If you think that manufacturing looks like this it is time to take another look. Quantum POP found out at our recent visit to WESTEC, that in modern manufacturing, getting efficient means getting green.
Not too long ago manufacturing was a dirty business, but more and more the emphasis is on going green. In this article we are mostly talking about the cutting of parts and pieces used to make the stuff everyone wants and everyone uses and how in a growing number of manufacturing applications there is very little to no waste and pollution.
In the olden days, when smokestacks reached to the skies, there was a lot of waste in the process of cutting and routing and drilling of parts and pieces out of metal. Piles of scrap everywhere with oils and sludge running out of pipes that often went into the landfill or sewer or areas set aside around the manufacturing plant to dump pollutants. Today however more and more of this waste is either designed out of the manufacturing process or recycles and used over and over. The result is greener and more efficient than even 10 years ago and is still improving.
Waste is a primary culprit when it comes to pollution. but today thanks to CNC which stands for computer numeric control manufacturing techniques, much of the scrap in metal processing is eliminated from the moment the designer puts a pencil to paper or in the case of our modern CAD, CNC applications mouse to screen.
Take sheet metal manufacturing for example. In the graphic above we see a piece of sheet metal which has been mapped out for cutting by a terrific new nesting program from our friends at Solidworks which as of this writing is the leading innovator in CAD, ( Computer Aided Design) software. There are several different sizes and shapes of parts ready to be cut out of this piece of sheet metal, and so perfectly are they mapped out here, that the edge of the sheet metal is used to form many of the parts. The result is very little scrap metal waste from each piece of sheet metal used. If the parts represented are form different products they can be labeled by the machines during fabrication for easy cataloging and storage.
Today the remaining scrap metal can be recycled. Manufacturers may be doing a better job than consumers at this because it brings down the cost of production and is very practical in as much as most metal can be recycled without any loss of quality so there is always a buyer. Often the buyer is the manufacturer because the cost is competitive with metal freshly refined from ore. Also products that are made from recycled materials are often less expensive than products made from fresh materials.
One very toxic by-product of metal manufacturing in particular are the solvents and lubricants that are used to facilitate the meta part manufacturing. Solvents clean the parts and lubricants are used in the routing and drilling that is done using traditional metal or diamond bits. there is a lot of toxicity in the solvents and lubricants and the mess ends up in the cleaning bins or even the shop floor.
Separation Dynamics is doing something about that. They have this very green solution for filtering out the oils and toxic solvents used in metal part manufacturing that is so efficient that the water that remains after the separation process can be used over again so water is not wasted and in the case of mop water it even leaves the soap in it so you can mop the floor with it again and this process can be repeated over and over until the water evaporates. The solvents and lubricants separated out from this process can be recycled and re-used and that which is not reusable stored till the toxicity is no longer an ecological factor.
But wait it gets greener still. As it turns out there are a growing number of metal-cutting processes that do not require metal or diamond power cutting tools to manufacture state of the art, precision parts and pieces. In 1905 research started in the development of ceramic cutting tools and the technology is getting very good these days. these cutting tools use heat to cut through metal so there are no piles of curly metal scraps to clean up and there is no need to use lubricants to reduce friction.
***CLICK THE PICTURE TO WATCH VIDEO*** GREENLEAF MACHINING TOOLS, REQUIRE NO TOXIC ENVIRONMENTAL WASTE PRODUCING LUBRICANTS. THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE MADE FROM A CERAMIC MATERIAL. THIS IS A HIGH INTENSITY HEAT ABSORBING MATERIAL IT DOES NOT CUT THE STEEL WHICH RESULTS IN LEFT OVER METAL SCRAP. INSTEAD THE INTENSE HEAT ABSORBED BY THE FRICTION IN THE CONTACT OF THE CERAMIC WITH THE STEEL, MELTS THE STEEL PRODUCING A PRECISION EDGE. *CLICK THE PICTURE TO SEE THE VIDEO*
The Greenleaf Corporation is a pioneer in ceramics and is applying greener solutions to industrial applications all the time.
Last but not least in our Quantum POP overview of greener trends in manufacturing is the water jet technology. As you may have guessed, this technology uses water to cut precision parts. A thin high pressure stream of water to be exact. The water is mixed with an abrasive sand and cuts so precisely that it is becoming a standard method of parts manufacturing in the aero-space and medical industry where precision is the name of the game. No lubricant no scrap other than the left over metal that could not be used. the metal of course and also the water can all be recycled. The only drawback is the process is a bit slower than the other cutting methods already described here.
FLOW technology can cut with over 90,000 psi water pressure and ultra fine sandpaper sized grit. Waterjets cut a variety materials from food and paper, to ballistic materials and inconel.
That is because the water begins to freeze and turn into crystals as you reach 110,00 psi of pressure. But don’t worry they are working on it.
One more element in the green trend is the ability to take up much less space to accomplish the same amount of production. A small shop with several employees can now produce the same amount of goods with a few machines that once took dozens of machines and twice the space.
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