State Minister for Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Julian Robinson, has re-emphasised the Government’s commitment to energy diversification and conservation, noting that money saved on energy can be injected into the economy.
Speaking at a stakeholder workshop, hosted by the Ministry, in collaboration with Worldwatch Institute, at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on November 27, the State Minister told participants that, “we are committed to having 30 per cent of our energy mix from renewable sources by the year 2030."
“We are also examining other fuel sources…the LNG project is on the way; the government’s role has changed, but we are committed to having LNG in the country hopefully by 2015, and the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is building a 360 megawatt plant in Old Harbour.”
He further informed that the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) on November 26, issued a request for proposal for 115 megawatts of renewable energy, and that the first net billing customer has been connected.
Net billing allows JPS customers who own renewable energy generators, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic (solar) systems, to generate electricity for personal use, as well as sell excess energy to the light and power company at wholesale prices set by the OUR.
“We are also committed to conservation, and we have a project where we hope to achieve a 30 per cent cost savings in public sector energy conservation over a three-year period,” he stated, pointing out that as part of the project, there is an affirmative action policy in place for procurement, whereby any local company which has a bid that is within 15 per cent of an overseas company, will be awarded these contracts.
“We believe we must develop local capacity and we must develop the expertise to solve our own challenges here,” Mr. Robinson said, adding that, “if we are able to successfully adopt these strategies, we can bring the cost of electricity down significantly.”
Worldwatch is designing a low carbon energy roadmap for the Ministry, which will allow for better harnessing of renewable energy sources; provide solid socio-economic data; and provide recommendations that decision makers can execute to bring about a more sustainable energy future for the country.
A Washington DC-based globally focused environmental research organisation, Worldwatch helps to inform policymakers and the public about the complex links between the world economy and its environmental support systems. One of its main objectives is universal access to renewable energy.
Loyd showed that by flying a tethered wing back and forth across the wind, you could get considerably more power than you could from a kite that just hovered in one spot. According to Loyd’s calculations, if you used a wing as big as the one on a Lockheed C-5A military transport (68 meters long), you could, at least in principle, extract a few megawatts from a 10-meter-per-second wind. That’s comparable to what you might get from the biggest of modern wind turbines.
Loyd considered two ways to get electrical energy out of a tethered wing. One is to outfit the wing itself with propeller-like turbine blades that generate power as it zooms through the air. That power would then be sent down an electrically conductive tether. This is now known as the flying-generator, or “flygen,” approach. The other technique he considered was to exploit the force that the wing exerts on its tether to generate electricity using equipment on the ground.
Loyd’s analysis didn’t examine yet another possibility: to generate electricity using turbine blades that serve as both lifting surfaces and energy-harvesting devices. That’s the technique Australian engineer Bryan Roberts began experimenting with in 1979—something he calls a gyromill, which he continues to work on with California-based Sky Windpower.
2012年11月28日 星期三
2012年11月27日 星期二
GET Group Opens Washington, D.C. Office
Global Enterprise Technologies Corp., a provider of cutting-edge passport and ID systems globally, today announced the opening of its new office in Washington, D.C. The new location will support GET Group's growing passport and ID business with the federal government, as well as provide technical support and sales contact convenience for government agencies and their contractors. GET Group is the worldwide exclusive distributor of Toppan Printing Co. Ltd.'s cutting-edge security passport printing technology.
For nearly two decades, the United States' Department of State Passport Services has utilized GET/Toppan passport printing solutions. This experience complements GET Group's record of delivering highly-secure government IDs and passports worldwide. To more easily support GET Group's rapidly expanding business, the new Washington, D.C. office will provide opportunities for local printing demonstrations and enable on-demand delivery and maintenance for federal agencies with mission-critical identification and access control requirements that must be implemented with extremely quick turnaround times.
"For years, governments around the world have trusted GET Group to deliver the highest-quality, most secure identification printing technology available," said Alex Kambanis, president and CEO of Global Enterprise Technologies Corp. "Our new office in Washington, D.C. will make it easier to deliver the same level of service and support at an increased volume as demand for highly secure card printing solutions for government agency applications increases."
GET Group's printing technology is ideal for highly secure government environments, with security features that include a tamper-evident seal to protect against image or data alteration, as well as the ability to incorporate holograms, barcodes, micro-text, and other features to enhance security. The company's solutions are also trusted for mission-critical identification challenges in other high-security commercial environments, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, transportation, travel and leisure, higher education and campus security, and more.
Attendees of the 11th Annual Smart Card Alliance Government Conference in Washington, D.C. can learn more about the new office and also view GET Group's CP500 card printer, the eP600 passport printer, and the CLM-20 laser engraver by visiting booth 506.
Applied Laser Engineering delivered the 4.5m laser system to the company’s Dukinfield, Cheshire plant earlier in the month.
The anilox roller manufacturer brought in the 450,000 system to boost productivity in response to increased demand. Cheshire Anilox Technology mainly produces anilox rollers for use in flexographic presses but demand from Heidelberg and KBA litho machines has increased orders recently.
Cheshire Anilox Technology technical sales director Sonia Arcos said: "Litho presses used to use anilox rollers only for priming and varnishing but the release of the Anicolour, which uses eight anilox rollers, and the KBA 74 has meant that we have had higher demand from the offset market."
She expects that the manufacturers have opted for anilox rollers in the mentioned machines as it is easier to control the amount of ink being used and hence proves to be a cost effective method of printing.
Arcos predicted that the new system will boost capacity by 30% and enable the company to create "limitless" bespoke cell designs on the ceramic rollers.
For nearly two decades, the United States' Department of State Passport Services has utilized GET/Toppan passport printing solutions. This experience complements GET Group's record of delivering highly-secure government IDs and passports worldwide. To more easily support GET Group's rapidly expanding business, the new Washington, D.C. office will provide opportunities for local printing demonstrations and enable on-demand delivery and maintenance for federal agencies with mission-critical identification and access control requirements that must be implemented with extremely quick turnaround times.
"For years, governments around the world have trusted GET Group to deliver the highest-quality, most secure identification printing technology available," said Alex Kambanis, president and CEO of Global Enterprise Technologies Corp. "Our new office in Washington, D.C. will make it easier to deliver the same level of service and support at an increased volume as demand for highly secure card printing solutions for government agency applications increases."
GET Group's printing technology is ideal for highly secure government environments, with security features that include a tamper-evident seal to protect against image or data alteration, as well as the ability to incorporate holograms, barcodes, micro-text, and other features to enhance security. The company's solutions are also trusted for mission-critical identification challenges in other high-security commercial environments, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, transportation, travel and leisure, higher education and campus security, and more.
Attendees of the 11th Annual Smart Card Alliance Government Conference in Washington, D.C. can learn more about the new office and also view GET Group's CP500 card printer, the eP600 passport printer, and the CLM-20 laser engraver by visiting booth 506.
Applied Laser Engineering delivered the 4.5m laser system to the company’s Dukinfield, Cheshire plant earlier in the month.
The anilox roller manufacturer brought in the 450,000 system to boost productivity in response to increased demand. Cheshire Anilox Technology mainly produces anilox rollers for use in flexographic presses but demand from Heidelberg and KBA litho machines has increased orders recently.
Cheshire Anilox Technology technical sales director Sonia Arcos said: "Litho presses used to use anilox rollers only for priming and varnishing but the release of the Anicolour, which uses eight anilox rollers, and the KBA 74 has meant that we have had higher demand from the offset market."
She expects that the manufacturers have opted for anilox rollers in the mentioned machines as it is easier to control the amount of ink being used and hence proves to be a cost effective method of printing.
Arcos predicted that the new system will boost capacity by 30% and enable the company to create "limitless" bespoke cell designs on the ceramic rollers.
2012年11月26日 星期一
New firearms maker opens high-tech facility
When it comes to high-end weapons, there's a new company in town that's changing the way people think about rifles.
Founded in 2010, Proof Research of Kalispell specializes in creating lightweight, accurate weapons using carbon-fiber barrels and stocks unlike anything else on the market.
“Large gun manufacturers know we have the technology and we're being courted by some big names,” said Pat Rainey, chief executive officer of Proof Research. “We've changed the gun industry, just like the polymer pistol did. The cool factor of our weapons is off the page.”
While Proof Research may only be two years old, it is made up of four companies that have years of rifle-making experience, according to Rainey. Proof is actually a merger of Lone Wolf Riflestocks of Kalispell, Jense Fabrication of Missoula, ABS out of Lincoln, Neb., and Lawrence Rifle Barrels of Lewistown.
“Lots of people have tried to do this for many years,” Rainey said. “The idea of a carbon-fiber barrel has been around for 20 years. We're just the first to crack the code.”
Although only one of the core companies was from the Kalispell area, lead investor Mike Goguen said it made sense to locate Proof in the Flathead Valley.
“The Montana work ethic and quality is outstanding,” Goguen said. “When you look at firearms, so many of the parts in the best ones, the ones I really admire, come from Montana, from small, mom-and-pop places that maybe don't have the capital to go big. So it made sense to take advantage of that. There are a lot of really amazing craftsmen here, and we have the opportunity to bring them together.”
Goguen said he became involved in Proof while looking for a lightweight hunting rifle, and got more than he bargained for when his custom rifle was finished.
“I love Montana, I love hunting and guns, and I love technology and small businesses, and this checked all the boxes,” he said. “I was skeptical at first, but they built me a gun, and I fell in love with it and just had to be a part of what they were building.”
In addition to folding several manufacturers under the Proof umbrella, Goguen said the company still contracts out certain parts, such as trigger assembly and receivers, to local companies such as Defiance Machine.
Although the company had been producing weapons and courting larger contracts for the two years since its founding, Rainey said the owners and investors were very careful about making sure the business was strong before opening its doors to the public.
“We wanted to build a strong foundation first,” Rainey said. “We wanted to have everything in place, so when we opened, we could have that strong start we wanted. We're in it for the long haul, and we don't have to race to target our market. The market is coming to us, so we could take the time to do it right, right from the beginning.”
