive, preventive, proactive, corrective, reliability centered or equipment
criticality ranking maintenance system.

What Are They? Each maintenance works to minimize the impact of a critical machine problem. They do so in different ways.

Predictive maintenance uses technological advances to monitor the machines for breakdowns.
Through process like oil analysis and infrared thermography, manufacturers can detect the
process in real-time. This way, the problem is fixed before it reaches a critical stage.
Proactive maintenance is examining the machines after they have shown signs of trouble. The
Industrial machinery mechanic thoroughly inspects and test the machine to get to the root
cause of the problem. After the fix, the company uses the information found to prevent future
problems in other machines. Corrective maintenance is also known as reactive maintenance. It is the least desirable method that involves fixing problems as they occur.

Reliability centered maintenance helps manufacturers develop a maintenance program for each
individual machine, using other maintenance strategies. One machine may require preventive
maintenance, while it is only cost effective to treat another machine proactively.
Equipment criticality ranking is a numeric system that rates the importance of the machinery by
parts availability, safety, cost, efficiency and other factors. This system is used in conjunction
with other methods to develop a maintenance schedule or plan.

The Primary Differences

Preventive, predictive and corrective maintenance are processes that the maintenance department use
in caring for the machinery. Equipment criticality and reliability centered maintenance are tools used
to tailor the maintenance process to the plant and the machines in it. Plant managers used these tools
create their preventive, predictive and corrective maintenance schedules. Proactive maintenance is a
strategy used to combat chronic problems within a plant that persist despite the maintenance. Of the
maintenance systems, the corrective system is the one that plants try to evolve from. In fact, they look
to maintenance strategies, tools and processes after finding out just how risky corrective methods can
be.

Why Preventive Maintenance Dominates

Manufacturers don’t work well in risk, especially when it comes to their machines and equipment. The
consequences of working on a corrective or predictive basis are much too great. Machine replacement,
time lost to production shutdown, potential medical costs from injured workers are just some of the
risks. With preventive maintenance, the problems are most likely to be caught long before catastrophe
strikes. Some companies use other maintenance tools and strategies alongside the preventive
maintenance to fit their needs. Whatever the method, maintenance management strategies are a bit more intricate than ever. As

technology ramps up the replacement costs, and also increases the maintenance possibilities,
manufacturers will change their systems to adapt. That is most important.

Eagle Technologies Group is an industry leader in the design and implementation of factory automation systems worldwide.

Picking and packing is an area in most plants where automation has taken over. The barcoding systems,
conveyors and other machinery work together to ensure that orders are filled and shipped accurately
and on-time. However, many companies are still not using the their automated pick and pack systems
to the fullest of the system’s potential. In fact, the many errors that companies experience can be
avoided. Here are three common pick and pack errors that plants can avoid with the proper use of their
automation resources.

Misshipments

One of the best-known pick and pack errors are the misshipments. These are the wrong orders sent to
the wrong addresses that often result in a high level of returns. Miss-shipments occur when the pick
and pack automation system is fed the wrong information, when orders are improperly checked and
when packaged orders are mislabeled. To combat misshipments, plants should set up a system of order
checking that also has a means of verifying the checked orders. Order checking is the most important
defense against misshipment. The packer doing the final check on the order often does so manually.
However, an automated system that produces an accurate checklist can solve this simple problem
before it becomes an expensive error.

Bad Inventory Counts

When items are picked, the pickers are supposed to log the inventory as being packaged and shipped.
The company has already recorded the sale of the item, but that is not enough. Until the inventory
notation is made, the item is still in the system as being present, unsold. This can skew the final
inventory numbers. To prevent the mistake, a barcoding system, using hand-held equipment is the key
to correcting this error. Handheld scanners used by pickers whenever they take an item for a shipment.
Actually, barcoding systems are not new to the pick and pack, but they are often underutilized. Using
them properly is the best way to combat bad inventory counts.

Misuse of Technology

The barcoding, conveyor sorting and automated packing machinery is best used to make the pick and
pack sector of the plant the most efficient that it can be. However, when these tools are misused, they
can make simple errors costly ones. Barcoding systems, for example, work only when the barcodes
are scanned, and quantities input properly, each time an item is picked. Miss a scan and the inventory
numbers are incorrect. A proper review or inspection of the shipping sector should root out improper
use.

The seemingly simple errors in shipping product can quickly escalate to expensive shipping problems
if left unresolved. Companies should evaluate their shipping sectors to get rid of these and other errors
that threaten to derail the efficiency required of a successful shipping department.

Eagle Technologies Group is an industry leader in the design and implementation of factory automation systems worldwide.

The manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy is comprised of 18 industries. Each industry is
responsible for manufacturing the goods used in households and businesses daily. One industry
that has attracted recent scrutiny is the high-tech manufacturing industry. Despite the news of new
developments and rivals amongst manufacturers in this industry, many people still remain unsure of
what high-tech manufacturing actually is. Fortunately, the explanation is quite simply once you look at
the products, processes and other aspects of the industry.

Products Manufactured
High-tech manufacturing focuses on technology. It includes the manufacturing of personal and
commercial computer products. The companies that work in the sector also manufactures the elements
that make the computers run, including fiber optics cables, electron tubes, circuit boards, capacitors
and more. Part of the industry is geared toward creating the equipment used to manufacture the high-
tech goods as well. The machinery used to fabricate and build the computers, circuit boards, etc. are
manufactured by high-tech manufacturers in the same industry.

Processes Used

Companies in the high-tech manufacturing industry use much of the same processes that other do.
They rely on the forming, casting, molding and machining that other industries use to make products.
Extensive laser engineering is utilized, along with manual work on some of the more delicate details.
Part of the high-tech manufacturing industry creates the circuits, chips and tools to be used in other
goods manufactured in other sectors. Such goods forgo the extensive assembly processes.

Special Considerations

A great deal of the parts used in high-tech manufacturing is imported from companies in other
countries who can create the parts needed at a much lower price. For these reasons, some of the
companies that manufacture personal electronics, for example, have assembly as their primary process,
using the imported parts. There are still some parts of the industry that uses raw materials to make parts
here in the U.S. That is where the casting processes are utilized.

High-tech manufacturing is charged with creating the technology that the world has come to depend
on. It is rapidly growing and changing, as innovation and new technology drives this industry more
than others in the manufacturing sector. It is also the industry that is probably most dependent on global
relationships in order to keep the cost of goods low enough for customers to manage. Understanding
this industry is important for the consumers of the high-tech goods and and their parts.