Mix of Ancient, Advanced Technologies Salvage Older Elevator

• Jeff Eckhoff

A downtown Des Moines apartment building avoided a costly elevator replacement last year after CIRAS helped its owners recreate an essential piece of safety equipment.

Investors bought the aging, 11-story building at 600 East Fifth Street in Des Moines in 2013. They then renamed it The Lyon and spent two years remodeling it into 103 new apartments. A problem soon became apparent, however, in that something important seemed to have been lost during the sale.

UEA Finds Success through Proposal Process

• Jeff Eckhoff

A Waverly manufacturer of slip rings landed a $1.7 million contract from the Federal Aviation Administration after CIRAS helped the company understand government bidding requirements and learn how to write a formal proposal.

Hemen Dattani, sales director for United Equipment Accessories (UEA), was tasked last March to explore federal contracting opportunities so UEA could leverage a newly forged research and development partnership to expand design capabilities and make the company competitive in new markets. He turned to the CIRAS Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) for help.

TG Industries Flips a Switch to Cut Costs, Stabilize Supply

• Jeff Eckhoff

An Armstrong maker of hydraulic lift vehicles expects to save money and eliminate production delays after CIRAS helped the company find an alternative for a problem part.

TG Industries, which also does business as Arm Lift, started using a particular type of rocker switch in its vehicles in 2000, said engineer Loren Kinnander. By 2019, the once-standard switches were no longer common. Prices rose as they became harder and harder to obtain from the company’s single overseas supplier.

CIRAS Guides Grinding Improvement at Weiler

• Jeff Eckhoff

A Knoxville-based heavy equipment manufacturer estimates that the company retained more than $10 million in sales after CIRAS helped it solve a problem with cracking shafts on a rock drill used in highway construction.

Mark Prachar, a project engineer with Weiler, said the company took control of a new process for making components for its rock drills in 2018—only to find cracks in the shafts produced. Company engineers, many of them Iowa State University graduates, turned to CIRAS for help diagnosing the problem.

CIRAS Helps Latham Hi-Tech Seeds Have Smooth Spring

• Jeff Eckhoff

An Alexander, Iowa, seed company estimates it will gain more than $3 million in new business over the next year, partly because CIRAS helped the company become more efficient in the face of rapid growth.

Chris Latham, chief financial officer for Latham Hi-Tech Seeds, said his company struggled to keep up with its orders for soybeans and seed corn in 2019 as it expanded into new markets in South Dakota. The increased business, along with a growing trend of farmers seeking to accept their seed as close to the beginning of planting season as possible, seemed to be creating bottlenecks.

Collaborating to Predict Machine Failure

• Jeff Eckhoff

A Davenport manufacturer of electrical safety devices is prototyping a new product intended to help equipment operators predict when their machines will fail.

The new system, which is expected to be released within the next year, will use special sensors created by Davenport-based Grace Technologies integrated with predictive algorithms using an Internet of Things (IoT) architecture. The technology has grown out of a collaborative, CIRAS-supported research effort between Grace and Iowa State University.

Participants Needed for Study on Stress & Safety at Work

• Jeff Eckhoff

Researchers at the Occupational Safety program at the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University are looking into how stress is affecting decision making on safety in manufacturing. The results from this study will be used to assist in developing programs and policies to reduce the negative impact that stress has on … Continue reading Participants Needed for Study on Stress & Safety at Work

Digital Lab: New Tech Brings New Possibilities

• Jeff Eckhoff

Iowa State University’s Digital Manufacturing Lab is adding new tools to give Iowa companies more minimal-risk ways to experiment with new technology. Chris Hill, director of the CIRAS Technology Assistance Program (TAP), said two new 3D printers will give the lab greater flexibility to produce detailed prototypes for Iowa companies looking to experiment with new … Continue reading Digital Lab: New Tech Brings New Possibilities

Construction Webinars: Tips for Government Contractors

• Jeff Eckhoff

Government agencies spend an enormous amount of money each year on construction projects for the public. These projects follow their own particular lifecycle and pose unique challenges for contractors when it comes to issues things such as site conditions, scheduling changes, or wage requirements.

Wouldn’t you like some help navigating the complexities of this complicated world?

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