Currently Proof employs 29 employees, and Rainey said the company still is hiring. Goguen said there is great potential for job growth.
“One of the things we're doing is partnering with Flathead Valley Community College to get some of those trade skills we need, like CNC [computer numerical control] machinists,” Rainey said. “We've got ads in the paper now, and we are getting people from all over.”
“It's a slow, measured growth that we're aiming for; we've got a tight budget and we have faced challenges every single day, but we're overcoming them,” Rainey said.
The barrels Proof manufactures are not completely made of carbon fiber, rather they are traditional steel cores, machined down and wrapped with carbon fibers. According to Rainey, this results in a lighter-weight, more effective barrel of the same or similar overall dimensions and strength as more traditional all-steel barrels.
Although the technology for carbon-fiber barrels may have been around for the last 20 years, the big problem to overcome was failure due to heat.
In a typical rifle, the heat of extended firing will cause the barrel to warp slightly, and this can lead to a “fairly large” dispersion pattern. This means that what started out as shots in a dime-sized grouping on a target can expand to shots that could completely miss the point of aim. In some weapons, like the fully automatic M249 squad automatic weapon used by the military, the heat is so detrimental that multiple barrels are carried to prevent jams and increase accuracy.
Founded in 2010, Proof Research of Kalispell specializes in creating lightweight, accurate weapons using carbon-fiber barrels and stocks unlike anything else on the market.
“Large gun manufacturers know we have the technology and we're being courted by some big names,” said Pat Rainey, chief executive officer of Proof Research. “We've changed the gun industry, just like the polymer pistol did. The cool factor of our weapons is off the page.”
While Proof Research may only be two years old, it is made up of four companies that have years of rifle-making experience, according to Rainey. Proof is actually a merger of Lone Wolf Riflestocks of Kalispell, Jense Fabrication of Missoula, ABS out of Lincoln, Neb., and Lawrence Rifle Barrels of Lewistown.
“Lots of people have tried to do this for many years,” Rainey said. “The idea of a carbon-fiber barrel has been around for 20 years. We're just the first to crack the code.”
Although only one of the core companies was from the Kalispell area, lead investor Mike Goguen said it made sense to locate Proof in the Flathead Valley.
“The Montana work ethic and quality is outstanding,” Goguen said. “When you look at firearms, so many of the parts in the best ones, the ones I really admire, come from Montana, from small, mom-and-pop places that maybe don't have the capital to go big. So it made sense to take advantage of that. There are a lot of really amazing craftsmen here, and we have the opportunity to bring them together.”
Goguen said he became involved in Proof while looking for a lightweight hunting rifle, and got more than he bargained for when his custom rifle was finished.
“I love Montana, I love hunting and guns, and I love technology and small businesses, and this checked all the boxes,” he said. “I was skeptical at first, but they built me a gun, and I fell in love with it and just had to be a part of what they were building.”
In addition to folding several manufacturers under the Proof umbrella, Goguen said the company still contracts out certain parts, such as trigger assembly and receivers, to local companies such as Defiance Machine.
Although the company had been producing weapons and courting larger contracts for the two years since its founding, Rainey said the owners and investors were very careful about making sure the business was strong before opening its doors to the public.
“We wanted to build a strong foundation first,” Rainey said. “We wanted to have everything in place, so when we opened, we could have that strong start we wanted. We're in it for the long haul, and we don't have to race to target our market. The market is coming to us, so we could take the time to do it right, right from the beginning.”
Currently Proof employs 29 employees, and Rainey said the company still is hiring. Goguen said there is great potential for job growth.
“One of the things we're doing is partnering with Flathead Valley Community College to get some of those trade skills we need, like CNC [computer numerical control] machinists,” Rainey said. “We've got ads in the paper now, and we are getting people from all over.”
“It's a slow, measured growth that we're aiming for; we've got a tight budget and we have faced challenges every single day, but we're overcoming them,” Rainey said.
The barrels Proof manufactures are not completely made of carbon fiber, rather they are traditional steel cores, machined down and wrapped with carbon fibers. According to Rainey, this results in a lighter-weight, more effective barrel of the same or similar overall dimensions and strength as more traditional all-steel barrels.
Although the technology for carbon-fiber barrels may have been around for the last 20 years, the big problem to overcome was failure due to heat.
In a typical rifle, the heat of extended firing will cause the barrel to warp slightly, and this can lead to a “fairly large” dispersion pattern. This means that what started out as shots in a dime-sized grouping on a target can expand to shots that could completely miss the point of aim. In some weapons, like the fully automatic M249 squad automatic weapon used by the military, the heat is so detrimental that multiple barrels are carried to prevent jams and increase accuracy.
2012年11月20日 星期二
Thieves go on coffee-machine binge at Nanaimo Starbucks outlets
Six coffee machines were stolen from three different Nanaimo-area Starbucks locations on Friday, highlighting how thefts increase as the holidays draw near.
The thefts happened at the Terminal Park, University Mall and Country Club locations and in two of the cases a man was seen picking up the machines and walking out with them.
RCMP Media spokesman Gary O'Brien said that he estimates the items were likely sold on the street at a reduced value for drug money.
Incidents of shoplifting and theft begin to increase following Thanksgiving and go up from there, said O'Brien, who actively works with stores on their theft-prevention strategies.
He spoke with Starbucks management on Monday and said that they will be using a demo model for public display from now on.
Theft risks to the public are also on the rise at this time of year, said O'Brien.
Starbucks representatives were unavailable for comment on the thefts.
"There's a lot of pressure," said O'Brien about people's increased financial strain during the holidays.
"People involved in criminal activity also want to provide for their families."
There's "absolutely" more theft at this time of year, said Dave Paulgaard, who provides security services for the Country Club and Woodgrove shopping centres.
He said they encourage people to notify store managers or mall security if they see a person shoplifting, because for any charges to be laid, there has to be eyewitnesses.
"If they're noted shoplifters, I just go shopping with them," he said with a chuckle.
The items in the Starbucks locations were on public display. This is a factor both store theft and in theft of personal items, which also increase at this time of year, said O'Brien
"You get a lot of theft from parking lots because people are just flocking to the malls," said O'Brien.
It's "very common" for thieves work the parking lots by sitting in their cars and watching people entering and exiting stores.
Items commonly stolen from cars are purses and more expensive "high-ticket" items, said O'Brien.
Advice from the RCMP to shoppers is to hide items in the car and make sure the trunk latch is securely locked.
No arrests have been made in the coffee-machine thefts and each incident remains under investigation.
GE Appliances is investing $60 million in new high-efficiency washing machine facility and product, creating 150 new jobs and supporting about 40 domestic suppliers.
The popularity of the high efficiency washing technology has driven more innovation and investment in top load washing machine category.
"There is 150 people on this line that wouldn't have had a job if this product didn't come to GE," said Anitra Wiggins.
The new machine uses an impeller instead of an agitator which allows then to use less water and energy than a traditional washer.
For many of the employees at Appliance Park, the new washing machine means job security.
"Anything coming back to Louisville coming back to appliance park means jobs means jobs for the city," said GE employee Nathan Hall.
Production on the new washer began six weeks ago and they started shipping them out last week. The jobs surrounding the new product have already been filled.
Production also began this year on a new hybrid water heater facility, with plans to upgrade all product lines and facilities including the bottom freezer refrigerator and front load washing machines.
The thefts happened at the Terminal Park, University Mall and Country Club locations and in two of the cases a man was seen picking up the machines and walking out with them.
RCMP Media spokesman Gary O'Brien said that he estimates the items were likely sold on the street at a reduced value for drug money.
Incidents of shoplifting and theft begin to increase following Thanksgiving and go up from there, said O'Brien, who actively works with stores on their theft-prevention strategies.
He spoke with Starbucks management on Monday and said that they will be using a demo model for public display from now on.
Theft risks to the public are also on the rise at this time of year, said O'Brien.
Starbucks representatives were unavailable for comment on the thefts.
"There's a lot of pressure," said O'Brien about people's increased financial strain during the holidays.
"People involved in criminal activity also want to provide for their families."
There's "absolutely" more theft at this time of year, said Dave Paulgaard, who provides security services for the Country Club and Woodgrove shopping centres.
He said they encourage people to notify store managers or mall security if they see a person shoplifting, because for any charges to be laid, there has to be eyewitnesses.
"If they're noted shoplifters, I just go shopping with them," he said with a chuckle.
The items in the Starbucks locations were on public display. This is a factor both store theft and in theft of personal items, which also increase at this time of year, said O'Brien
"You get a lot of theft from parking lots because people are just flocking to the malls," said O'Brien.
It's "very common" for thieves work the parking lots by sitting in their cars and watching people entering and exiting stores.
Items commonly stolen from cars are purses and more expensive "high-ticket" items, said O'Brien.
Advice from the RCMP to shoppers is to hide items in the car and make sure the trunk latch is securely locked.
No arrests have been made in the coffee-machine thefts and each incident remains under investigation.
GE Appliances is investing $60 million in new high-efficiency washing machine facility and product, creating 150 new jobs and supporting about 40 domestic suppliers.
The popularity of the high efficiency washing technology has driven more innovation and investment in top load washing machine category.
"There is 150 people on this line that wouldn't have had a job if this product didn't come to GE," said Anitra Wiggins.
The new machine uses an impeller instead of an agitator which allows then to use less water and energy than a traditional washer.
For many of the employees at Appliance Park, the new washing machine means job security.
"Anything coming back to Louisville coming back to appliance park means jobs means jobs for the city," said GE employee Nathan Hall.
Production on the new washer began six weeks ago and they started shipping them out last week. The jobs surrounding the new product have already been filled.
Production also began this year on a new hybrid water heater facility, with plans to upgrade all product lines and facilities including the bottom freezer refrigerator and front load washing machines.
2012年11月19日 星期一
BTM Cuts Offshore Wind Forecast on German Grid
Global offshore wind turbine installations are expected to grow more slowly than previously expected because of grid delays in Germany and the price of wind power in Sweden, according to Navigant Consulting Inc.
