The payback game: so just which hydraulic manufacturers will profit from the robot challenge? The FT recently reported that China bought 66,000 out of 240,000 robot units sold globally last year. The UK bought only an estimated 2400 units in 2015, according to statistics from the International Federation of Robotics. It makes riveting [...]
Gadget boys and girls are in heaven. How the world has changed for people making their second largest purchase after a house. Fifteen years ago we had cars which had become dramatically more reliable, lasted eighteen years and any corner garage could repair them with pattern parts. We have had a massive change in the [...]
Will the sort of home automation that was showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 6-9 th give us slick and dependable products? Once again, we all had our annual glimpse into the future of home electronics, with a daily dose of the next big thing in our newspapers and on the web. [...]
As someone who has more than once been left unconvinced that a thickness called up on a drawing was what had been produced, I was interested to read of last week’s awful legal case where a new yacht had run aground, the hull split and the owner brought an action against the yacht builder claiming that [...]
Just a simple round up from what we have learnt about seal materials over thirty years. There are no end of sites on the Web on seal materials and compatibility. There are manufacturers like Parker on www.parker.com . There are lots of great distributors. As usual, feel free to comment, even if something is wrong. [...]
When is "cheap and throwaway" a total waste of time if you are relying on something to work? Whether you need it to work reliably on a job in order to pay the mortgage or you need it to work after three years in an emergency situation, will a throwaway component fit the bill? If [...]
The customer wants you to add a hand pump for a ridiculously low cost. You will win the order if you can supply the pack immediately with a hand pump. The customer wants to upgrade some systems to standby power but won’t pay for your service guy to travel to site. Unfortunately, these are everyday [...]
Particularly in smaller businesses, I think partnerships with suppliers are what make the business. We have some incredibly long relationships. There is more to it than price. Service and know-how are big things as well. However much information is on a drawing for a machined part, processed component or even in a description on a [...]
I think we all get lulled into thinking that IT infrastructure is as solid as a rock. Just because all those problems that we had "a year or two ago" are all forgotten, does that mean that life will not become a nightmare next week? Every time something goes wrong, write it in a log. [...]
We certainly know our seals here, we've been designing pumps for 30 years! Here's some of what we've learnt: Think carefully about designing in a seal unique to one manufacturer. It is a right headache if they are suddenly on a 16 week lead. There are Chinese seals and Chinese seals. Bearing in mind that [...]
