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Product Technik News
Product Technik are to present to an Adcom seminar in Leeds on the uses and opportunities for woven materials in advanced composites. Topics covered will include the uses of woven materials and their universal popularity for automotive applications. In addition future requirements for woven materials and market opportunities will be discussed. auxeticmaterials.co.uk Product Technik announces the formation of auxeticmaterials.co.uk. This part of Product Technik will try to arrange for the supply of auxetic materials to inventors and SMEs for prototyping and development. This should enable inventors and innovators throughout the UK to develop products and applications using auxetic materials. Auxeticmaterials.co.uk builds on the long standing relationship between Auxetic Technologies Ltd and Product Technik . Dave Skertchly, Managing Consultant of Product Technik commented "This is an opportunity to move auxetics into the consumer market. It is natural for the high powered academics to concentrate on the underlying science and killer applications, we also want innovators and inventors throughout the UK to take up the challenge of bringing auxetic products and processes to market".
David Skertchly, Managing Consultant of Product Technik presented two Papers to the JEC workshops held at the Porte de Versailles Paris in Feb 2006. The keynote paper described the production of Class a body panels using resin infusion processes. Click here for a copy of the class A automotive bodywork infusion paper The new Freestream/Caparo T1 track day car has been developed by former McLaren Engineers Ben Geddes and Graham Halstead. Product Technik expertise in the area of composites productionisation is being used by to bring this exciting car to market. www.freestreamcars.co.uk
Above: Freestream/Capro T1 on its rollout at Farnham
Product Technik have been retained by Auxetic Technologies, a technology venture by the University of Bolton. Auxetic technologies are experts in a special class of materials which display auxetic properties. Whereas most materials shrink when stretched, auxetic materials expand when stretched.
Above: Left a normal material shrinks when stretched. Right: An auxetic material expands when stretched. This is counter intuitive! Product Technik are supplying composites application advice to this growing company. Look out for an article appearing in JEC Composite Magazine August Issue. Click here for the Auxetic Technologies web site
Automotive Composites Product Technik managing consultant Dave Skertchly was invited by the Indian Automotive Industry to present a keynote speech at a conference Delhi entitled "Composites and Engineered Polymers in Automobiles; for Fuel Economy Safety and Comfort". Subjects covered included the development of advanced composites and rapid cost down now being achieved with resin infusion technology. Dave was able to return to many of the subjects addressed in previous visits including the growing prospect of an Indian designed and produced technology demonstrator and the spin off from this technology, the much discussed composite Indy Bus project.
Above: Presenters at the conference Delhi entitled "Composites and Engineered Polymers in Automobiles; for Fuel Economy Safety and Comfort"
Product Technik have consolidated an existing long term agreement with an exclusive contract as Technical Manager. This will involve the implementation of many key Product Technik skills, each of which will play its part in implementing the Directors strategic vision of a £13M pa world class composites supplier.
Product Technik attended India Composites expo held at Hyderabad India. Product Technik was supported by Aerovac Systems, Advanced Composites Group, Lola Group, CTS and the Polymer Awarding body.
Above: The Product Technik stand at the India Composites Expo A report on the India Composites expo can be found at: Click here to download the Visit Report Feb 2005 (338Kb) Details of Product Technik India Projects can be found at Short Line Technology Product Technik are proud to announce Short Line Technology. Since the earliest days of advanced composites, factories have been laid out as process villages e.g. Pattern shop, mould shop, laminating shop and trim shop. As long ago as 1993 Product Technik split up the process villages into embryonic cells, driven by state of the art TOC algorithms and using time sliced shared resources. To this day they represent best practice for medium production volumes. Click here to download a full feature which describes Product Technik Short Line Technology. News Feed Product Technik have incorporated a News Feed into these news pages. Click Here or click Composites News in the margin.
In late November Product Technik Managing Consultant Dave Skertchly visited India as a guest of Composites Centre International . As well as giving lectures in Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai, Dave visited some 20 companies to review the possibility of forming production partnerships. Click here to view David Skertchly's report .