Navigant’s BTM Consult ApS unit cut its cumulative forecast for the five years through to 2016 by 11.6 percent to 23.9 gigawatts of offshore turbines, the company said in an e-mailed report. The largest downgrade of 1,700 megawatts was in Germany.
“Germany has been downgraded despite a huge pipeline of offshore projects in German waters as there is concern in the wind industry over grid availability and grid delays,” Aris Karcanias, an analyst at BTM Consult.
Developers of offshore wind including Dong Energy A/S and EnbW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG suspended projects in Germany on a lack of grid connection agreements, hampering the nation’s goal to build 25 gigawatts of turbines by 2030. The German government endorsed draft legislation in August designed to end delays and provide investor security by making grid operators accountable for financial damage.
Those penalties and high upfront costs will impact future developments, Karcanias said. He also reduced his forecast because Sweden’s incentive program for offshore wind doesn’t deliver a power price “sufficiently attractive to lure investors” when the cost of cable connections paid for by the project owner in Sweden are factored in.
BTM Consult also said the cost of some new European projects increased to more than 4 million euros a megawatt, “which is 1.5 times to more than double the cost of early large scale European and Chinese offshore projects.”
The costs, pushed up as turbines are built further from shore in deep water and more difficult conditions, will begin to fall as new technologies and installation methods are introduced, according to Karcanias.
Europe will lead in offshore turbines to 2016 with Asia accounting for 25 percent, BTM Consult said. It predicts China, the U.K. and Germany will be the three largest offshore wind markets by the end of 2021.
“We congratulate GE on this impressive achievement,” said Jim Shield, Invenergy’s executive vice president and chief development officer. “Our longstanding association has resulted in the installation of more than 2,000 GE wind turbines at Invenergy projects across the United States. As America’s largest independent wind power generation company, we look forward to a continued, successful relationship with GE in the years to come.”
“Congratulations to GE on reaching this milestone. From our vantage point, it appears to be the culmination of working with customers, driving down prices, continuously advancing technology and then backing it all up with responsive service,” said David Boyce, chief executive officer of Wind Capital Group. “I would expect that winning combination to serve them well into the future.”
There does not appear to be any mention of just where the 20,000th turbine was installed, but given that “more than 70 percent of GE’s wind turbine deals so far this year have been overseas” (GE General Manager Matt Guyette in a recent interview), it could very literally be anywhere throughout Europe, Asia, or North America.
Navigant’s BTM Consult ApS unit cut its cumulative forecast for the five years through to 2016 by 11.6 percent to 23.9 gigawatts of offshore turbines, the company said in an e-mailed report. The largest downgrade of 1,700 megawatts was in Germany.
“Germany has been downgraded despite a huge pipeline of offshore projects in German waters as there is concern in the wind industry over grid availability and grid delays,” Aris Karcanias, an analyst at BTM Consult.
Developers of offshore wind including Dong Energy A/S and EnbW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG suspended projects in Germany on a lack of grid connection agreements, hampering the nation’s goal to build 25 gigawatts of turbines by 2030. The German government endorsed draft legislation in August designed to end delays and provide investor security by making grid operators accountable for financial damage.
Those penalties and high upfront costs will impact future developments, Karcanias said. He also reduced his forecast because Sweden’s incentive program for offshore wind doesn’t deliver a power price “sufficiently attractive to lure investors” when the cost of cable connections paid for by the project owner in Sweden are factored in.
BTM Consult also said the cost of some new European projects increased to more than 4 million euros a megawatt, “which is 1.5 times to more than double the cost of early large scale European and Chinese offshore projects.”
The costs, pushed up as turbines are built further from shore in deep water and more difficult conditions, will begin to fall as new technologies and installation methods are introduced, according to Karcanias.
Europe will lead in offshore turbines to 2016 with Asia accounting for 25 percent, BTM Consult said. It predicts China, the U.K. and Germany will be the three largest offshore wind markets by the end of 2021.
“We congratulate GE on this impressive achievement,” said Jim Shield, Invenergy’s executive vice president and chief development officer. “Our longstanding association has resulted in the installation of more than 2,000 GE wind turbines at Invenergy projects across the United States. As America’s largest independent wind power generation company, we look forward to a continued, successful relationship with GE in the years to come.”
“Congratulations to GE on reaching this milestone. From our vantage point, it appears to be the culmination of working with customers, driving down prices, continuously advancing technology and then backing it all up with responsive service,” said David Boyce, chief executive officer of Wind Capital Group. “I would expect that winning combination to serve them well into the future.”
There does not appear to be any mention of just where the 20,000th turbine was installed, but given that “more than 70 percent of GE’s wind turbine deals so far this year have been overseas” (GE General Manager Matt Guyette in a recent interview), it could very literally be anywhere throughout Europe, Asia, or North America.
2012年11月18日 星期日
Keep your shoulder to the wheel and keep on trucking
'We definitely have to fight harder than ever. There's a greater emphasis on quality and people are rightfully looking for value for money.'
According to former American baseball player, Sam Ewing: "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."
Fred Clarke is one man who has never been afraid to roll up his sleeves. His is an inspiring story that demonstrates what can be achieved through hard work, resilience and an enterprising mindset. This week I travelled to Bailieborough, in Co Cavan, to meet Fred and to learn about Agrigear, the company he set up 32 years ago.
Agrigear is one of the largest wholesale suppliers of tyres and wheels in Ireland. As Fred gives me a tour of the place, I am amazed to see the sheer volume of tyres and wheels that fill the company's premises and the expansive concrete yards that surround it.
There are tyres to suit every type of car and truck as well as for every sort of farm, construction and grass-cutting machine imaginable.
"Even when I was at school, I was always more interested in making or fixing things than doing homework," laughs Fred.
He went straight into farming after school and, in order to expand, he began to rent additional land. At one stage he had more than 1,000 acres rented on which he grew barley and wheat as well as milling grain for himself and others.
While still farming, he set up a contract building company erecting silage pits and grain stores for other farmers. It was the mid-Seventies and Fred was employing about 30 people.
He then decided to diversify even further and, along with two other business partners, built a 600-unit piggery. During 1978 and 1980, economic conditions worsened. Diesel prices rose dramatically and interest rates soared a staggering 23 per cent.
To add further to his troubles, bad weather meant that Fred experienced a poor yield from his crops during those years, culminating in serious financial losses.
In the summer of 1980 he went to Holland to visit a business contact who shared his interest in machinery. While there, the two men visited a local car-dismantling business and before he knew it, Fred had bought 1,200 good quality second-hand wheels and tyres.
It was an act of kindness Fred never forgot. Word spread and, when his stock sold out, he began travelling to Holland every month to buy more. His tyre business had taken off.
Some of the tyres he imported did not readily fit standard European-sized wheels and so he began to manufacture new wheels.
"That was the start of the manufacturing end of our business," says Fred. "And it represents almost one-third of our business today."
During the mid Eighties, the weather was so bad that turf contractors were struggling to get their cutting machines to travel on waterlogged bogs. Fred discovered that, if he bolted two wheels together on each side of the machine, this would spread the weight of the machine and thereby make it less inclined to sink in the wet ground.
According to former American baseball player, Sam Ewing: "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."
Fred Clarke is one man who has never been afraid to roll up his sleeves. His is an inspiring story that demonstrates what can be achieved through hard work, resilience and an enterprising mindset. This week I travelled to Bailieborough, in Co Cavan, to meet Fred and to learn about Agrigear, the company he set up 32 years ago.
Agrigear is one of the largest wholesale suppliers of tyres and wheels in Ireland. As Fred gives me a tour of the place, I am amazed to see the sheer volume of tyres and wheels that fill the company's premises and the expansive concrete yards that surround it.
There are tyres to suit every type of car and truck as well as for every sort of farm, construction and grass-cutting machine imaginable.
"Even when I was at school, I was always more interested in making or fixing things than doing homework," laughs Fred.
He went straight into farming after school and, in order to expand, he began to rent additional land. At one stage he had more than 1,000 acres rented on which he grew barley and wheat as well as milling grain for himself and others.
While still farming, he set up a contract building company erecting silage pits and grain stores for other farmers. It was the mid-Seventies and Fred was employing about 30 people.
He then decided to diversify even further and, along with two other business partners, built a 600-unit piggery. During 1978 and 1980, economic conditions worsened. Diesel prices rose dramatically and interest rates soared a staggering 23 per cent.
To add further to his troubles, bad weather meant that Fred experienced a poor yield from his crops during those years, culminating in serious financial losses.
In the summer of 1980 he went to Holland to visit a business contact who shared his interest in machinery. While there, the two men visited a local car-dismantling business and before he knew it, Fred had bought 1,200 good quality second-hand wheels and tyres.
It was an act of kindness Fred never forgot. Word spread and, when his stock sold out, he began travelling to Holland every month to buy more. His tyre business had taken off.
Some of the tyres he imported did not readily fit standard European-sized wheels and so he began to manufacture new wheels.
"That was the start of the manufacturing end of our business," says Fred. "And it represents almost one-third of our business today."
During the mid Eighties, the weather was so bad that turf contractors were struggling to get their cutting machines to travel on waterlogged bogs. Fred discovered that, if he bolted two wheels together on each side of the machine, this would spread the weight of the machine and thereby make it less inclined to sink in the wet ground.
2012年11月15日 星期四
Hope for a dying empire?
Because to write about “non-ferrous metals equities” means you're writing about silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc miners, and they are the best. Whether they are hustling money at the annual investment conferences in Zurich, London, Toronto or Beijing I attend, standing their ground against the continued assault by the EPA on property rights in Kellogg, or drilling a heading a mile underground, they are the most unusual and most decent people I have ever met. For every charlatan who works this trade there are 1,000 others doing decent, honourable labour, and in their toils to make a living or get rich, they enrich our lives.
