NOT JUST FOR HOSPITALS

Antimicrobial resins have been developed to meet the needs of hospitals and medical device manufacturers that want to reduce infection rates. Acquiring a bacterial infection in a hospital, or during a surgical procedure, can be deadly and also drives up health-care costs. Infections can be reduced or sometimes eliminated if the medical device, or the surfaces that patients commonly touch in the hospital setting, are embedded with antibacterial agents that make those surfaces deadly to bacteria—yet safe for human contact.

As a result, the medical industry is eager to develop products made from “smart” polymers that can improve patient outcomes and counter the increase in hospital-acquired infections, these can be called medical plastics.

Applications for antimicrobial plastics in the health-care field are many: a short list includes implantable medical devices, joint replacements, catheters, surgical instruments, trays, food carts, bed rails, etc.

There are also plenty of opportunities outside health care—other examples are clean rooms for sensitive electronics testing and assembly, water-treatment systems, food packaging, plumbing and HVAC,  sterile packaging, conveyors, public transportation, medical/diagnostic equipment, dental implants, personal care products—even office equipment.

Antimicrobial resins can be formulated for all standard injection molded plastics. Part of the challenge in engineering antimicrobial resins is finding the right “carrier” for the antimicrobial agent that integrates homogenously into the resin without altering its physical or thermal properties; chemical concentrations must also be carefully calculated to provide a steady release of ions at a pre-determined rate.

This is where material science really comes into play—the chemical interaction between the carrier, the antimicrobial agent, and the polymer must be precisely understood in order to achieve the correct release rate. If the release is too slow, bacteria may not be killed off; if the release is too fast, a metallic complex may develop within the polymer that might hinder performance or longevity. (Source: Scientific Molding by Kaysun)

Silver is most popular antimicrobial—long known to kill over 99.99% of bacteria within 24 hours of contact, it is safe for human tissue. Antimicrobial resins have been developed than can kill the most deadly infections, including MRSA.

You may want to consider antimicrobial resins for your injection-molded products if surface bacterial growth is a problem and inhibits performance. Aesthetics matter, too—bacterial discoloration or bioslime can be huge turn-offs, depending on the use of the product. Chances are if the production environment has moisture, heat, and organic material, bacteria will be lurking there too, which could be problematic for operations. If bacteria could be a problem, contact Kaysun and we’ll help answer your questions about antimicrobial plastics and connect you with qualified suppliers.

PLASTICS CAN BE TOUGHER THAN METAL (AND LOWER COST)

It’s hard to break old habits—like using metal parts and metal products. However, there are three good reasons for changing from metal to plastic:

•     Lower manufacturing cost

•     Lighter weight

•     Zero corrosion

What many manufacturers don’t know is that—when done properly—plastic parts can be injection-molded with the same tight tolerances and perform just as well (or even better) than their metal counterparts.

Careful design and planning, selection of appropriate materials, and use of scientific injection molding principles will control the main factors that affect precision, accuracy, and tight tolerances—these include material preparation, melt flow index, machine processing parameters, and most importantly, using sophisticated sensor technology to track what is happening inside the mold in real time. Making these kinds of high-performance plastic parts therefore also requires a robust quality system that can monitor every step of the injection-molding process.

When injection-molding vendors fail to meet tolerances consistently with plastic parts, this creates additional machining costs, quality costs to sort or even re-call parts, and possibly even litigation. (Source: Plastic Overmolding by Kaysun)

It only takes one bad experience with plastic parts to drive a company back to metal. But, with an experienced metal-to-plastic-conversion injection molder, there are some big advantages in going with plastic, such as:

Lower cost to produce
No secondary process to prevent oxidation
May be able to eliminate some assembly
Plastic is generally less expensive than metal
May be able to eliminate costly machining operations
Lighter weight means lower shipping charges
No painting needed, molded in color/graphics
Lighter weight
Less fatigue on a person if it is carried
Might make a product go faster

The key is to successful metal-to-plastic conversion is understanding the limitations of the process, materials, and tools are before committing to the project. Every part or product is not necessarily a good fit for metal-to-plastic conversion: important factors that must be carefully considered are the expected tolerances, materials, specific part design/configuration, and initial mold flow/analysis.

GETTING VALUABLE INSIGHTS FROM MAINTENANCE SOFTWARE

Facilities maintenance software may not be the most glamorous software on the block, but it can be quite revealing. For example, maintenance software can provide you with valuable insights into operations and show you areas that you can immediately improve. As a result, you may be able to reduce downtime, slash costs, and gain that elusive competitive edge. How can getting down to the nitty-gritty of facilities maintenance do so much? It all comes down to information and analytics.

Maintenance software is useful in tracking your facility’s overall equipment effectiveness, or OEE. In a perfect world, OEE would live up to its promise and your organization would achieve its goal of perfection (100 percent value-added work, 100 percent speed/capacity, and 100 percent perfect quality). Unfortunately, few companies can lay claim to 100 percent OEE. However, if you can improve your existing OEE rate, wouldn’t it be worth doing?

Facilities maintenance software can address an important component of OEE: equipment downtime. By computerizing equipment maintenance tasks, work, scheduled maintenance, and processes, you can equip your maintenance team with the information it needs to anticipate issues, perform preventative maintenance, schedule repairs, and reduce downtime. This information can also improve productivity and streamline processes, resulting in lower labor costs and less reliance on outside contractors.

