The SolidExperts continue to provide the best SolidWorks support and training available for us in south Florida. It’s to your benefit for both users and non-users to take advantage of these free events. You will be privy to the latest release of SolidWorks. Tom Talbot and several GBSIntl associates both technical and managerial from design, engineering, tooling and related product development businesses will be attending.

Date /Fort Lauderdale:

Fort Lauderdale – Tuesday, October 26

Courtyard Marriott Dania

400 Gulf Stream Way
Dania Beach, FL 33004 

Time:

• 5:30PM – 6:00PM Networking, Food & Refreshments
• 6:00PM – 9:00PM Presentations

If you have any coworkers that you feel might be interested in attending, please make sure they have the address and time information above and let SolidExperts know by having them register online today or giving us a call at 954-772-1903.

I want to thank my friend Marty Bernoski from ESPN for his work in Pittsburg producing today’s ESPN and baseball great “Maz” interview, exactly 50 years after Bill Mazerowski’s World Series, Game 7, walk off Home Run to beat Yogi Berra’s NY Yankees.  

Like Marty would say, it was Oct. 13, 1960, where were you?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/feature/video/_/id/5662618/maz-moment

Dr. Louis Reifschneider, SPE Environmental Division , invited members of the Society of Plastics Engineers to submit papers on the use of plastic materials for sustainable design:

• recycling,
• sustainability,
• bio-degradable polymers,
• non petroleum based polymers,
• reclamation,
• resource recovery, and

Plastics R&D is being done worldwide in areas concerning the disposal of plastic materials. Tom Talbot, Project Engineer at The Green Lid Company together with GBSIntl, have been working with highly recycled materials as well as bio-degradable polymers. Design, tooling and variable heat distortion temperatures of plastic materials has varied over a range of polymers and mold trials.

To submit a paper and abstract, link to http://www.4spe.org/conferences/antec-2011

An update email from Tina is very helpful in establishing baseline ocean  rates for tooling and molds recently designed in the USA and built in China. Ocean freight prices can vary by 20 % or more based on customer savvy relationships and negotiation. GBSIntl (Global Business Solutions International) is aware of the importance of securing quality freight carriers at a competitive price. Here is todays email from Tina Jiang in Shenzhen:

Hi Mr. Thomas Talbot how are you?

This is Tina from ENTRUST INT’L LOGISTICS LTD., Shenzhen Branch, China. Glad to quote you the updated FCL Ocean Rates from Shenzhen/ HK to USA.

From Shenzhen to Long Beach, CA
O/F: USD1700/20’, USD2070/40’, USD2170/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY THU.
ETD: EVERY FRI.
T/T:17days

From Shenzhen/HK to Long Beach/ OAKLAND,CA:
O/F: USD1750/20’, USD2150/40’, USD2250/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY SUN.
ETD: EVERY TUE.
T/T: 14DAYS

From Shenzhen/HK to Los Angeles / OAKLAND,CA:
O/F: USD 1950/20’, USD2400/40’, USD2550/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY FRI.
ETD: EVERY SUN.
T/T: 12DAYS

From Shenzhen/HK to NEWARK/CHARLESTON /MIAMI:
O/F: USD 2950/20’, USD3700/40’, USD3850/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY SAT.
ETD: EVERY SUN.
T/T: 24DAYS

From Shenzhen/HK to CHICAGO:
O/F: USD 3050/20’, USD3800/40’, USD3950/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY SAT.
ETD: EVERY SUN.
T/T: 21DAYS

From Shenzhen/HK to Cleveland:
O/F: USD 3600/20’, USD4050/40’, USD4200/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY SAT.
ETD: EVERY SUN.
T/T: 24DAYS

From Shenzhen/HK to Cincinnati/ Columbus:
O/F: USD 3850/20’, USD4300/40’, USD4450/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY SAT.
ETD: EVERY SUN.
T/T: 24DAYS

From Shenzhen/HK to Dallas:
O/F: USD 3550/20’, USD4000/40’, USD4150/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY SAT.
ETD: EVERY SUN.
T/T: 24DAYS

From Shenzhen/HK to Houston:
O/F: USD 3200/20’, USD3750/40’, USD3900/40HQ
CLOSING: EVERY SAT.
ETD: EVERY SUN.
T/T: 24DAYS

Remark:
1. The quotation is based on FOB Shenzhen/ HK.
2. The rates are valid to Oct. 30th, 2010.
3. The quotation is available for the General Cargos.

For any inquiry, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks!

Best Regards,

Tina Jiang

Old Scarface, one of our battle scarred aluminum prototype tools, did the best it could yesterday but it just wasn’t enough.  While thermoforming two new gauges of Polystyrene and another thin gauge of recycled PET, parts were molded and formed in their entirety.

At the outset, customer operational requirements were well communicated over 3 weeks ago. Due to a drop dead delivery date, Project Engineering failed to do a work around of a previously recognized design flaw. 

Although corrective 3-D SolidWorks product design changes were completed in one week or less, they could not be incorporated at this time into the current tooling without building a new mold. 

Bottom line, we listen to our customer, we share our positions and go back and make it right.

An environmental associate of mine called yesterday to describe the total marketing failure of another large company that jumped head first into biodegradable packaging with their eyes and ears closed!  He stated that in the rush to Go Green, PepsiCo and/or its packaging supplier got royally burned!

