EWI is pleased to recognize Oleg Volf, Principal Engineer for NDE and winner of the ASME BPV V Award. He received the award at the ASME Full Matrix Capture UT meeting in Salt Lake City on May 26, 2019.
The award was presented to Oleg for his significant
contribution in creating the rules in the Mandatory Appendix X1 and guidance in
Nonmandatory Appendix F for Full Matrix Capture (FMC) in the ASME BPVC-V-2019
Code on Nondestructive Examination.
Due to popular demand, EWI has added a late summer session of its FUNDAMENTALS OF WELDING ENGINEERING course to be held August 12-16, 2019. The course will take place at EWI headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. Registration is limited, and the deadline is Tuesday, August 6. To register or to get more information, click here now.
The regularly scheduled fall session will still take place October 14-18, 2019, at EWI in Columbus. Registration for the fall class is also open now.
On August 14-15, 2019, Louisiana State University and
Louisiana Tech will hold a workshop to introduce the proposed Center for Innovations in Structural Integrity
Assurance (CISIA). The workshop will present the mission, concept, and
potential focus areas for the new industry/academic research center, which will
be sponsored by the National Foundation of Science and industrial members.
The need for a national technology center that can advance
new technologies to address aging infrastructure and enable the safe,
economical use of emerging materials and processes is now more important than
ever. EWI, a provider of comprehensive structural integrity assessment and
engineering services to companies across industry, has been in collaboration
with LSU in the planning of CISIA, helping to identify scope, objective, and potential
industrial partners for the project.
The workshop will kick off with a discussion of challenges and opportunities presented by Tom McGaughy, EWI Senior Technology Advisor for Structural Integrity. Discussions of potential projects in testing, sensing, analysis and prediction, and inspection will follow. To see the full agenda, click here.
To register for inaugural CISIA industry workshop or for more information, click here.
ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence unveiled its first annual report today (available here), announcing more than $7 million in total in-kind, government, and other support since its July 2018 launch. ASTM International also announced that it would make new hires to support its growing leadership in additive manufacturing standardization and related areas.
Roughly $5 million in funding came through government-affiliated organizations and agencies such as America Makes (US), the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (Singapore), and Innovate UK. About $2 million of mostly in-kind support came from Center of Excellence partners Auburn University, NASA, EWI, the UK-based Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), NAMIC, the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), and ASTM International.
“Through this fast-growing center, we have funded several research projects to support standardization, we have been awarded several government-led projects, we have established industry consortia in two regions, we have launched workforce training efforts, and much more,” said Dr. Mohsen Seifi, ASTM International’s director of global additive manufacturing programs. “It’s exciting to see how far we have come – and to envision how far we can go – in addressing the critical need for technical standards development that supports advancements in additive manufacturing technology.”
To support the center and related additive manufacturing efforts, ASTM International is hiring additional staff in the U.S. and in Singapore. Earlier in July, the organization hired Mahdi Jamshidinia, Ph.D., to serve as Additive Manufacturing R&D Project Manager. Jamshidinia has over a decade of experience in additive manufacturing and materials processing, with expertise in laser powder bed fusion, electron beam powder bed fusion, alloy design, and more. Previously he worked for GE Additive and EWI.
Tele-Welding: The New Remote Workforce for Manufacturing
by Henry Cialone
We live in a world where getting things done remotely is quickly becoming the new normal.
Every day, technicians use the internet to fix computer problems from afar, logging in from wherever they are and using a virtual mouse to remotely navigate a customer’s desktop. Physicians can now offer 24/7 care, diagnosing patients and writing prescriptions with the touch of a button on a tablet or smart phone. And around the world, millions of people (70% of professionals, to be exact) telecommute to their jobs at least one day a week.
That’s pretty astounding — and it speaks to the way technology is changing the way businesses work across all industries. Manufacturing is no exception, with artificial intelligence (AI) now influencing product design, factory work, and parts inspections, with more potential uses on the horizon.
Developing Remote Welding Operations
While AI and “robotics” may present the perceived issue of displacing human jobs, there actually are ways to use these technologies to retain employees who would otherwise be out of work or open up job opportunities to non-traditional workers.
For example in the welding trade — a job that can come with its fair share of back-breaking labor, often in cramped or dangerous work environments — many welders in the manufacturing industry leave the workspace at a relatively early age even though they still have the skills to do the job. Their departure leaves companies competing for scarce talent to replace them.
The concept of remote operation offers one solution to the problem. Inspired by the success of robot-assisted surgery or tele-medicine, “tele-welding” technology (or cloud-based welding) features a welding device that could be driven by an operator who is physically distant from the actual weld site. Much like a seasoned doctor with limited hand-eye coordination but clear knowledge of how to do the operation, welders would have the benefit of maneuvering the mechanical system all within the comfort and safety of a remote location. This could extend the careers of current welders and open the field to non-traditional candidates like wounded warriors.
Big Benefits of Tele-Welding
Using a remote-operations tool to allow welders to perform their job from a distance would solve many worker and workplace challenges. First, there’s the removal of personnel from the direct zone of welding arc and fume plus the reduction of knee and back damage when welding in strenuous positions. Remote operation can also be extended to other functions — especially in dark and dangerous areas such as tanks and ship bottoms where accidents are more likely to occur. Tele-welding would allow aging welders to stay in the work force for 5 or 10 years longer, and disabled workers could re-enter the workforce even when they face physical limitations from age or injury.
Another less obvious benefit is that remote-operations technology would move welding and potentially other processes into more of a high-tech environment — a shift that would attract young workers and get them excited about a profession they might otherwise view as outdated. The technology also would reduce geographical limitations on hiring; the talent pool would grow as people from all over the world could be hired to do welding work regardless of their location.
When tele-welding becomes available to the manufacturing
industry, the business impacts will be substantial, including:
Increased
worker productivity
Decreased
cost of hiring and training large numbers of local personnel
Improved
first-time quality rates as the most-skilled welders can be virtually deployed to
any location
Reduced
injury or illness by removing workers from hazardous situations
At EWI, we’re working to make this concept a reality in the form of new tele-welding application. We’ve recently been awarded a project to develop a tele-welding system for shipbuilding by the National Shipbuilding Research Program.We look forward to exciting developments over the next couple of years.
Read more about EWI’s advancements in tele-welding here.
Buffalo Manufacturing Works is moving to a new location! The home base for EWI’s New York operation is now:
Buffalo Manufacturing Works 683 Northland Avenue Buffalo, NY 14211
We are still settling in and not quite ready for visitors. However, all postal deliveries and shipments should now be sent to our new address.
We look forward to receiving clients in our greatly expanded facility in Buffalo’s Northland Center soon. In the meantime, we’d like to share a few preview pictures of our new home.
For more information, contact [email protected] or call 716.710.5500.