Analytical tools in maintenance software can also provide you with the insight you need to make better decisions. For example, visual dashboards could make trends more readily apparent than a stack of work orders detailing unexpected equipment failures. Using this information, you can have your team proactively inspect similar equipment for signs of a looming failure. Analytical tools can also help you decide when it’s time to retire and replace older or obsolete equipment instead of repairing it.

Facilities maintenance software and the insights it reveals can play an important role in improving OEE and reducing downtime.

A CAREER IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY

Starting a janitorial business is something that can really be successful in today’s economic environment. Even though a lot of the types of businesses have seen a decline because of the economy, the service industry is still booming. After all, many of the jobs that are done by a janitorial company are things that are not going to be done by homeowners and those that work in the office. That is why you will also be able to start one of these businesses and see a certain level of success very quickly if you blanket the area with your service early in your business.

One of the things that you are going to need to think about when running a janitorial business is the type of janitorial equipment that you are going to need (Source: Janitorial Equipment by Janitorial Supplies Company). Some of the things that you are going to need to purchase regularly include garbage can liners, cleaning chemicals and towels to put in the paper towel dispenser where you are working. At times, you are going to need to purchase specialty items that are specific to the type of products that are used within the building. This is often true of paper towel dispensers but it is also true of trash can liners, as you may have a special type of can that is used in the office. That is why it is important for you to consider the janitorial supply company that you are using and to form a relationship so that they will be quick to provide you with what you need.

NEGOCIOS BEM GERENCIADOS GERAM SUCESSO

No mundo dos negócios é imprescindível para qualquer empresa ou projeto que haja gestão organizacional em todas  suas atividades. A  gestão de negócios visa tornar viável uma determinada tarefa pressupondo que sua otimização ocorra de forma segura, transparente e objetiva. Num mundo extremamente competitivo onde a concorrência bate à porta das empresas, é preciso ter cuidado para não ser sufocado por ela. Muitas vezes,  os negócios não têm êxito devido a falta de gestão empresarial, ao despreparo profissional. Dessa forma, todas as ações dirigidas à boa gestão organizacional devem desfragilizar-se  e seus  dirigentes precisam assumir uma postura altamente profissional.

A emissão de ordens de serviço, por exemplo, pode garantir o fluxo dos negócios. Ao mesmo tempo que emitem comunicados internos da empresa sobre um trabalho específico, também registram detalhes importantes, propiciando, assim,  a execução dos negócios em tempo hábil. Outro aspecto da boa gestão de negócios que proporciona a confiabilidade na capacidade de uma planta empresarial  é a implantação de um plano de manutenção, pois  esta garante  o funcionamento regular das instalações, bem como o seu estado de conservação. Para evitar a ocorrência da manutenção corretiva, pois ela sempre implica na parada de equipamentos e gastos maiores, é imprescindível a implantação da preventiva, uma vez que esta verifica periodicamente o funcionamento de equipamentos, antecipando eventuais problemas. Porém, tão importante quanto a preventiva é a adoção de um programa de manutenção preditiva, pois com este método  as tarefas específicas de manutenção só são realizadas se realmente forem necessárias. Por meio de um monitoramento regular dos equipamentos,  o intervalo entre os reparos aumenta e o número de falhas inesperadas  diminui.

A manutenção preditiva é que fornece dados para a manutenção preventiva. Primeiramente, monitora-se o equipamento durante certo período. Depois, se avalia o comportamento deste  até que sua operação se afaste do ponto ótimo de desempenho.  Conforme a necessidade de cada equipamento e sua importância dentro da planta, define-se o período de intervenção preventiva. Nesta análise, o modelamento estatístico é fundamental. Por isso, podemos afirmar que a manutenção preditiva fornece uma ferramenta de programação mais confiável para as próprias tarefas rotineiras de manutenção preventiva. Certamente, empresas que implementarem com sucesso métodos de manutenção preditiva apresentarão melhorias substanciais na contabilidade, disponibilidade e custos operacionais.

Enfim,  um conjunto de ações e medidas bem planejadas conduzem o processo de gestão de negócios ao sucesso absoluto.

KEEPING MAINTENANCE STAFF RUNNING

Most people that do not manage a maintenance staff do not really consider everything that is necessary to do to keep it up and running at any given time. Not only do you need to keep up the morale of the maintenance staff so that they are more productive, you also need to make sure that everything is run according to schedule. That is why most companies that have a larger maintenance staff will use some type of CMMS program (Computerized Maintenance Management System) that will allow them to set the tickets in motion and track them throughout the entire process. This type of software may also be incorporated in with an equipment tracking software or within enterprise asset management system that will help to give you a more complete control over the entire project.

It is not only important to ensure that everything is running smoothly through one of those facilities, it is also important to keep ahead of any potential problems that may occur. Preventative maintenance is, in many ways, more important than the maintenance which is done when something actually breaks down. Not only is it going to help you to save money by allowing you to avoid those more expensive maintenance tickets, it is also going to help you to save time and keep your facility up and running smoothly. Regardless of whether you are doing maintenance in a large-scale apartment community or if you are taking care of a local factory, keeping these things in mind will help things to be maintained properly. (Source: CMMS Program from eMaint)