The economic climate in North America has continued to worsen. The current economic situation was increasingly assessed as unfavourable. The expectations for the next six months are less confident than in the third quarter but remain in positive territory. In Asia, the economic climate indicator has fallen further and is now also below its long-term average. The expectations for the next six months have deteriorated even more than the situation component. In Western Europe, the economic climate has worsened; mainly because of the significantly more negative outlook.

The inflation estimate for all of 2011 remains at 4.0% on a global average. The majority of WES experts expect unchanged interest rates over the course of the next six months. In the opinion of the WES experts, the euro is overvalued and the yen somewhat more so. On a world-wide average, the exchange rate of the US dollar is expected to remain largely stable during the next six months.

Worldwide, “lack of confidence in the economic policies of their own country” is seen as the currently most important economic problem. In second and third place in the list of problems are “public budget deficits” and “unemployment”. The problem of “Inflation” fell worldwide from the second to the sixth place on the list.

They offer an economic alternative to conventional heat-transfer pumps that rely on costly, special seals. The Allheat series’ uncooled mechanical seal feature offers users a pump that is capable of performing under high temperatures with an extremely low initial investment and low maintenance costs. New Allheat centrifugal pumps are ideal for high-temperature heat transfer applications such as those encountered in solar installations and during ground decontamination. Available as base-plate, block and inline versions, Allheat pumps include a wide range of standardized parts that makes them economical to produce and simple to maintain.

Finally, a uniform combination of materials covers all pumped liquids. Allheat pumps are extremely versatile, another economic benefit. For example, if an operator decides to convert to modern synthetic oils, he can easily adapt existing pumps to the elevated requirements simply by replacing the insert units. The flexibility of using a single pump type with a variety of heat-transfer liquids should greatly simplify processes for operators and plant designers. “The Allheat series offers a unique, dependable design that results in lower total costs (TCO) than comparable systems,” said Stefan Kleinmann, Vice-President of the Industry Business Segment, Colfax Fluid Handling.

The robots will be used mainly for spot welding and material transportation on the car body assembly lines in both plants. Beginning at the end of 2011, a total of 500 industrial robots will be shipped to the two Ford plants in Europe under the terms of the blanket order signed in August 2011.

“We are pleased to have received this order from our longstanding, important automotive customer,” said Dr. Till Reuter, CEO of Kuka AG. “The order strengthens our position in our core market, Europe, and thus helps us expand our international business.”

Equipped with four-sided, positive inserts and high performance cutting materials, this tool is highly suited for economical roughing operations and the pre-finishing of tool forms. Thanks to the efficient and robust high-feed cutter geometry in some materials, a maximum feed per tooth (fz) of 2mm is possible at cut depth up to 1mm. According to the manufacturer, tool and mould makers should be especially pleased with the Tetra HF as it comes into its own in profile and copy milling with high chip volume and high feed rates.

The insert grades 5020 and 1130 can be used on a wide variety of materials. Grade 5020 consists of a fine grained substrate with a wear-resistant and tough PVD coating (TiAlN-TiN), which prevents the formation of hairline cracks. Besides machining steel and stainless steel, the universal tool material easily chews its way through temperature-resistant alloys and titanium. For spheroidal graphite iron and cast iron, 1130, the temperature-resistant CVD coating (TiCN-Al2O3),  is especially tough and prevents pitting.

The new 21BV series is intended for use in mobile power generators, mobile emergency power systems, event cabling, production test facilities and other applications where copper conductors need to be connected and/or contact needs to be made between conductor and panel receptacle.

An innovative, smart bayonet locking system simplifies the handling. The 21BV may easily be assembled without special tools and is IP2X touch protected in unmated condition. Thanks to high protection against dust and water ingress (IP65 and IP68) and temperature resistance up to 120°C, it is well suited for outdoor applications. The MC Multilam Technology ensures low contact resistance and enables high mating cycles.

figure: New round connector 21BV, photo by: Multi-Contact

“Suppliers play an active role in the development of electric mobility. With innovations and future-oriented products, they make an important contribution to progress and securing the future, which are always associated with considerable investments”, says Prof. Peter Gutzmer, Member of the Board of Management and Chief Technology Officer at Schaeffler. “With the eMobility Systems Division we are also creating structures at an international level that will enable us to cover this important field in its entirety.”

The eMobility Systems Division will initially provide jobs for 300 employees. Development capacities at Schaeffler’s locations in Herzogenaurach, Bühl and Suhl will be expanded accordingly. Activities relating to electric mobility will also be increased at Schaeffler’s development locations in China and North America. Schaeffler is searching for engineers with qualifications in technical subjects, natural scientists and industrial engineers.

The product range already includes numerous solutions relating to electric mobility. The range extends from sensor bottom brackets for so-called pedelecs, start-stop solutions and hybrid clutches right up to electric drives. Schaeffler has made a name for itself, for example, with the hybrid solutions presented in the “car full of ideas”, the Schaeffler Hybrid, and the wheel hub drive eWheel Drive, as well as the eDifferenzial presented in the concept vehicle ACTIVeDRIVE. The product range is rounded out by special bearing solutions in the renewable energy sector.

