February 22, 2016
If you are like many people, you may have received a Fitbit over the holidays. Eager to fulfill your New Year’s resolutions of improved fitness and health you are likely off to a good start on learning how this product can help you stay motivated and improve your health by tracking your activity, exercise, food, weight, and sleep. But are you using it to its full potential? Taking steps (no pun intended) such as measuring your walking and running stride length, connecting to apps like My Fitness Pal, customizing the display and setting up challenges between friends can make this already intuitive and motivating experience even better. But learning which modifications and supplements work best for you to get the most of your tracker will take time and experience. Interestingly, the same could be said of manufacturing equipment.
Take for instance, the Kiefel Speedformer.
While other thermoform manufacturers may have a limited number of these machines, at TEQ, we made the decision much earlier than others to adopt this high-end machinery. This decision allowed us to gain years of experience and develop the level of skill needed to elicit the faster processing speeds, superior quality, and exceptional process control that these impressive machines are capable of.
In addition to our early adoption, we also boast one of the largest installations of Kiefel machines in North America, including three new machines – a Kiefel KMD 78 at our product development and manufacturing headquarters in Huntley, IL, another Kiefel KMD 78 at our product development and manufacturing facility in Nottingham, UK and a Kiefel KMD 90 at our new medical device facility in Fremont, IN. The KMD 78 combines simple operation with maximum efficiency and a wide range of capabilities and includes:
- A heating station with efficient black ceramic elements (HTS) and individual element control
- A pyrometer to measure and ensure stable film temperature
- A forming station to include cut-in-place capability
- A stacking station that is configured as a pick & place allowing for flexibility of handling difficult part geometry
While Kiefel’s Speedformer KMD 90 offers fast cycle times, large forming areas, and reduced energy consumption, and can also process a wide range of materials. Features of the KMD 90 include:
- The largest forming area of the Speedformer series (35”x37” max. tool size)
- High-output black ceramic heaters to ensure high efficiency
- A film edge heater to handle both brittle and thick material
- A servo-driven forming station with a servo third-motion plug drive
- 44 tons of clamping pressure
- Centric servomotor-actuated knee lever drives with high stability and smoothness
- Fast and ergonomic operation maintained by the separate tool change station
With such impressive features, these two new machines not only help expand our installation to include our newest locations, but with our in-house expertise and years of experience, we are poised to offer our customers a high degree of quality, automation and efficiency combined with lower production costs and energy consumption.
What about you? Are you an early adopter turned seasoned expert with a certain piece of technology or equipment?