AIE - Allied Industrial Engineering - Newsletter

AIE assists with Urgent Rebuild of Fans for NZ Steel

When NZ Steel had an explosion in their Bag House, the two induced draught fans were destroyed and needed urgent replacement. AIE were contacted to see if they could replace at least one fan at short notice, and this is what we did. We built a replacement East fan in very short duration, and were then asked to supply the West fan once the East fan was up and running. We also assisted in design improvements which improved the operational characteristics of the fans. Read more.........

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Pulp Drying process more efficient due to assistance by AIE Engineering Team

AIE have once again been able to provide a complete design, build and installation package to help maximise the customers' pulp drying process operational efficiency.

The press frame design which was carried out by the AIE design team, included a Finite Element Stress Analysis (FEA). Once the customer had approved the design, manufacture of the frames began with the production of manufacturing drawings. The fabrication team then assembled and welded the two press frames ready for stress relieving. A purpose built furnace was constructed for accurately controlling furnace temperatures up to 650C. Read More..........

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Apprentice Training and Development

Training and developing young people in the engineering industry is essential for us all. Congratulations to Scott Whyte for recently completing his National Certificate in Maintenance and Diagnostics Level 4 qualification. Scott has become an integral part of the AIE team.

We have also taken on Sam Moore under the new qualification National Certificateof Mechanical Engineering (Level 4) Machining. Sam had decided during his seventh form year at Trident High School that he would like to try his hand at engineering. Sam had been working at AIE for half a day a week during the latter part of his seventh form year. When the opportunity arose to become an apprentice, Sam leapt at the chance.

Although Sam enjoys working with his hands and on our lathes and milling machines, he also enjoys ripping up the dirt on his motorbike when he gets the chance. Having lived locally all of his life, Sam is just as much at home on his surf board and wakeboard as he is on his motorbike. He also enjoys diving and completed his PADI certification 12 months ago.

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CNC Manufacturing capability continuing to be enhanced

As part of our on-going effort to provide high quality engineering solutions, on time, AND for a reasonable cost, we are pleased with our most recent Okuma Machining Centre.The machineis an excellent compliment to our other two CNC machining centres, with a table size of 1530mm x 660mm, and capacity of 1,500kg. For more details on our CNC machining

capability click here......

We have also placed an order with Okuma for a large double column machining centre with 2 spindle swivel head for 5 face machining. This machine has a 2,500mm by 6,300mm table with 3,050mm effective width between the columns. This machine will significantly enhance our ability to machine large items accurately and cost effectively, and is expected to be in operation towards the end of 2008.

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3D design and Finite Element Analysis capability added

SolidWorks is a powerful software package that allows designs to be modelled in 3D and then have a finite element analysis (FEA) carried out on them to verify the design and ensure the structural integrity of the finished component without the need for long hand calculations.

With the purchase of SolidWorks earlier this year AIE now has the ability to provide a very detailed analysis of the strength and durability of a component under various operating conditions.

Not only can AIE provide this analysis for components designed in house but we can also provide a report on existing components to better enable customers to understand component failures or under performance issues.

Other benefits from the use of the 3D modelling software include improved accuracy of the components during the draughting phase and also a much better understanding of more complicated designs.

Some examples of the jobs carried out with SolidWorks so far this year are:

Design of a 750 tonne hydraulic cylinder.

Design of stub ends and fitting to rolls.

Design of refiner shaft and rotor.

Recovery boiler ID Fan motor base.

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Company directors adding technical expertise

We are pleased to welcome Greg Adams and Neil Howe to the AIE team in the newly created positions of Company Directors. Greg and Neil together have over 50 years experience in the engineering industry, particularly in heavy fabrication, castings, and specialised machining. Their role will be to assist us to grow our depth of technical capabilities, and set our longer term direction.

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