Do I really need to tell the silver story here in Shoshone County, the self-proclaimed silver capital of the world? (Well, maybe excluding Mexico and Bolivia, but what does a chamber of commerce care for such nuances?) We have a silver mining industry here because hustlers 120 years ago were able to raise capital to build the first mines, and we have a silver industry now because good people continue to produce silver for a wage, and promoters continue to hustle money to keep the mines going.
I find what miners do here, and what miners in Canada, China, Africa, and Central and South America do, fascinating and honourable. The purveyors of products and services, indeed our very economies stand on the shoulders of miners. It's too bad this simple fact of life, that if it can't be grown it's got to be mined, is not taught in our local schools.
You couldn't start your car without the labour of a silver miner; your fridge wouldn't run, your washing machine would quit and your computers and cell phones would be so much detritus. When the late Hank SiJohn of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe did his best ticked-off Indian routine up at the Star Mine dump to pump up support for our EPA/Superfund hegemony two decades ago, I wondered if he had ever wondered where the zinc for the bumpers on his gigantic Buick had come from. Most likely out of that mine portal he was standing below.
But this rant will not be about mining, at least not always. Nor will it always be about the EPA bumpkins who have squatted in our neck of the woods like a deranged and disagreeable relative who won't ever leave your guest room, despite numerous broad hints, and demands regular meals served in bed.
We'll leave local politics out of this conversation as well — for the most part. If you want my opinions, read the Letters to the Editor column. But I do miss our old politicians: Fred Cantamessa. George Gieser. Bill Noyen. Lou Horvath. Bill Lytle. Vern Lannen. God rest their souls. As a young reporter-slash-editor I could walk in to the county commissioners' den and get honest answers, and a lively dialogue would ensue. I remember the weekly phone hook-up at the Kellogg Chamber meeting, engineered by Ray Chapman, when Lou, Bill and Vern would fill us in on the shenanigans in Boise. I remember driving to Wallace from “up the river” and maybe killing a grouse along the way, gutting it, stuffing into a bread-sack, and keeping it cool in the county's pop machine while I walked my rounds.
I remember when there was a cigarette machine at the bottom of the county courthouse steps, instead of a signed scolding not to get near that marble facade with a fag lit within 20 paces. Heck, I'm even old enough to remember when the airlines gave you a little pack of Winston cigarettes to smoke after your in-flight meal and let every curious kid up to the cockpit to help drive those great, beastly DC-6Bs and Lockheed Connies, fueled-up with 130-octane avgas stored right underneath all those cigarette smokers, and even if you were just seven years old, you wore a tie to fly. Back then, the airlines might not let a slob onto one of their mighty liners, but they certainly wouldn't balk at a nail-clipper or a personal handgun.
Do I really need to tell the silver story here in Shoshone County, the self-proclaimed silver capital of the world? (Well, maybe excluding Mexico and Bolivia, but what does a chamber of commerce care for such nuances?) We have a silver mining industry here because hustlers 120 years ago were able to raise capital to build the first mines, and we have a silver industry now because good people continue to produce silver for a wage, and promoters continue to hustle money to keep the mines going.
I find what miners do here, and what miners in Canada, China, Africa, and Central and South America do, fascinating and honourable. The purveyors of products and services, indeed our very economies stand on the shoulders of miners. It's too bad this simple fact of life, that if it can't be grown it's got to be mined, is not taught in our local schools.
You couldn't start your car without the labour of a silver miner; your fridge wouldn't run, your washing machine would quit and your computers and cell phones would be so much detritus. When the late Hank SiJohn of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe did his best ticked-off Indian routine up at the Star Mine dump to pump up support for our EPA/Superfund hegemony two decades ago, I wondered if he had ever wondered where the zinc for the bumpers on his gigantic Buick had come from. Most likely out of that mine portal he was standing below.
But this rant will not be about mining, at least not always. Nor will it always be about the EPA bumpkins who have squatted in our neck of the woods like a deranged and disagreeable relative who won't ever leave your guest room, despite numerous broad hints, and demands regular meals served in bed.
We'll leave local politics out of this conversation as well — for the most part. If you want my opinions, read the Letters to the Editor column. But I do miss our old politicians: Fred Cantamessa. George Gieser. Bill Noyen. Lou Horvath. Bill Lytle. Vern Lannen. God rest their souls. As a young reporter-slash-editor I could walk in to the county commissioners' den and get honest answers, and a lively dialogue would ensue. I remember the weekly phone hook-up at the Kellogg Chamber meeting, engineered by Ray Chapman, when Lou, Bill and Vern would fill us in on the shenanigans in Boise. I remember driving to Wallace from “up the river” and maybe killing a grouse along the way, gutting it, stuffing into a bread-sack, and keeping it cool in the county's pop machine while I walked my rounds.
I remember when there was a cigarette machine at the bottom of the county courthouse steps, instead of a signed scolding not to get near that marble facade with a fag lit within 20 paces. Heck, I'm even old enough to remember when the airlines gave you a little pack of Winston cigarettes to smoke after your in-flight meal and let every curious kid up to the cockpit to help drive those great, beastly DC-6Bs and Lockheed Connies, fueled-up with 130-octane avgas stored right underneath all those cigarette smokers, and even if you were just seven years old, you wore a tie to fly. Back then, the airlines might not let a slob onto one of their mighty liners, but they certainly wouldn't balk at a nail-clipper or a personal handgun.
2012年11月14日 星期三
Laser cut designs combine style and technology
From a distance it looks like a giant copy machine, but the laser cutter that sits in the MakeATX workshop in an East Austin warehouse has the power to engrave and cut with a laser beam. As it slices a design into construction paper on a recent afternoon, it looks oddly similar to a tattoo machine in action. With light flickering from the tip of the laser cutter’s head, it quickly but precisely perforates the paper in the silhouette of a woman’s face. These particular designs appear as stage props in the theater production of “Ragtime” at the Zach Theatre, but as those who work with the machine know, the possibilities are endless.
Among all the ingenious projects that have been born at the artist haven that is the Pump Project Satellite, perhaps none are as unique as those created at the member-based digital fabrication workshop MakeATX. It’s there where clever folks get to play with lasers—well, actually, the workshop’s laser cutter that’s lovingly been named Patty Princess of Power.
With the laser cutter machine’s multifunctions, MakeATX members are constantly discovering new ways to create everything from wall art and jewelry to teaching aids.
A strong do-it-yourself movement coupled with a growing popularity of digitally driven design tools means we’re in the midst of an exciting new era for the next generation of fabricators who from a desktop can control the making of their creations.
So it’s no wonder when MakeATX co-owners Kristen von Minden and Eve Trester-Wilson opened their member-based digital fabrication workshop a year ago that word quickly spread among Austin’s creative circles. By making the software, computers and laser cutter publicly available, MakeATX brought technology and art together and made manufacturing more accessible for Austin hobbyists and artists alike.
Nationally, digital manufacturing is growing with more fabrication workshops similar to MakeATX popping up. With the way innovation is heading in this area, it might not be long until fabrication machines are affordable to many of us.
But for now von Minden and Trester-Wilson know they are on the verge of something special. They see it every day in their workshop and in all the projects they and their group of about 20 members make. In addition to memberships, they also design their own products and offer custom laser cutting.
MakeATX originally grew out of a funny email exchange between the friends and former colleagues. After von Minden graduated from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, she asked Trester-Wilson about architectural-related job prospects in Austin.
“Yeah, job prospects aren’t so good,” Trester-Wilson wrote in June 2010. “What if we start our own firm? Maybe we should buy a laser cutter?” A startled but excited von Minden started dreaming of the possibilities.
As trained architects, both women were familiar with laser cutting technology, which operates a lot like a desktop printer, von Minden says, except that it “prints” with a laser beam. Using graphics software, digital images can be sent to the laser cutter. But at MakeATX, they convert hand-drawn images as well.
Among all the ingenious projects that have been born at the artist haven that is the Pump Project Satellite, perhaps none are as unique as those created at the member-based digital fabrication workshop MakeATX. It’s there where clever folks get to play with lasers—well, actually, the workshop’s laser cutter that’s lovingly been named Patty Princess of Power.
With the laser cutter machine’s multifunctions, MakeATX members are constantly discovering new ways to create everything from wall art and jewelry to teaching aids.
A strong do-it-yourself movement coupled with a growing popularity of digitally driven design tools means we’re in the midst of an exciting new era for the next generation of fabricators who from a desktop can control the making of their creations.
So it’s no wonder when MakeATX co-owners Kristen von Minden and Eve Trester-Wilson opened their member-based digital fabrication workshop a year ago that word quickly spread among Austin’s creative circles. By making the software, computers and laser cutter publicly available, MakeATX brought technology and art together and made manufacturing more accessible for Austin hobbyists and artists alike.
Nationally, digital manufacturing is growing with more fabrication workshops similar to MakeATX popping up. With the way innovation is heading in this area, it might not be long until fabrication machines are affordable to many of us.
But for now von Minden and Trester-Wilson know they are on the verge of something special. They see it every day in their workshop and in all the projects they and their group of about 20 members make. In addition to memberships, they also design their own products and offer custom laser cutting.
MakeATX originally grew out of a funny email exchange between the friends and former colleagues. After von Minden graduated from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, she asked Trester-Wilson about architectural-related job prospects in Austin.
“Yeah, job prospects aren’t so good,” Trester-Wilson wrote in June 2010. “What if we start our own firm? Maybe we should buy a laser cutter?” A startled but excited von Minden started dreaming of the possibilities.
As trained architects, both women were familiar with laser cutting technology, which operates a lot like a desktop printer, von Minden says, except that it “prints” with a laser beam. Using graphics software, digital images can be sent to the laser cutter. But at MakeATX, they convert hand-drawn images as well.
2012年11月13日 星期二
Burlington retiree helps New Jersey recover
The three mobile kitchens, capable of churning out 80,000 meals a day, were placed at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J.; Toms River, N.J.; and Atlantic City. Additionally, personnel working in recovery, administration, and chaplaincy arrived to help the devastated area.