On a worldwide basis, Fujitsu is one of SAP’s technology partners offering a platform configuration certified by SAP to run SAP HANA. By adopting SAP HANA, an in-memory appliance, enterprises can benefit from dramatic increases in data processing speed and real-time information analysis.

Fujitsu is also establishing a new Global Demo Center in support of SAP HANA. This center will provide real-world scenarios that demonstrate how the use of SAP HANA improves an organization’s ability for real-time decision making by analyzing masses of data within server memory instead of depending on disk-based systems. The Fujitsu Global Demo Center, located in Neckarsulm, Germany, can be accessed remotely from anywhere in the world.

Fujitsu has also successfully supported one of the first major implementations of SAP HANA in the operational environment of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.  Mr. Toru Nakajima, Associate Officer and General Manager of Information Technology Promotion Division, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. commented: «To promote the growth of Mitsui’s businesses, it is essential to have an IT platform that flexibly adapts to change and supports rapid decision making. The objectives of SAP HANA align with these needs. We greatly value Fujitsu’s early leadership in support of SAP HANA as well as Fujitsu’s capabilities in providing global support for our IT platforms, and we intend to continue to work with Fujitsu in this area in the future. With the global cooperation from the team at Fujitsu, we have already begun implementing this technology, and look forward to continuing to work with Fujitsu to achieve our mutual objectives.»

“Four key themes emerged this year among the leaders, including how they deal with volatility, their approaches to value chain network integration, their focus on sustainable execution and their abilities to orchestrate,” said Debra Hofman, Research Vice President at Gartner.

Gartner analysts said one of the trends they’ve seen over the last several years is a move from the notion of “supply chain” to “value chain” and a concomitant increase in the span of control of the supply chain organisation.

“The old image of a supply chain organisation limited to either inbound materials management or logistics, with procurement, planning, manufacturing, and customer service as totally separate functions, is fading,” Ms Hofman said. “What’s replacing it is a supply chain organisation, often reporting at the board level, that includes the functions of plan, source, make and deliver. It also increasingly includes functions such as customer service and new product launch, and links them through the cross-functional processes and roles that are so critical to being demand-driven. The consumer-oriented companies, with their need to renew product lines constantly and their appetite for downstream data, have led the way in this change, which may at least partially explain the steady drift away from industrial companies making the list.”

Apple held onto the No. 1 position for the fourth year in a row. The company continued to post strong financials and top-of-the-line voting scores. Research In Motion, which was new to the list last year, rose to No. 4 this year with enviable financials and solid votes. Amazon, another newcomer last year, rose five spots to No. 5 in the 2011 ranking. Colgate-Palmolive, rising steadily since 2009, moved to No. 13 this year.

The leaders took some very clear lessons from the events of the past couple of years, with one of them being the need for supply chain resilience: the ability to deliver predictable results, despite the volatility that many have pointed out is now here to stay. Gartner analysts said speed, agility, efficiency, responsiveness and innovation all remain critical, but equally important is a resilient supply chain. Companies like Cisco, Dow Chemical, RIM, Unilever and others are actively designing in structures, processes and methodologies to create and expand this resiliency not only in their own supply chains, but in those of their trading partners, as well.

Gartner analysts said they see companies such as Samsung, which have always been vertically integrated, weathering the ups and downs through ownership of supply, and others like The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo becoming more vertically integrated with the acquisition of their largest bottlers. On the other hand, companies such as Microsoft and Cisco are managing an extensively outsourced network of trading partners. “The key isn’t whether a company owns all the pieces of its network – it’s how well it controls the outcome of the activities that take place in the network that end in the delivery of a final product to a customer,” Ms Hofman said.

Industry leaders are setting their sights beyond the articulation of a clear vision to the need for sustainable execution against that vision. These companies understand that, although a long-term supply chain vision is critical to communicate future value, the ability to replicate, scale and continually build on best practices across the organisation in a sustainable way – going beyond a one-time success or pockets of excellence – is just as critical.

“The leaders have been moving steadily up the demand-driven maturity curve over the last several years,” Ms Hofman said. “What differentiates the companies that are true ‘orchestrators’ is that they go beyond simply borrowing and adapting others’ best practices. They create new ones altogether, often defying ‘conventional wisdom’ to rewrite the rules and increase the gap between themselves and others.”

More detailed analysis is available in the report “The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2011″, on Gartner’s website at www.gartner.com. Analysts will discuss supply chain discipline at the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference 2011, 14-15 September, London.

The PIC 700 material is based on bismuth sodium titanat and is produced as a block by pressing technology. The piezoelectric characteristics are promising: PIC 700 has a high coupling factor for the flexural vibration and is thus suitable as an ultrasonic transducer in the MHz range and also for sonar and hydrophone applications. The maximum operating temperature is 200°C. PI Ceramic is currently investigating technologies to reliably manufacture lead-free ceramic components in series production.