Value Stream Mapping workshops have long been a product Technik speciality. Walking the value stream and learning to see the flow through the factory is a well known and useful technique, practiced to great effect in a range of Product Technik workshops. Recent experience has demonstrated the difficulty of moving from the Value Stream Map to a balanced flow. Just how do you balance a wildly fluctuating factory? Product Technik have just started a third implementation of a live line balancing procedure and this time the results are being fully evaluated for a future one day workshop. Above: The starting point, this line fails to make deliveries. The balance shows that some parts have over 500% complete while others have hardly started.
Product Technik have developed a new slant on the old technique of time study. Using time study skills and careful observation, the duration of tasks and the occurrence of the 7 wastes during production are noted. When integrated into the value stream map the outcomes yield an instant "improvement list" which can be driven to completion using Standard Action Forms.
Above: Time Studies were prepared for the critical Final Test process at LDS Click here for more on Time Study
A recent contract for over 400 off road vehicles has prompted long time customer Automotive Technik to develop integrated test and inspection techniques. Data is collected from the line and from track test results. The test procedures were fully reviewed and web based bar codes used to collect data on line.
Above: Pinzgauer off road vehicle at speed over the Pave, part of the integrated test techniques developed by Product Technik
On Thursday 12th February Dave Skertchly, (Managing Consultant of Product Technik and former Production Director of McLaren Composites) gave the first of 2 presentations entitled "How Lean Techniques were a key factor in producing the worlds first and fastest carbon fibre car".
These presentations were commissioned by Business Link Wessex and describe how the McLaren F1 super-car bodywork was produced using Lean disciplines which are directly applicable to small and medium enterprises. The talk is copiously illustrated with unique video clips, personal anecdotes and provides an inside view of this remarkable project. This talk is now offered as a keynote address and can be extended to include the inside story of the remarkable McLaren whitewash at Le-Mans in 1995.
During periods of rapid change pressure on the workforce can often increase. Product Technik can now provide access to a world class Human Resources capability supplied by Morlan Gil Human Resources Ltd. Morlan Gil consultant Jim Gilhooley has 30 years experience at the cutting edge of HR practice and offers "Commercial understanding with integrity". Contact Jim via Product Technik or direct at morlangilhr@ntworld.com
Product Technik have delivered the first entry level resin infusion training course to client Aerovac Systems of Keighley in Yorkshire UK.
Above: Aerovac Customers "get their hands dirty" using 3 different methods of vacuum bagging The training course is targeted at Aerovac customer's senior and first line managers and is intended to provide them with a feel for the process. This will better enable them to manage the change in technology that their companies will be faced with in the next 5 years, as a result of increasing environmental and health and safety demands and customer demands for higher technology and improved component performance. The course and demonstrations were developed with Aerovac engineers from the UK and France. Course notes are presented on an interactive CD. Embedded video provides on line demonstration of the processes.
Contact: sales@aerovac.com Web site: www.aerovac.com
The obvious and long term relationship with Guildford based manufacturers of the Pinzgauer military off road vehicle, Automotive Technik, continued with the recent implementation of a new Quality Management System. This was designed form scratch to be compliant with the new ISO9001/2000 standard. Working with the ATL Quality Manager, procedures were re-written and approved before the new programme went on line at 2 sites simultaneously at the end of March. A regime of over 28 internal audits was then carried out and 167 improvements incorporated to refine the procedures and bring the practice and procedures fully in line with the requirements of the standard.
Above: Typical ATL web based Quality System Page Features of the system include Quality Forms online and links to process specific transmission, body in white and trim line web based process control systems. The system was audited by NQA on 22nd May 2003 and received immediate approval. |
Seminar
JEC Papers
Automotive
Auxetic Materials
India Composites Expo
Making it Happen
Time Tables
Lean Manufacturing Seminar
Human Resources
Resin Infusion Training
