Assembly Planbook - July 2008 - (Page 23)

system includes a reverse-osmosis feature to eliminate minerals from the water and a UV ﬁlter to kill bacteria. Humidity sensors in each zone monitor RH levels and report to a remote PLC. If RH in a zone drops below Itron’s 40 percent set point, the PLC activates the Princess 2 units in that zone until RH returns to the desired level. According to Anderson, the company has had very few mechanical problems with the ML system, and it has lived up to all of the company’s expectations. “[The system] is virtually automatic. We rarely think about dry air and static electricity. They really aren’t issues anymore,” he says. For more on humidification, visit www.hussoninc.com or call 262-884-4669. By installing a high-pressure humidification system, Itron Inc. was able to eliminate its humidity problems and also save money. ® temperature falls to 10 F, heating the plant to the necessary 70 F results in a relative humidity (RH) of as little as 10 percent. The ideal relative humidity for the plant’s operations is 40 percent to 50 percent. Below 30 percent, production can become seriously impaired. “Static electricity, and the potential for defects due to electrostatic discharge (ESD), is one of the biggest manufacturing headaches a board manufacturer can face,” says plant facilities operations manager Paul Anderson. “For years, we operated a compressed-air humidiﬁcation system throughout the plant. It did a good job, but as humidiﬁcation technology has moved forward, so has the capability to control RH levels.” Ultimately, Itron elected to go with a number of ML System Princess 2 high-pressure humidiﬁcation systems from Husson Inc. (Sturtevant, WI). Each Princess 2 has a 10 gph capacity and produces a ﬁne mist that is quickly absorbed into the air. In addition to providing consistent humidiﬁcation, the units cost about $300 per year to operate and are plumbed via a series of high-pressure hydraulic hoses—as opposed to steel pipe—making it easy to shift the units throughout the plant. In terms of the speciﬁc layout, Itron deployed eight humidiﬁcation units in two separate zones comprising its warehouse and production areas. The ARE YOU STUCK ON THE WRONG The performance of our intelligent joining technology greatly exceeds alternative methods. COST-EFFECTIVE – because additional, expensive joining components can be eliminated. ECONOMICAL – because assembly, quality assurance and evaluation takes place in one operation. HIGH PRECISION – because of intelligent process control that directly produces high quality. The future is joining. Think about your process and let us convince you. www.schmidtpresses.com Telephone 1-800-959-1218 or 1-724-772-4600 SCHMIDT Technology Corp. • 280 Executive Drive Cranberry Twp., PA 16066 U.S.A. TECHNOLOGY? www.assemblymag.com July 2008 / ASSE M B LY 23 http://www.hussoninc.com http://www.schmidtpresses.com http://www.schmidtpresses.com http://www.assemblymag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Assembly Planbook - July 2008

Assembly Planbook - July 2008 Contents Editorial Quality in Assembly Station to Station Assembly Lines Assembly in Action Surviving the Roller Coaster The Human Side of Manufacturing Do Your Fasteners Need a Preapplied Thread-Locker? Manufacturing Innovation A Century of Progress Trendsetting Plants Pulse Tools Get Smart Plastics: Design for X Product Reviews Products Advertisers Index Classified Leading Lean

Assembly Planbook - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.