Bobby Finley, who retired four years ago after working as safety officer in Burlington and Chapel Hill, was the site safety officer for the relief effort at Toms River. Finley, who joined the NCBM Disaster Relief just a few months after his retirement, arrived in Toms River at 11 p.m. on Nov. 1. The rest of the volunteers, totaling 39 men and women, arrived by 4 a.m. on Nov. 2. After only getting a few hours of sleep, the team assembled equipment and began cooking.
Toms River was the home of the NCBM Disaster Relief Feeding Unit No. 3, which is able to serve 20,000 hot meals a day.
“The Red Cross provides the food, Baptist men cook the food,” Finley said. “We serve the food to people that either walk in to the feeding site, or drive their cars there and we simple have a drive-through lane; you drive up and tell us how many meals you need, and we stick it in the window.”
Finley said there are also Red Cross vehicles that load up meals from the mobile kitchen and drive them into rural areas.
The recovery trailer at Toms River contained large amounts of equipment such as chainsaws and other gear to clean up the disaster area. Most of the volunteers there were from the Asheville area. Finley, at 71, was one of the younger volunteers, with the oldest being an 84-year-old man. Finley was the only volunteer from the First Baptist Church in Burlington.
“I think one of the things that grabbed me the most was while I was at the Red Cross emergency shelter … I saw a group coming down the hallway. It was a volunteer, in front of a line of people … like a train coming down the hallway, and each one had his or her hand on the shoulders of the person in front. They were blind. And they were being led to the restroom. The only way they could get them all there with the limited number of volunteers they had, was a volunteer with the first person in line, backing up, leading this line of blind people who couldn’t see where they were, probably didn’t even understand some of what was going on around them.”
In the week he was in New Jersey, NCBM had worked 900 volunteer days and served 120,000 meals. Other volunteers replaced them and are still carrying on the effort. Monday evening, Finley arrived back at his home in Burlington, where he lives with his wife.
Volunteers normally work for three to five days plus travel, usually meaning at least a week’s commitment. Steve Reavis, a CPA at Reavis and Parrish PA on South Mebane Street, is the incident commander for the efforts of Baptist Men in all of New Jersey.
In the first few years with NCBM, Finley mostly worked with training volunteers, especially in forklift safety, but said, “I instruct safety in a variety of things.” The first and worse disaster he helped work was in North Carolina in April 2011 when 90 tornadoes tore through the state, killing 24 people. Finley was working site safety in Sanford and feeding people in Raleigh.
North Carolina and Texas are the leaders in Baptist disaster relief efforts. While they have to be invited into a disaster area, they are glad to help.
Bobby Finley, who retired four years ago after working as safety officer in Burlington and Chapel Hill, was the site safety officer for the relief effort at Toms River. Finley, who joined the NCBM Disaster Relief just a few months after his retirement, arrived in Toms River at 11 p.m. on Nov. 1. The rest of the volunteers, totaling 39 men and women, arrived by 4 a.m. on Nov. 2. After only getting a few hours of sleep, the team assembled equipment and began cooking.
Toms River was the home of the NCBM Disaster Relief Feeding Unit No. 3, which is able to serve 20,000 hot meals a day.
“The Red Cross provides the food, Baptist men cook the food,” Finley said. “We serve the food to people that either walk in to the feeding site, or drive their cars there and we simple have a drive-through lane; you drive up and tell us how many meals you need, and we stick it in the window.”
Finley said there are also Red Cross vehicles that load up meals from the mobile kitchen and drive them into rural areas.
The recovery trailer at Toms River contained large amounts of equipment such as chainsaws and other gear to clean up the disaster area. Most of the volunteers there were from the Asheville area. Finley, at 71, was one of the younger volunteers, with the oldest being an 84-year-old man. Finley was the only volunteer from the First Baptist Church in Burlington.
“I think one of the things that grabbed me the most was while I was at the Red Cross emergency shelter … I saw a group coming down the hallway. It was a volunteer, in front of a line of people … like a train coming down the hallway, and each one had his or her hand on the shoulders of the person in front. They were blind. And they were being led to the restroom. The only way they could get them all there with the limited number of volunteers they had, was a volunteer with the first person in line, backing up, leading this line of blind people who couldn’t see where they were, probably didn’t even understand some of what was going on around them.”
In the week he was in New Jersey, NCBM had worked 900 volunteer days and served 120,000 meals. Other volunteers replaced them and are still carrying on the effort. Monday evening, Finley arrived back at his home in Burlington, where he lives with his wife.
Volunteers normally work for three to five days plus travel, usually meaning at least a week’s commitment. Steve Reavis, a CPA at Reavis and Parrish PA on South Mebane Street, is the incident commander for the efforts of Baptist Men in all of New Jersey.
In the first few years with NCBM, Finley mostly worked with training volunteers, especially in forklift safety, but said, “I instruct safety in a variety of things.” The first and worse disaster he helped work was in North Carolina in April 2011 when 90 tornadoes tore through the state, killing 24 people. Finley was working site safety in Sanford and feeding people in Raleigh.
North Carolina and Texas are the leaders in Baptist disaster relief efforts. While they have to be invited into a disaster area, they are glad to help.
2012年11月12日 星期一
Lima’s first black police officer finally gets grave marker
Almost 100 years after his death, Lima’s first black police officer finally has a grave marker.
And he has another Lima police officer to thank, Jeff Jacomet, not to mention a local gun collector’s group, a cemetery and a funeral home.
The grave marker for William A. Jackson was set in place at Woodlawn Cemetery to mark the site of Jackson’s grave, which previously was unmarked.
“After 93 years, it’s finally nice to get him a gravestone,” Jacomet said.
And the gravestone was not the run-of-the-mill marker. It’s an elaborate, laser-engraved marker with Jackson’s portrait in uniform, a Lima Police Department badge with No. 1 on it and wording indicating he was the state’s first black officer.
Seeing the grave maker in place is one of the highlights of Jacomet’s career knowing he played a big role in that.
“It’s always going to be a bright spot in my career,” Jacomet said. “In law enforcement, it’s sometimes hard to get gratification out of your job because we always see people at their worst.”
Jackson’s unmarked grave was discovered earlier this year when Jacomet was digging through documents while preparing for the Lima Police Department’s 125th anniversary celebration.
While digging, he discovered Jackson was hired in 1891.
Jackson’s history was intriguing to Jacomet considering the man was born before the Civil War began and lived during a time blacks struggled daily and were even lynched in other cities.
Curiosity kept Jacomet digging. At one point, he thought it was possible Jackson may have been the nation’s first black officer. But his search led him to the New York City Police Department, which claims it hired the nation’s first black officer in 1891, the same year Lima hired Jackson.
Jacomet discovered Jackson was hired in late December, making it likely NYPD hired the first black officer but he never found out for sure because the NYPD Museum never returned his call.
During his investigation, Jacomet ended up at Jackson’s grave, or at least searching for it inside Woodlawn Cemetery. After struggling to find it, he discovered there was no marker.
That did not sit well, especially from one cop to another because officers look out for each other, even if they never knew each other.
“I thought this isn’t going to work. He has to have something,” Jacomet said.
Jacomet contacted Tri State Gun Collectors, which donated $400. Woodlawn Cemetery agreed to pay for the base the marker sits on.
Officials at Jones-Clark Funeral Home wanted to take it a step further. They suggested a laser-engraved portrait of Jackson on the marker and offered to pay for it. While that would take longer, Jacomet knew it would be worth it.
“It couldn’t have been better,” he said.
Jacomet also tried to find surviving members of Jackson’s family but had no luck. Still, just getting a grave marker for a long-forgotten officer that honors his service to the city and the history he made was a proud moment for Jacomet. It also will ensure one of his police brothers is never forgotten.
And he has another Lima police officer to thank, Jeff Jacomet, not to mention a local gun collector’s group, a cemetery and a funeral home.
The grave marker for William A. Jackson was set in place at Woodlawn Cemetery to mark the site of Jackson’s grave, which previously was unmarked.
“After 93 years, it’s finally nice to get him a gravestone,” Jacomet said.
And the gravestone was not the run-of-the-mill marker. It’s an elaborate, laser-engraved marker with Jackson’s portrait in uniform, a Lima Police Department badge with No. 1 on it and wording indicating he was the state’s first black officer.
Seeing the grave maker in place is one of the highlights of Jacomet’s career knowing he played a big role in that.
“It’s always going to be a bright spot in my career,” Jacomet said. “In law enforcement, it’s sometimes hard to get gratification out of your job because we always see people at their worst.”
Jackson’s unmarked grave was discovered earlier this year when Jacomet was digging through documents while preparing for the Lima Police Department’s 125th anniversary celebration.
While digging, he discovered Jackson was hired in 1891.
Jackson’s history was intriguing to Jacomet considering the man was born before the Civil War began and lived during a time blacks struggled daily and were even lynched in other cities.
Curiosity kept Jacomet digging. At one point, he thought it was possible Jackson may have been the nation’s first black officer. But his search led him to the New York City Police Department, which claims it hired the nation’s first black officer in 1891, the same year Lima hired Jackson.
Jacomet discovered Jackson was hired in late December, making it likely NYPD hired the first black officer but he never found out for sure because the NYPD Museum never returned his call.
During his investigation, Jacomet ended up at Jackson’s grave, or at least searching for it inside Woodlawn Cemetery. After struggling to find it, he discovered there was no marker.
That did not sit well, especially from one cop to another because officers look out for each other, even if they never knew each other.
“I thought this isn’t going to work. He has to have something,” Jacomet said.
Jacomet contacted Tri State Gun Collectors, which donated $400. Woodlawn Cemetery agreed to pay for the base the marker sits on.
Officials at Jones-Clark Funeral Home wanted to take it a step further. They suggested a laser-engraved portrait of Jackson on the marker and offered to pay for it. While that would take longer, Jacomet knew it would be worth it.
“It couldn’t have been better,” he said.
Jacomet also tried to find surviving members of Jackson’s family but had no luck. Still, just getting a grave marker for a long-forgotten officer that honors his service to the city and the history he made was a proud moment for Jacomet. It also will ensure one of his police brothers is never forgotten.