Figure: PIC 700 Material, photo PI Ceramic (PIC)

Material pairings require new joining processes

With these material pairings, conventional fastening techniques such as resistance welding are extremely impractical and have to be achieved by other joining processes. Fasteners such as rivets are experiencing a revival, where access to the fastening point is possible from both sides. If access from both sides is not possible, an alternative fastening process is required. In such situations, screw fastenings made with flowform screws come to the fore as the solution to the problem. Flowform screws create a very high-strength fastening and form a process-reliable joint for different types of sheet metal. In industrial robotic manufacturing processes, these modern fasteners are placed by automated screwdriving systems. This is a market where Deprag, a supplier of fastening technology, is currently providing some up-to-date developments.

The new Deprag system is recommended principally due its ability to adjust flexibly in places where space is very tight. Sales Manager Jürgen Hierold points out: “Robot screwdrivers are specially designed to deal with situations where space is limited. By using a 1:1 ratio offset gear to offset the drive motor and screwdriving axis to the side, the screwdriving system can address screw positions located as little as 14 millimetres away from an obstacle!” The screw module can turn in any direction, to be deployed in any position. Established product lines such as hand-held screwdrivers, screwdriving stations and assembly systems form the basis of the new flowform screwdriving system.

What happens when a flowform fastening is made?

There are six steps involved in inserting these special screws. A flowform screw is positioned onto the aluminium or steel sheet, which has not been pre-drilled, and the screwdriving process begins. The screw is applied with a high down-force, and rotates at high speed, generating a high level of friction heat, which first of all forms a “crater”. As it goes through the sheet metal the screw creates a “through-funnel”, which allows the forming of a multiple thread at reduced pressure. This produces a machine thread which can also accept a “normal” screw in the event that a repair is required. Once the thread has been formed, the speed reduces and the screw is tightened to preliminary torque values. The final fastening is then tightened to the pre-configured torque and angle parameters. The entire process generally takes less than 2 seconds. Additional fastener elements such as nuts or bolts are not required, because the screw’s through-hole and thread are optimally adapted at assembly. The screw “sits” correctly. There is no need to pre-drill or punch the component.

Flowform fasteners have now become an established technique used by car body engineers in the automotive industry. In automotive plants, robot-supported screwdriving systems process component after component. Depending on the design, several hundred screws will be inserted into some larger vehicles. On long robot assembly lines the routes from the screw feeder system to the screwdriver can often be a hindrance to fast cycle times. Sales Manager Jürgen Hierold points out another advantage offered by DEPRAG’s latest innovation: “there are always two flowform screws in the screwdriver system. While the first is being fastened, the next one is fed through and ready in the waiting position behind the nosepiece. This reduces the time taken to refill the system and it can only contribute to improved cycle times.” The fastener to be inserted is held in position by a holding and positioning device, which opens under pneumatic control. A sensor monitors the “finding” process, in order to ensure connection between the driving tool and the screw’s drive. The holding device opens as soon as the screw has penetrated through the sheet metal.

The new DEPRAG screwdriving system can be adapted to flowform screws from all well-known suppliers. For the spindle drive motor, the designers used the tried and tested EC motor from the MINIMAT and MICROMAT range with a rev speed of 6,000 rpm and torque of 15 Nm. An air cylinder provides the forward feed for the screwdriver’s connection with the fastener. A proportional valve controls the air cylinder. The down-force for the screw process (max 2,500 N) is also regulated by an air cylinder with a proportional valve. The 1:1 ratio lateral offset of the EC motor gear keeps the screwdriver structure slim, and is why it can be deployed even where space is very limited. A strain gauge transducer at the motor spindle controls the torque.

Digital Position Sensor

A digital position sensor monitors each step of the joining process. As the fastener approaches and is positioned to the car body, the sensor system in the mouthpiece and the Deprag screwdriver stroke compares the “is” status against a configured reference value. If the parts geometry does not match the “should” value, for example because the car body has flexed, the screwdriver process and the torque parameters selected automatically adjust to the relevant screw environment. An enable signal is emitted to start the screwing process. Finally, the last step is to check the condition of the joining process. The parameters associated with a screw fastening – speed, down-force, torque and angle – are separately analysed, compared against the specified values and, provided they are within the tolerances, confirmed with an “OK message”.

Parameterising the various process steps for flowform fastenings is particularly tricky. While during the heating and flow phases, the system works at maximum down-force and a high revolution rate, when it comes to the thread-forming process, the speed and down-force reduce. The speed and down-force reduce once again for the steps involving preliminary tightening and final torque. The AST32 process control software used to control these steps of the process is based on the standards used in the sensor-controlled Deprag EC-Servo screwdriver. Jürgen Hierold points out: “This software is trusted and well-established. It is recognised as being particularly user-friendly in operation, and it is easy to configure the complex flowform screwing process.” The automation specialist is offering an additional component in its DPU system control unit (Deprag Process Unit) with operator-friendly standard software, as well as appropriate screw feeders.

Figure: Deprag system for flowform fastenings (photo by Deprag)