The Frito-Lay company owned by PepsiCo according to a well written article by Suzanne Vranica stated that PepsiCo is “pulling most of the biodegradable packaging it uses for its Sun Chips snacks, following an outcry from consumers who complained the new bags were too noisy.”

My experience was the same while snuggling up with my wife watching a NETFLIX movie in soothing dim lighting.  The noise from the bag became a laughable distraction. The product experience of these great chips lost and we have never bought another “Frito-Lay biodegradable bag” since.

In product development we talk a lot about design for manufacturing and now design for the environment.  However, if the early marketing shows that customers will reject a Frito-Lay product due to being too noisy, then it’s time for the engineers to start over.  It is no longer Caveat Emptor (Let the buyer beware), it’s time for Chief executives to Beware.  

Bottom line, chief executives seem to be struggling with the use of technology in their blind rush to Go Green.

WSJ Creditable Link:    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534182403878708.html?KEYWORDS=pepsico

Since April, 2010, Tom Talbot, Project Engineer at GBSIntl has been successfully working closely with Vector Company located at Wheeling, Illinois.  Managed by Robert A. Eberle and John Agazim, Vector Company continues to grow vertically from a product technology base by adding new products and patents. 

Product development and prototype services provided to GBSIntl by Vector Company include tool build, tool design, project engineering, sampling and molding.

In summary, Vector Company supplies quality components used by the thermoforming industry. Their personnel are knowledgeable in the various facets of thermoforming, forming, trim dies, tools and engineering requirements. Below please find a listing of the products and services Vector Company (sales@vector-co.com) provides its clients.

Product/Service Listing

Services:

TOOL DESIGN

ENGINEERING

POLISHING

HARD COAT

ANODIZING

RAPID PROTOTYPING

DOMESTIC SHIPPING

INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT

SAMPLE RUN THERMOFORMING

CMM MEASUREMENTS

METAL ANALYSIS

PROCESS CONSULTING

FEEDER DESIGN & BUILD

CUSTOM COMPONENTS

PART REPAIR

CUSTOMER INVENTORY

EMERGENCY SERVICE

Products:

BRONZE BUSHINGS

SIMPLICITY BEARINGS

GUIDE PINS

GUIDE POST

SPRINGS

DIE SPRINGS

O-RINGS

O-RING CORD

BOTTLE BRUSHES

QUICK CHANGE STANDARD

QUICK CHANGE CUSTOM

ASSIST PLUGS

SYNTACTIC- FOAM, ULTEM 1000, POLYSULFONE

ANTI-FALL BACK ASSEMBLIES

INSPECTION EQUIPMENT

INDICATORS

CYLINDERS

HAND TOOLS & MEASURING DEVICES

Yes, LTI was cranking out quality work and meeting with customers just like me without interference! My injection mold samples and first article quality inspection were already completed and waiting for project engineering review. 

I am going to work and play this morning with a live online Ryder Cup broadcast in the background coming from Wales. I will feature my one and only hole in one ball, shot witnessed by my wife, and my Muirfield and St. Andrews golf balls given to me by my Pompano Beach CPA and certifiably low handicap golfer, Mark Baker, a.k.a.  Mr.4 Iron.Mr. Baker can be reached at Malcom and Baker, CPA’s & Associates, at www.CPAMB.com.

Here is the Ryder Cup Link: http://www.rydercup.com/2010/usa/index.cfm

While driving through a tropical storm in South Florida, I received a nice surprise phone call from Mr. Stephen Hasselbach, owner of CMI Plastics, in Ayden, NC.  Mr. Hasselbach owns a 170,000 square foot state-of-the-art thermoforming plant.  The facility was efficiently designed and built in 2007.

Topics of discussion between us centered on molding and tooling and opportunities to use green materials for our customers.  CMI’s expertise in polyesters and certain biodegradable plastics was of particular interest to me. Mr. Hasselbach stated that CMI’s production experience with a polyester blend of 35% sugar may be classified as a “renewable resource.”

My recent experience molding recycled FDA approved polyesters to replace certain polystyrene products in California and other areas is currently in the product developmental stages.  Going green is both customer and legislative driven and will require additional local, state and plastics community coordination to go full circle to compost our waste products.

In closing, my thanks go out to fellow SPE members Mark Krausman and Roger Kipp from McClarin Plastics in Pennsylvania that made this connection possible between me and Mr. Hasselbach.

Leading Technologies Inc., a.k.a. LTI, located in Davie, Florida, specializes in product development, rapid prototyping, laser scanning, and low volume prototype runs.  President, Alex Atala, BSME University of Florida and highly skilled soccer player, has been successfully in business for over 10 years.  Mr. Atala has been an Alpha user of the latest SolidWorks programs for most of this time. 

“Inventions and new product innovations…are the mainstay of our business.”  Mr. Atala also stated that his everyday experience in working with customers is to deliver exactly what they are looking for and more.  “We can take an idea or concept all the way from prototype to final production. We utilize high tech software tools including SolidWorks together with state of the art in-house prototyping equipment.” Speed and high quality workmanship is an everyday requirement. Customers include Lockheed Martin,  BAE,  Hunter Douglas,  and Black and Decker.

LTI  specializes in conceptual product design and new product development. LTI’s expertise in projects requiring design and build for plastics, castings, injection molds, thermoforming tooling and other manufacturing processes can accelerate getting a product to market faster. Other in-house capabilities include laser scanning and reverse engineering.

For more information contact tom.talbot @GBSIntl.com or go to www.L-ti.net.