Machine Shop Services for the Food Processing Industry

                                                    Quality assurance and quality control are definitive requirements when it comes to food processing industry machines and replacement parts. Some of the most common equipment involved in food processing include bottling and canning machines, automatic bottling lines and semi-auto bottling machines. An assembly line manufacturer in the food processing industry makes use of these and other equipment. Companies in this industry handle an enormous amount of food on daily basis, at the same time requiring to remain highly efficient and observe strictly all sanitary regulations. For this reason, quality food processor parts are an absolute necessity when it comes to food processing equipment.

Machine shop services for food processing industry include production of assembly line equipment parts and custom food processor parts, reverse engineering, replacement parts, and repair & maintenance. Some of the key processes and technologies involved are CNC milling, production sawing, waterjet cutting, stainless steel fabrication, etc. Most quality machine shops offering their services to the industry would satisfy ISO 9001:2008 quality system specifications. Many would also use a special humidity- and temperature-controlled quality lab for their food production sector jobs.

Materials also play a very important role when it comes to manufacturing of food processor parts. Many parts require corrosion and abrasion resistant materials. Some of the common types of stainless steels used in this sector to manufacture burr-free parts include the precipitation-hardening variety of stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel and austenitic stainless steel. The common parts manufactured for this sector come with a variety of applications, as consumable parts, repair parts and custom parts.

Machine shops specializing in this sector also require to be able to come up with innovative solutions for purposes of increasing efficiency and reducing maintenance costs. The amount of daily production means a lot to an assembly line manufacturer in a food production plant. So, repair and replacement need to be finished in the shortest possible time so the daily production activity of the plant is not hampered. Many shops currently use abrasive waterjet cutting to cut down on lead times as well as developed CNC programming for quick adaptation of processes to complex shapes and small parts runs. Waterjet cutting is particularly beneficial for food production parts since it generates the minimum of airborne pollutants and does not require any secondary removal since it does not produce any slag.

As way of an example, a machine shop with waterjet cutting facilities can cut to needed shape a 304 austenitic stainless steel plate, required for many food processing assembly jobs, all by themselves. The technology allows to program, load and cut the plate to the desired shape in a matter of 20-25 minutes. In addition, the precision of the process makes unnecessary any secondary drilling operations, since it is able to drill holes to prescribed size quite accurately at the first go. These are some of the processes and technologies used by a machine shop (catering to food processing industry) to increase efficiency n the production of assembly line equipment parts iand offer optimal value to their customers.

Print Press Machine Shop Services: Repair Parts, Replacement, Maintenance

                                                    A print press machine shop looks after the printing industry's manufacturing needs, maintenance requirements, printing press parts including replacement parts, custom parts, etc. Repair parts for printing industry include accessories for the graphic arts sector and aftermarket replacement parts for offset and letterpress printing presses from all leading brands including Townsend, Davidson, Hamada, AB Dick, Gestetner, Chief, Multilith and others. All quality machine shops catering to the printing industry will use latest CNC/CAD technologies to build the parts and the parts will meet and often exceed OEM quality. Apart from the replacement parts, many shops will also offer a complete range of accessories which include dampening units, rollers, chemicals, inks, infrared dyers, powder spray, rebuild kits, etc.

Repair parts

The most common printing press repair parts include gripper bars, wash-up blades, suckers, water bottle valve/cap for 1- and 2-color presses, rollers and roller kits for different models. Some printing press machine shop facilities, for example, offer roller kits for Presstek, Heidelberg, Kodak and Ryobi models. The kits will typically include one doctor roller, and a number of distributor rollers and form rollers. Roller kits often come handy as a cost-saving option than if one went for individual items. Dealers in repair parts will also offer bindery and other related pressroom equipment such as paper cutters, sprayers and dryers, paper drills, folders, corner rounders, etc.

Print press machine shop services

However, all dealers in printing press equipment may not offer all the services provided by a machine shop specializing in printing press parts manufacture, repair and maintenance, replacement as well as reverse engineering. The key processes involved in machine shop services associated with printing press include, grinding, turning, milling, press work and welding.

On-site cylinder repair services are a crucial activity for any machine shop serving the print industry. On-site repair generally takes care of issues like repair of cylinders suffering damage due to low spots, cave ins; honing and line-boring of side frames, etc. In-house services, on the other hand, cover areas such as welding and machining of journals to return them back to their original dimensions; sleeving back the journals and metal spraying them; rebuilding of O.D. s with Chrome or metal spraying; preloading bearings; manufacturing and installing bearers; welding and milling gaps to factory specifications; etc. Some of the key sectors served in the printing press industry include web press printers, food service packaging, medical packaging, industrial packaging, agriculture packaging, sheet fed printers, etc.

Turnaround time for the jobs differ according to the nature of the task. Most repair works save rollers and cylinders are done in 1-2 days. Full cylinder rebuilds, however, takes 2-3 weeks whereas roller rebuild and repair works typically take 1-2 weeks. On-site cylinder repair can be done in a matter of few hours if the damage is not too severe.

Medical Equipment Parts Manufacturing: Sectors, Processes & Technologies

           Medical equipment industry covers instruments, implants and equipment for diagnostics, monitoring, therapeutics. These include surgical instruments, implantable monitors for diabetic and cardiac care and knee replacements and hip implants and other reconstructive devices. A medical equipment manufacturer may cater to all these sectors or may limit their activities to one or more medical industry sectors. For any machine shop, medical equipment parts manufacturing is challenging on many counts. All instruments manufactured for the industry must meet the strict specifications laid out for that piece or group of equipment. Medical parts manufacturing also very commonly involve high degree of custom and precision machining, product development for metal parts, prototyping & testing and a good deal of micromachining and micromanufacturing. For this reason, clients will only team up with machine shops and medical instrument makers who already have proven capabilities in medical device manufacturing.

Industry Sectors

Surgical Instruments; This is one of the largest sectors in the medical equipment industry. Surgical robotics, sutures, dilators are among the most common equipment manufactured by a surgical instrument manufacturer. Key technologies for a surgical instrument manufacturer include surface treatments, micromachining and materials.

Orthopedics; This is another major sector and many a medical instrument maker will specialize in devices such as arthroscopy, spinal implants, knee replacements and hip implants, orthobiologicals and other reconstructive devices. Processes such as casting, grinding, machining, rapid manufacturing, metal injection molding and polishing are central to this sector.

Dental Instruments; This is one of the fastest growing sectors in the industry with accelerating demands for drills, implants, imaging equipment and other instruments. 3D imaging, additive manufacturing and machining are some of the key technologies used in this sector.

Cardiovascular Devices; This sector includes drug sents, defibrillators and pacemakers and the key manufacturing processes include assembly, micromolding and power sources.

Diagnostic Apparatus; Examples of this sector include magnetic and ultrasound resonance instruments, endoscopic devices, etc. A highly competitive sector, the key technologies involved here are micromanufacturing, IT and imaging.

Apart from the above, there are also other important sectors in the medical device industry and they include diabetes devices, internal fixation devices, blood transfusion equipment, urology devices, neuromodulation devices and more.

Processes & Technologies

The highly regulated environment as well as the constantly evolving character of the medical equipment industry means that the medical equipment manufacturer, in order to maintain his competitive edge, must be familiar with the most up-to-date technologies, processes and methods relevant to his field of specialty. Some of the key processes and technologies involved in medical equipment manufacturing include 3D imaging, 3D printing, additive manufacturing, measurement & inspection, quality systems, surface & coating treatments, micromanufacturing, laser and assembly. For biocompatibility reasons, materials also present some unique challenges to the medical instrument maker.