Kudos to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ Education Foundation (SMEEF) for launching its “Manufacturing is cool” website to help kids get a behind-the-scenes look into the significance and fascination of manufacturing.  The Manufacturing is Cool site provides an inside look at how kid favorites – such as snacks, fashion, cars and cell phones – are designed and produced by engineers.  Check out the video from Wisconsin’s own Harley Davidson, showing the engine assembly process for the V-Rod!

We at Kaysun know manufacturing is cool — we love our work!  That’s why we’re working in the local community to host school visits to our plant and encourage the next generation to pursue a rewarding and fulfilling career in manufacturing.

Btw, we found this site on Leslie Gordon’s “From Shop Floor to Software” blog on MachineDesign.com.  Great work, Leslie!

- Ben

Tags: Automotive, Industrial by benh
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Here’s a list of some of our favorite blogs, forums and Twitter pages that you may find interesting as well.   Make sure to let us know if we missed any of your favorites!

• IndustryWeek forums and blogs – several great manufacturing-related sources here, including The Manufacturing Life, by Chief Editor Steve Minter
• The Engineering Exchange – “developed by engineers for engineers”
• Engineering Materials – by Design News’ Doug Smock.  Check out his recent entry on a new grade of DuPont Zytel  that could be used  for vehicle exhaust systems!
• Design World Senior Editor Laura Carrabine’s Twitter page – for breaking news and commentary on materials
• Plastics, Composites and Coatings Community – a service of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), which also publishes Manufacturing Engineering
• Automotive DesignLine Engineering Blog – by Editor George Leopold, focused on electronics, but also a good source of news on the industry.  This site also has a very active forum

- Ben

Tags: Automotive, Industrial, Medical, Security/Defense by benh
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We’ve all been asked to please turn off our electronic devices, if not during a flight then in a medical setting:  Interference in those situations can mean life or death.

As technologies converge and devices become more compact and powerful, the space around us is now a cat’s cradle of electromagnetic waves that can wreak havoc with each other in the form of Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) – and even impact us closer to home.  Check out this NY Times article and video showing how calling a man’s cell phone turned on his gas oven.

At Kaysun, we’re finding that EMI and RFI solutions are required for every market we serve, including defense, medical, automotive and industrial, and that the ultimate goal is always the same:  protect the sensitive internal parts of precisely engineered devices from receiving those conflicting waves.

It has also enabled us to build a wealth of expertise in this area — whether it’s applying secondary shielding materials to plastic components or using highly engineered resins with inherent shielding properties – that we can apply to your particular EMI and RFI needs.

Contact us to learn more.

- Ben

Tags: Automotive, Industrial, Medical, Security/Defense by benh
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Check out the great article on the Injection Molding magazine site on the pressure many US companies are feeling to develop plans for outsourcing some part of their manufacturing to China — and the pitfalls of doing so.  Author Clare Goldsberry raised a number of good points, including the challenges posed by intellectual property theft and the lack of a stringent regulatory environment.

Before joining Kaysun, I worked in China for a US firm that managed outsourced manufacturing operations.  Based on that experience, it’s clear that OEMs should consider a few other factors as well:

• Total cost – most firms outsource to China to lower their labor costs, but too many fail to fully consider the costs of exchange rate fluctuations, transportation and quality assurance.  QA, for example, will require putting company employees on the ground in China – hiring locally, relocating US-based resources or hiring a third-party firm to fill this critical need.  Once you open the container and find errors, it will take at least 60 days to get replacements – 30 days in production and 30 days “on the water.”
• Reputation risk – this is an intangible but very real risk associated with inconsistent or poor quality.  We’ve all read or heard the news stories about tainted Chinese products hitting US markets.  It’s one thing to recall costume jewelry.  Quite another if it’s a medical device.
• Geopolitical risk – this is related to total cost, but if a worsening political climate leads to back-and-forth market sanctions, a 30% tariff on goods imported from China would wipe out any potential labor cost savings.

Bottom line – China is an attractive and viable outsourcing destination for certain promotional products and low-tech consumer goods.  But I believe the precision plastic components and assemblies required for today’s automotive and medical device markets are better sourced from leading-edge US partners like Kaysun.

- Jeff Anderson

Tags: Automotive, Industrial, Medical by jeffa
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Have you noticed more and more products are using plastics today to make them “tougher” and more durable?  Had an interesting conversation the other day with Mark Gilbertson of the industrial design firm InForm Product Development, a Kaysun partner, about the “ruggedization” trend – and wanted to share a few thoughts here.

Ruggedization is happening in virtually every market we serve.  In the medical market, the growing importance of home-care based solutions means devices need to stand up to travel and deliver portability.  In defense, the obvious drivers include demand for product designs that can endure significant impact and duress in a wide variety of weather conditions.

Two of the many drivers of this trend include:

• the economic downturn creating a “back-to-basics” movement stressing the importance of value and endurance, and
• the growing mobility of our society – increasing demand for personal electronics like laptops and cell phones that are smaller and lighter, yet capable of being dropped and “banged around.”

There’s more to cover on this topic, such as the role of plastics in ruggedization and the types of plastics best-suited to particular applications – that we’ll pick up in future blogs.

- Ben

Tags: Automotive, Industrial, Medical, Security/Defense by benh
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Kaysun Corporation is starting the New Year by adding blogging to keep in touch and expand our horizons.  Over our 60-year history, we have evolved from first designing and manufacturing plastic toys and house wares to now delivering highly engineered plastic products for the automotive, defense, medical and consumer/industrial markets. We will use this forum to share the insights and ideas of the Kaysun knowledge workers who made this transformation possible – and encourage you to join the discussion with comments, questions or suggestions for topics. I’m sure we’ll both learn a lot – and make 2010 the start of something great.

- Ben Harrison, President & CEO

Tags: Automotive, Industrial, Medical, Security/Defense, Uncategorized by benh
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