2012年11月8日 星期四
Picayune’s Vo-Tech offers up-to-date class
Students at Picayune Memorial High School will have access to a more up to date class that could prompt an interest in an engineering or technological field.
The change will involve dropping the Technical Applications class and change it to Robotics and Engineering, said Vo-Tech teacher Todd Giglio.
Not only is the name of the class changing, but many aspects of the class will be upgraded, including the addition of 3D printers, Vex robot kits, a laser engraver and a state of the art milling machine, said Giglio. Every one of those pieces of hardware is hooked to computers the students will use to create parts or items through the use of software.
Changes to the course and addition of equipment were possible in part due to a $150,000 federally funded grant that the Vo-Tech’s director, Christie Pinero, applied for, Giglio said.
Each lesson in the new class will be computer driven, either though course material stored on the class’ in-house server or over the Internet, said Magee Enterprises Regional Sales Manager Mike Thomas. Thomas said Magee Enterprises won the bid to install the hardware for the course change.
Course modules will provide students with problems that must be solved on the computer before being put into practical application by using either a robot from the Vex kit or by creating a part with the milling machine or through the 3D printer, Thomas said.
Programming the Vex robot will require simple, autonomous commands to the on-board memory through the USB port. Autonomous commands can include driving forward or turning, or the students can drive the robot manually with a video game inspired controller, Thomas said.
Seven schools in Mississippi are in the process of setting up the program, which includes a two-day instructional course such as the one that was held at Picayune’s Vo-Tech earlier this week. In addition to Picayune’s Vo-Tech, the other six schools are in Lamar County, Hattiesburg, Brookhaven, Biloxi, New Albany and Jefferson Davis County, Thomas said. Each school had to apply for the grant. Once approved, the school decides how to use the funds to purchase materials and hardware needed for the instruction.
Each year seven schools are selected for the grant set up by the legislature, but more than seven always apply, Thomas said. Once a school is awarded the grant, it takes over the responsibility of funding the course. However, Thomas said he is working with legislators to update equipment at schools with outdated technology with more grant money. In the four years of grant funding, similar courses have been set up in 28 schools across the state, Thomas said.
Picayune was the only school to purchase a laser engraver this year with its grant, Thomas said. Giglio said the machine is capable of engraving on most any surface, be it wood, plastic, metal or glass. The hardware is even capable of cutting precision parts out of a sheet of plastic, Giglio said.
The curriculum will provide students hands-on experience with robotics and engineering, but Giglio said it also will include writing, math, science and reading comprehension, helping students to see how academic instruction transfers into hands-on experience. One example involves the use of the 3D printer. Typically it is difficult for students to comprehend the need for x, y and z in math, but when they put those figures to use in using the 3D printer, the need for three axes is apparent, Giglio said.
The change will involve dropping the Technical Applications class and change it to Robotics and Engineering, said Vo-Tech teacher Todd Giglio.
Not only is the name of the class changing, but many aspects of the class will be upgraded, including the addition of 3D printers, Vex robot kits, a laser engraver and a state of the art milling machine, said Giglio. Every one of those pieces of hardware is hooked to computers the students will use to create parts or items through the use of software.
Changes to the course and addition of equipment were possible in part due to a $150,000 federally funded grant that the Vo-Tech’s director, Christie Pinero, applied for, Giglio said.
Each lesson in the new class will be computer driven, either though course material stored on the class’ in-house server or over the Internet, said Magee Enterprises Regional Sales Manager Mike Thomas. Thomas said Magee Enterprises won the bid to install the hardware for the course change.
Course modules will provide students with problems that must be solved on the computer before being put into practical application by using either a robot from the Vex kit or by creating a part with the milling machine or through the 3D printer, Thomas said.
Programming the Vex robot will require simple, autonomous commands to the on-board memory through the USB port. Autonomous commands can include driving forward or turning, or the students can drive the robot manually with a video game inspired controller, Thomas said.
Seven schools in Mississippi are in the process of setting up the program, which includes a two-day instructional course such as the one that was held at Picayune’s Vo-Tech earlier this week. In addition to Picayune’s Vo-Tech, the other six schools are in Lamar County, Hattiesburg, Brookhaven, Biloxi, New Albany and Jefferson Davis County, Thomas said. Each school had to apply for the grant. Once approved, the school decides how to use the funds to purchase materials and hardware needed for the instruction.
Each year seven schools are selected for the grant set up by the legislature, but more than seven always apply, Thomas said. Once a school is awarded the grant, it takes over the responsibility of funding the course. However, Thomas said he is working with legislators to update equipment at schools with outdated technology with more grant money. In the four years of grant funding, similar courses have been set up in 28 schools across the state, Thomas said.
Picayune was the only school to purchase a laser engraver this year with its grant, Thomas said. Giglio said the machine is capable of engraving on most any surface, be it wood, plastic, metal or glass. The hardware is even capable of cutting precision parts out of a sheet of plastic, Giglio said.
The curriculum will provide students hands-on experience with robotics and engineering, but Giglio said it also will include writing, math, science and reading comprehension, helping students to see how academic instruction transfers into hands-on experience. One example involves the use of the 3D printer. Typically it is difficult for students to comprehend the need for x, y and z in math, but when they put those figures to use in using the 3D printer, the need for three axes is apparent, Giglio said.
2012年11月7日 星期三
Amada Soft India sets up R&D centre in Bangalore
Amada Soft India, a subsidiary of Japanese machine tool conglomerate manufacturer, Amada is setting up a technical centre, including vocational training centre at Bangalore which will focus on research and development on machine tools components and software used in it. This is first Amada's first such facility in the South Asia region.
Amada has bought eight acres of land near Bangalore International Airport and will train about 70 to 80 employees in Bangalore and about 140 across India. The centre will also be involved in training of Amada’s own employees working in India.
Speaking to Financial Chronicle, Amada, president and CEO, Mitsuo Okamoto, said, the investment shows our commitment to India and he hopes the Indian market to be stable in next few years. Amada has manufacturing facility in Europe, US, Japan and China. A mini version of the technical centre is already running in Whitefield Bangalore.
Earlier speaking to Financial Chronicle, Amada, senior managing director, Toshio Takagi, said, “The technical centre will also act as the real interface between the company and Indian customers”. He added the centre would try to understand the real Indian clients’ voice.
Amada will invest about $13 million for the centre. The company’s focus in Indian market is computer numeric control (CNC) machines. These are cnc bending machines, cnc laser cutting machines and cnc punching machines. Amada has an offshore software development centre at Chennai.
The software centre caters to Amada’s global software needs. In 2004, it shifted its software development centre to Chennai from its headquarters in Kanagawa, near Tokyo. The software development centre has about 130 employees. Takagi, said, “We are also planning to venture into open technology so as to smooth the integration between our system and customers’ legacy systems”.
Company officials said, Amada’s revenue from Indian market is about Rs 250 crore. Amada is also planning to diversify its market to aerospace and airports by catering to their requirements of sheet metals.
Packaging operations are becoming more sophisticated. Today’s automated, intelligent processes rely on the transfer of data from the factory floor to centralized systems that help manufacturers achieve a number of objectives, from improving product quality, to ensuring regulatory compliance, to achieving supply chain visibility. In this webinar, follow a can of green beans from seamer to pallet on its journey through an automated packaging process.
The webinar tours a food and beverage packaging line, stopping at key inspection points to observe how automation solutions like machine vision and barcode technologies help manufacturers meet important quality requirements while improving overall production efficiency. After the presentation, live audience question and answer sessions with presenter Mike Dietzel will identify applications for auto ID and inspection in real automated packaging processes.
Webinar presenter Mike Dietzel, Solutions Engineer on Microscan’s industry-focused packaging team, has over 15 years experience developing solutions for packaging industries ranging from single laser barcode readers to multi-camera machine vision installations requiring unique lighting solutions.
Amada has bought eight acres of land near Bangalore International Airport and will train about 70 to 80 employees in Bangalore and about 140 across India. The centre will also be involved in training of Amada’s own employees working in India.
Speaking to Financial Chronicle, Amada, president and CEO, Mitsuo Okamoto, said, the investment shows our commitment to India and he hopes the Indian market to be stable in next few years. Amada has manufacturing facility in Europe, US, Japan and China. A mini version of the technical centre is already running in Whitefield Bangalore.
Earlier speaking to Financial Chronicle, Amada, senior managing director, Toshio Takagi, said, “The technical centre will also act as the real interface between the company and Indian customers”. He added the centre would try to understand the real Indian clients’ voice.
Amada will invest about $13 million for the centre. The company’s focus in Indian market is computer numeric control (CNC) machines. These are cnc bending machines, cnc laser cutting machines and cnc punching machines. Amada has an offshore software development centre at Chennai.
The software centre caters to Amada’s global software needs. In 2004, it shifted its software development centre to Chennai from its headquarters in Kanagawa, near Tokyo. The software development centre has about 130 employees. Takagi, said, “We are also planning to venture into open technology so as to smooth the integration between our system and customers’ legacy systems”.
Company officials said, Amada’s revenue from Indian market is about Rs 250 crore. Amada is also planning to diversify its market to aerospace and airports by catering to their requirements of sheet metals.
Packaging operations are becoming more sophisticated. Today’s automated, intelligent processes rely on the transfer of data from the factory floor to centralized systems that help manufacturers achieve a number of objectives, from improving product quality, to ensuring regulatory compliance, to achieving supply chain visibility. In this webinar, follow a can of green beans from seamer to pallet on its journey through an automated packaging process.
The webinar tours a food and beverage packaging line, stopping at key inspection points to observe how automation solutions like machine vision and barcode technologies help manufacturers meet important quality requirements while improving overall production efficiency. After the presentation, live audience question and answer sessions with presenter Mike Dietzel will identify applications for auto ID and inspection in real automated packaging processes.
