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Eliminating Hazards with Safety-Focused Engineering: 5 Questions Every Engineer Must Ask When Designing Automated Equipment
Written By: Scott Dailey
October 27th, 2011
As a design engineer, safety tends to be an afterthought. Guards and safety lockouts are usually considered after all of the design requirements are met. In some instances, safety isn’t addressed until the equipment is built and undergoes testing.
Taking this approach can lead to equipment redesign if simple guarding isn’t good enough. Below are 5 simple questions to ask yourself the next time you design a piece of equipment to ensure a safe and effective product…
Low Cost Sortation Equipment Doesn’t Have to Mean Low Throughput
Written By: Nate Richter
September 20th, 2011
When it comes to automating product sortation, businesses have many types of equipment they could invest in to meet their requirements–some simple, some much more complicated.
With all the options, conveyor system designers often get caught up in using complex equipment when a more basic, lower cost option might be better suited for the challenge.
Decline Accumulation Conveyor: The Holy Grail of Material Handling
Written By: Britt Calloway
August 31st, 2011
Obtaining cost effective, belted accumulation on a decline is one of the holy grails of material handling systems. In systems that have a sorter before shipping lanes, accumulation provides buffer to the shipping lane, and the decline allows for a smaller accumulation footprint.
This is also true for declines that feed box toppers, shipping labels, or some other important process that requires singulation and product buffer. Once the decline angle and product weight require belted accumulation, the options to the system integration engineer narrow and become expensive.
Identify Business Strengths and Weaknesses with This Easy, Team-Building Activity
Written By: Associate Authors
August 18th, 2011
Here is a great exercise that you can use for your next strategy or team building meeting. We developed this idea when trying to come up with a new way to do a company SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Below you will see an overview of how to run an interactive session with your team or business.
The Power of Cubic Functions for Engineers
Written By: Britt Calloway
August 5th, 2011
In the master’s classes in which I am currently enrolled, cubic polynomials continue to re-emerge as a useful tool. In robotics systems, the cubic polynomial is a useful function for calculating trajectories for robotic manipulators.
In design optimization methods, it is used to find the minimum or maximum of an unknown two-dimensional analytical function while only knowing the function evaluation to four dispersed points. However, for the purpose of this article, I would like to discuss the benefits of using cubic polynomials in trajectory calculations.
Magic Rollers for Conveying Fragile Product
Written By: Matt Carson
July 21st, 2011
Today, many products being handled are not designed to be impacted with an aluminum pusher face at 200 feet per minute. While pushers and plows can effectively sort, divert, and position product, it is not ideal for fragile product.
A growing trend solving this issue is known as a “touchless” divert, which is a conveyor that does not divert by applying a force to the sides of the product, but instead, changes the relative direction of the conveyor.
How to Efficiently Design a “Same…But Different” Product
Written By: Jill Daniel
July 7th, 2011
In the world of custom material handling equipment we, at Blue Arc Engineering, spend the majority of our time designing and manufacturing “same but different” products. This has become quite an affable catchphrase in our line of work. After engineering and building a project from beginning to end, customers come back to us wanting, “exactly what they had before, but…” So as an engineering team, we have to find the most productive way possible to re-use the information we have while modifying it quickly.
It’s hot in here! Developing Automation for Extreme Environments
Written By: Associate Authors
June 29th, 2011
With the right talent, experience, and tools, the sky is the limit when it comes to solving new engineering problems. Lately much of our research and development has been related to developing custom solutions for very specialized extreme environments.
In the past, our equipment has been able to withstand heavy loads, abrasive materials, explosion prone areas, and wash down. However, today, the equipment we design is being tasked to not only survive, but thrive in extreme heats in excess of 2,000 degrees F, as well as high level vacuum.
11 Steps to Starting Your Own Company
Written By: Jason Effing
June 26th, 2011
With the current economy, it’s easy to get caught up in all of the negative media and doom and gloom, but even with the dynamics of our economy, there are great opportunities for new business start-ups.
Many of us have new business ideas floating around in our head, sometimes for years before putting any serious thought into it. Then one day someone or something spurs us to take it to the next step — what would it take to make this idea reality?