Heat treating automation leads to advanced tracking system.Aided by computers, automation in manufacturing has grown significantly in the last several years. However, heat treating was left behind because automation systems could not stand up to the heat and heavy industrial environment. In the last few years, new technologies have addressed some of the problems of automating heat treating, and in 2002, Alfe Heat Treating, Ft. Wayne, Ind., built a facility in Defiance, Ohio
Defiance is a city located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, in Defiance County, about 55 miles southwest of Toledo. The population was 16,465 at the 2000 census. , that would utilize "industrial tough" automation systems, which operate the entire heat treating process from loading trays through furnace furnace, enclosed space for the burning of fuel. There are many kinds of furnaces, the type depending upon the fuel and the use to which the heat produced within it is put. Most familiar are the furnaces used in the heating of buildings. operation, quench quench, v to cool a hot object rapidly by plunging it into water or oil. quench to put out, extinguish, or suppress; to cool (as hot metal) by immersing in water. systems and final inspection. But even with full automation, parts tracking was still performed manually. When a customer requested a report on a specific batch of parts for quality control reasons, it became a major undertaking. Alfe Systems, a facility within the Alfe organization that designs, manufactures, implements and services continuous and batch-style heat treating furnaces, was assigned the task of incorporating the Defiance Defiance, city (1990 pop. 16,768), seat of Defiance co., NW Ohio, at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers, in a farm area; settled 1790, inc. 1836. Its manufactures include machinery and food, fabricated-metal, and glass products. Gen. facility's automation into the design of a tracking system. The resultant automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. Batch Trax computer system provides comprehensive electronic furnace cycle data and traceability for every container of heat treated parts that enters the facility. As each part enters the facility, it is bar coded with a ceramic tag for identification. The system is used to track all parts throughout the entire heat treating process for quality control, and it creates a historical data report for each and every container, recording how and when each piece was treated. Alfe customers receive complete, real-time details of each step in the heat treating process for any individual part. "Reports that once cost tremendous manual hours are now compiled quickly and easily," said Doug Caswell, quality manager of Alfe's Defiance division. "It gives us a great deal of accountability and our clients a complete level of comfort with our capabilities." The computerized computerized adapted for analysis, storage and retrieval on a computer. computerized axial tomography see computed tomography. system also provides Alfe with greater control. Any problems throughout the process are mistake proofed through a series of alarms built into the automated system. Individual parts then can be identified and separated as needed as needed prn. See prn order. . Alfe Heat Treating and Alfe Systems plan to install Batch Trax technology throughout their other facilities. |
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