Webinar presenter Mike Dietzel, Solutions Engineer on Microscan’s industry-focused packaging team, has over 15 years experience developing solutions for packaging industries ranging from single laser barcode readers to multi-camera machine vision installations requiring unique lighting solutions.
2012年11月6日 星期二
Oberthur Technologies presents two
Oberthur Technologies, one of the world's largest providers of security, identification solutions and services based on smart card technologies, presents at the 2012 Cartes & Identification exhibition, two, new innovative security features for identity documents.
The world's first self-authenticating identity document launched by Oberthur Technologies in 2010, has now been developed into a complete range of structural security features based on transparency effects.
The ID-One(TM) SkyCode, is a transparent window with a decoding function that can be used to authenticate identity cards, thus reducing counterfeiting. The product involves a clever application of steganography, a technology that can be used to hide data within a photograph. During the graphical personalization of each identity card, a piece of simple information relating to the card holder (name, date of birth, etc) is hidden within the photo. By applying the ID-One(TM) SkyCode window, against a card with a treated photo, it is possible to verify the presence of the hidden information. Any attempt to replace or tamper with the photo is easily detected, as the hidden information is destroyed.
The second product in the range is ID-One(TM) SkyClear, a polycarbonate transparent window, compatible with laser engraving. The customized shape and location of the window makes it impossible to forge a document by reusing any other commonly available card as a support. The transparency of ID-One(TM) SkyClear is also a strong protection against counterfeiting because it facilitates the detection of a substitute or altered photo.
"Oberthur Technologies is committed to providing innovations to enhance the security features on all our identity products" said Moise Moyal, Marketing Director of the Identity Business Line at Oberthur Technologies. "ID-One(TM) Sky is our first self-authenticating smart card range with a decoding function that helps protect against counterfeiting".
PrintPixel is a highly secure printing technology that allows color photographs to be permanently embedded into polycarbonate identity cards. The remarkable innovation combines the security of laser engraving, which enables markings deep into the card body, with the quality of color portraits.
Conventional surface printing techniques for applying color portraits to polycarbonate cards are vulnerable to counterfeit as well as simple wear and tear. PrintPixel overcomes these limitations by retaining the deep marking characteristics of grey-scale laser engraving, but improving these with color capabilities. PrintPixel is performed independently of the card production process to provide a greater degree of flexibility for personalization of documents.
We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.
Gemalto develops secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these secure products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services they enable. Our innovations offer more ways for our clients to enhance the convenience and security of people’s digital lives.
The world's first self-authenticating identity document launched by Oberthur Technologies in 2010, has now been developed into a complete range of structural security features based on transparency effects.
The ID-One(TM) SkyCode, is a transparent window with a decoding function that can be used to authenticate identity cards, thus reducing counterfeiting. The product involves a clever application of steganography, a technology that can be used to hide data within a photograph. During the graphical personalization of each identity card, a piece of simple information relating to the card holder (name, date of birth, etc) is hidden within the photo. By applying the ID-One(TM) SkyCode window, against a card with a treated photo, it is possible to verify the presence of the hidden information. Any attempt to replace or tamper with the photo is easily detected, as the hidden information is destroyed.
The second product in the range is ID-One(TM) SkyClear, a polycarbonate transparent window, compatible with laser engraving. The customized shape and location of the window makes it impossible to forge a document by reusing any other commonly available card as a support. The transparency of ID-One(TM) SkyClear is also a strong protection against counterfeiting because it facilitates the detection of a substitute or altered photo.
"Oberthur Technologies is committed to providing innovations to enhance the security features on all our identity products" said Moise Moyal, Marketing Director of the Identity Business Line at Oberthur Technologies. "ID-One(TM) Sky is our first self-authenticating smart card range with a decoding function that helps protect against counterfeiting".
PrintPixel is a highly secure printing technology that allows color photographs to be permanently embedded into polycarbonate identity cards. The remarkable innovation combines the security of laser engraving, which enables markings deep into the card body, with the quality of color portraits.
Conventional surface printing techniques for applying color portraits to polycarbonate cards are vulnerable to counterfeit as well as simple wear and tear. PrintPixel overcomes these limitations by retaining the deep marking characteristics of grey-scale laser engraving, but improving these with color capabilities. PrintPixel is performed independently of the card production process to provide a greater degree of flexibility for personalization of documents.
We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.
Gemalto develops secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these secure products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services they enable. Our innovations offer more ways for our clients to enhance the convenience and security of people’s digital lives.
2012年11月5日 星期一
Voting machines still not certified
Thirty-six hours before the polls open for Election Day, the St. Thomas-St. John Board of Elections had yet to certify its electronic voting machines.
"We'll know later," Board Chairwoman Alecia Wells said after a training session for poll workers Sunday evening on St. John.
Board members have reported two main problems with the machines on St. Thomas. First, the ballots were not lining up properly on the machines. Second, the section of the ballot for the St. Thomas-St. John Board of Elections race was improperly recording votes, allowing only three votes to be cast when voters should be allowed to enter three votes for St. Thomas candidates and one for a St. John candidate.
As the weekend drew to a close, Wells said on Sunday that she had no further information on the status of these problems or when the machines would be certified.
"I live on St. John, I work on St. John, I go to school on St. John, I go to church on St. John," Wells said.
The machines were being tested on St. Thomas in a warehouse across the street from the Elections Office.
Board members Lawrence Boschulte and Harry Daniel both referred questions about the status of the certification to Wells.
However, board member Colette White-Amaro said technicians were making progress. She said they worked most of Saturday and into Sunday testing the machines on St. Thomas, and as far as she knew, the issues previously reported were being fixed.
White-Amaro said the board hopes to certify the machines at a meeting on St. Thomas this afternoon.
The law requires that the board, by at least one designated representative, witness an errorless voting machine test, then certify the machines for use on Election Day. The law does not say what happens if this does not occur. Both Wells and Boschulte have said it may be possible for voters to use paper ballots for the problematic Board of Elections race and vote the rest of the ballot on an electronic machine.
None of the board members on Sunday night seemed particularly troubled by the approaching deadline to certify the machines.
A rickshaw puller-turned farmer from Haryana was invited to Ramgarh Sikri village, on the Punjab-Himachal border in Hoshiarpur district, on Monday to demonstrate his innovation to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The 49-year-old uneducated farmer, Dharamveer Kamboj, from Damla village demonstrated his multi-purpose food processing machine that is aimed at providing a one-stop solution for farm processing of herbs, flowers and fruits for Kandi Area Fruit and Herbal Processing Society (KAFHPS).
The processor is capable of extracting oil/gel from various herbs. The unit can process 150 kg aloe vera or amla in an hour.
Kamboj, while talking to The Indian Express over the phone, said he used to be a rickshaw puller in Delhi, nearly two decades ago. He returned to Himachal Pradesh after he met with an accident, and took to farming.
In 1990, he became the first farmer in his area to cultivate hybrid tomatoes, and he even developed some devices like battery-operated spraying machine, insect trapping device and farm implement customised for ploughing.
"We'll know later," Board Chairwoman Alecia Wells said after a training session for poll workers Sunday evening on St. John.
Board members have reported two main problems with the machines on St. Thomas. First, the ballots were not lining up properly on the machines. Second, the section of the ballot for the St. Thomas-St. John Board of Elections race was improperly recording votes, allowing only three votes to be cast when voters should be allowed to enter three votes for St. Thomas candidates and one for a St. John candidate.
As the weekend drew to a close, Wells said on Sunday that she had no further information on the status of these problems or when the machines would be certified.
"I live on St. John, I work on St. John, I go to school on St. John, I go to church on St. John," Wells said.
The machines were being tested on St. Thomas in a warehouse across the street from the Elections Office.
Board members Lawrence Boschulte and Harry Daniel both referred questions about the status of the certification to Wells.
However, board member Colette White-Amaro said technicians were making progress. She said they worked most of Saturday and into Sunday testing the machines on St. Thomas, and as far as she knew, the issues previously reported were being fixed.
White-Amaro said the board hopes to certify the machines at a meeting on St. Thomas this afternoon.
The law requires that the board, by at least one designated representative, witness an errorless voting machine test, then certify the machines for use on Election Day. The law does not say what happens if this does not occur. Both Wells and Boschulte have said it may be possible for voters to use paper ballots for the problematic Board of Elections race and vote the rest of the ballot on an electronic machine.
None of the board members on Sunday night seemed particularly troubled by the approaching deadline to certify the machines.
A rickshaw puller-turned farmer from Haryana was invited to Ramgarh Sikri village, on the Punjab-Himachal border in Hoshiarpur district, on Monday to demonstrate his innovation to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The 49-year-old uneducated farmer, Dharamveer Kamboj, from Damla village demonstrated his multi-purpose food processing machine that is aimed at providing a one-stop solution for farm processing of herbs, flowers and fruits for Kandi Area Fruit and Herbal Processing Society (KAFHPS).
The processor is capable of extracting oil/gel from various herbs. The unit can process 150 kg aloe vera or amla in an hour.
Kamboj, while talking to The Indian Express over the phone, said he used to be a rickshaw puller in Delhi, nearly two decades ago. He returned to Himachal Pradesh after he met with an accident, and took to farming.
In 1990, he became the first farmer in his area to cultivate hybrid tomatoes, and he even developed some devices like battery-operated spraying machine, insect trapping device and farm implement customised for ploughing.
2012年11月4日 星期日
Kids learn How People Make Things at DuPage Children's Museum
For nearly 40 years, “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood” took young viewers on factory tours, showing them the origins of objects they used every day like crayons and plastic balls. Those videos are the centerpiece of the traveling exhibit How People Make Things, which was developed in the show's hometown by the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and is now open at the DuPage Children's Museum.
“Children today can feel removed from common items in their lives,” said DuPage Children's Museum marketing manager Bri Bromberek. “It's kind of easy to wonder 'Where does that originate from?' We'd like children to understand that even though there are machines that make these materials, there are real people on the floor. It gets them to appreciate how the objects were made through human ingenuity.”
The exhibit puts kids in the shoes of factory workers. It starts by having children don white jackets, boots and hard hats in a locker room style area. The Mr. Rogers videos play throughout the space along with displays of the products being made, whether it's a carousel horse or a red wagon.
Kids can also press buttons to hear people talk about how they make products, guessing what the result will be — whether it's a guitar or a chocolate bar. The exhibit was partially sponsored by Navistar, and displays show how the company builds school buses and trucks.
“These are all items that children come into contact with every day,” Bromberek said. “It's not really specific and technical where they wouldn't understand.”
The educational experience takes visitors through the major steps in the creation of many products: cutting, molding, deforming and assembling. Kids can make a 3-D paper horse by using a die-cutting machine to create different pieces and then matching them together.
Children can use cranks to deform wire into a spring shape and manipulate wax with both hand tools and machines along with pouring warm liquid wax into molds to make spoons.
Toy trolleys can be assembled and kids can then test their work on a ramp.
“With this exhibit the children will not only see the process of manufacturing, they are making things with their own hands,” Bromberek said. “The exhibit tells the story of how everyday items are manufactured and brings to life all the things that are involved in that process.”
Kids can safely interact with plenty of machinery, seeing how a vacuum deformer will shape a plastic sheet around a stencil and how by using one's own strength and a roller a penny can be stretched and stamped.
By pulling levers, liquid plastic fills a mold and becomes a comb or a hanger. Various signs show how things would be done at a real factory, like using a variety of fasteners or an assembly line.
“This exhibit really encourages kids to make things and know that they can do this as a career as an adult,” Bromberek said. “They can learn to be inventors.”
Bromberek said that while the museum typically caters to younger visitors, How People Make Things has expanded its appeal to 5- to 12-year-olds plus parents who grew up watching “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.”
“There are definitely kids that are growing out of some of the exhibits and they want something new and different,” she said. “It's still good for the younger kids because there are so many hands-on experiences.”
“Children today can feel removed from common items in their lives,” said DuPage Children's Museum marketing manager Bri Bromberek. “It's kind of easy to wonder 'Where does that originate from?' We'd like children to understand that even though there are machines that make these materials, there are real people on the floor. It gets them to appreciate how the objects were made through human ingenuity.”
The exhibit puts kids in the shoes of factory workers. It starts by having children don white jackets, boots and hard hats in a locker room style area. The Mr. Rogers videos play throughout the space along with displays of the products being made, whether it's a carousel horse or a red wagon.
Kids can also press buttons to hear people talk about how they make products, guessing what the result will be — whether it's a guitar or a chocolate bar. The exhibit was partially sponsored by Navistar, and displays show how the company builds school buses and trucks.
“These are all items that children come into contact with every day,” Bromberek said. “It's not really specific and technical where they wouldn't understand.”
The educational experience takes visitors through the major steps in the creation of many products: cutting, molding, deforming and assembling. Kids can make a 3-D paper horse by using a die-cutting machine to create different pieces and then matching them together.
Children can use cranks to deform wire into a spring shape and manipulate wax with both hand tools and machines along with pouring warm liquid wax into molds to make spoons.
Toy trolleys can be assembled and kids can then test their work on a ramp.
“With this exhibit the children will not only see the process of manufacturing, they are making things with their own hands,” Bromberek said. “The exhibit tells the story of how everyday items are manufactured and brings to life all the things that are involved in that process.”
Kids can safely interact with plenty of machinery, seeing how a vacuum deformer will shape a plastic sheet around a stencil and how by using one's own strength and a roller a penny can be stretched and stamped.
By pulling levers, liquid plastic fills a mold and becomes a comb or a hanger. Various signs show how things would be done at a real factory, like using a variety of fasteners or an assembly line.
“This exhibit really encourages kids to make things and know that they can do this as a career as an adult,” Bromberek said. “They can learn to be inventors.”
Bromberek said that while the museum typically caters to younger visitors, How People Make Things has expanded its appeal to 5- to 12-year-olds plus parents who grew up watching “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.”
“There are definitely kids that are growing out of some of the exhibits and they want something new and different,” she said. “It's still good for the younger kids because there are so many hands-on experiences.”
2012年11月1日 星期四
IPG set to ship 100 kW laser
Shares in IPG Photonics lost more than 10% of their value after the company issued its third-quarter financial results for 2012 – despite the market-leading fiber laser company beating its sales guidance for the period.
IPG posted sales of $156.4 million for the third quarter, above the guidance range of between $145 million and $155 million. That represented a 21% year-on-year increase as the company saw growth in new aerospace applications and sustained demand for high-power sources from automotive manufacturers and heavy industry.
High-power lasers accounted for $67.1 million of the quarterly revenues, while sales of pulsed lasers – up more than 50% from the same period last year – were responsible for $50.4 million, thanks in part to marking applications in consumer electronics production, where IPG believes it has won market share.
IPG’s CEO Valentin Gapontsev added that the company had gained market share with a key automotive customer in France that had previously been using a rival’s technology for welding applications.
While the wider European economy remains weak, the location of much of the continent’s automotive manufacturing base in Germany remains a strong sector for now, and IPG appears to be benefiting. For example, optics.org understands that BMW is investing heavily in fiber lasers to be used at its Mini production facility in the UK.
Japan could provide the next wave of demand. In an investor conference call, Gapontsev said that while all the major Japanese auto makers were already using IPG’s lasers to some degree, it was typically in limited quantities. With one of Japan’s leading car producers set to decide on a major new investment soon, IPG could be set for strong future business here.
It isn’t just the traditional automotive production centers that IPG is penetrating. CFO Tim Mammen added that there was “a great degree of optimism” surrounding the opportunity to sell more lasers to Chinese auto makers in 2013, while the company has also received orders for some large systems to update a large automotive facility in Russia.
The company also has an agreement with the giant Russian energy producer Gazprom, and Gapontsev described another novel application in which a customer is using an IPG laser to drill “several kilometres into the earth” to access oil and gas wells more efficiently.
While IPG remains on a strong growth track, investors appeared disappointed with news that the company’s book-to-bill ratio in the third quarter slipped below unity, prompting guidance for the final quarter of the year that suggests a slight drop-off in revenues from the record-breaking Q3.
“We will face challenges in the fourth quarter, including historical seasonality in some markets and macro-economic pressures in a few key geographies,” said Gapontsev, with seasonal weakness in China becoming an increasing influence on IPG’s business as sales to the country ($34 million in the latest quarter) grow quickly.
At the lower-power end, analyst Mark Douglass from Longbow Research believes that Nufern has expanded laser production in response to some success in marking and engraving applications, particularly in China, and that SPI is benefiting as a second-source supplier in some instances.
For high-power fiber lasers, where IPG rules the roost, JDSU is believed to be gaining some traction via its partnership with the Japanese tool company Amada. But Douglass sees little threat to IPG, and speculates that Mitsubishi may release IPG-equipped systems shortly.
Earlier this month, Mitsubishi issued a release saying that it would unveil a fiber laser system at the Fabtech trade show being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12-14 November. The release quoted Bill Isaac, the VP of Mitsubishi Laser, saying: “This isn’t the first fiber laser, but we took the time in research and development to make sure that when we entered the market, we had it right.”
IPG posted sales of $156.4 million for the third quarter, above the guidance range of between $145 million and $155 million. That represented a 21% year-on-year increase as the company saw growth in new aerospace applications and sustained demand for high-power sources from automotive manufacturers and heavy industry.
High-power lasers accounted for $67.1 million of the quarterly revenues, while sales of pulsed lasers – up more than 50% from the same period last year – were responsible for $50.4 million, thanks in part to marking applications in consumer electronics production, where IPG believes it has won market share.
IPG’s CEO Valentin Gapontsev added that the company had gained market share with a key automotive customer in France that had previously been using a rival’s technology for welding applications.
While the wider European economy remains weak, the location of much of the continent’s automotive manufacturing base in Germany remains a strong sector for now, and IPG appears to be benefiting. For example, optics.org understands that BMW is investing heavily in fiber lasers to be used at its Mini production facility in the UK.
Japan could provide the next wave of demand. In an investor conference call, Gapontsev said that while all the major Japanese auto makers were already using IPG’s lasers to some degree, it was typically in limited quantities. With one of Japan’s leading car producers set to decide on a major new investment soon, IPG could be set for strong future business here.
It isn’t just the traditional automotive production centers that IPG is penetrating. CFO Tim Mammen added that there was “a great degree of optimism” surrounding the opportunity to sell more lasers to Chinese auto makers in 2013, while the company has also received orders for some large systems to update a large automotive facility in Russia.
The company also has an agreement with the giant Russian energy producer Gazprom, and Gapontsev described another novel application in which a customer is using an IPG laser to drill “several kilometres into the earth” to access oil and gas wells more efficiently.
While IPG remains on a strong growth track, investors appeared disappointed with news that the company’s book-to-bill ratio in the third quarter slipped below unity, prompting guidance for the final quarter of the year that suggests a slight drop-off in revenues from the record-breaking Q3.
“We will face challenges in the fourth quarter, including historical seasonality in some markets and macro-economic pressures in a few key geographies,” said Gapontsev, with seasonal weakness in China becoming an increasing influence on IPG’s business as sales to the country ($34 million in the latest quarter) grow quickly.
At the lower-power end, analyst Mark Douglass from Longbow Research believes that Nufern has expanded laser production in response to some success in marking and engraving applications, particularly in China, and that SPI is benefiting as a second-source supplier in some instances.
For high-power fiber lasers, where IPG rules the roost, JDSU is believed to be gaining some traction via its partnership with the Japanese tool company Amada. But Douglass sees little threat to IPG, and speculates that Mitsubishi may release IPG-equipped systems shortly.
Earlier this month, Mitsubishi issued a release saying that it would unveil a fiber laser system at the Fabtech trade show being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12-14 November. The release quoted Bill Isaac, the VP of Mitsubishi Laser, saying: “This isn’t the first fiber laser, but we took the time in research and development to make sure that when we entered the market, we had it right.”
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