Author Archive
8 Seminars on Material Handling Now Available in Online Training for Engineers
By Don Dunnington at 7 March, 2010, 4:38 pm
Material handling expert and popular Ask Joe! columnist Joe Marinelli recently completed his eighth video in the lecture series Bulk Solids Handling, which can be viewed on this website at the Online Training Center.
The seminars include downloa…
More Fabulous Things (Including Industrial Machines) Are on the Way
By Don Dunnington at 28 January, 2010, 3:23 pm
This week, two possibly world-changing launches took place: On Tuesday Seth Godin introduced his latest book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? The next day Apple introduced the iPad.
Most observers instantly declared both fabulous, though a few fo…
Boost Your Brain Power by Reading this Blog
By Don Dunnington at 8 December, 2009, 12:43 pm
Web surfing may be improving your mind in more ways than you expected. UCLA scientists have announced results of a study in which they found, according to the University’s Rachel Champeau, "middle-aged and older adults with little Internet ex…
Read More >>How Innovation Turbo-Charges Your Company
By Don Dunnington at 6 November, 2009, 11:48 am
In "3 Tips for Becoming an Energizing Engineer" I discussed Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s take on how the best leaders lead with positive energy. I recently came across research that suggests creativity and innovation may be an organization’s most i…
Read More >>3 Tips for Becoming an Energizing Engineer
By Don Dunnington at 30 September, 2009, 7:30 am
It’s not just the Energizer Bunny that keeps things going with its never-quit energy. Harvard’s business professor and chronicler of leadership and innovation, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, has written "Three Tips for Becoming an Energizer" for …
Read More >>Who Are the Top Engineering Rock Stars? Make Your Nominations Here
By Don Dunnington at 12 August, 2009, 10:40 am
Last night I saw Ajay Bhatt on TV for the first time. He’s Intel’s latest "rock star" in their "Sponsors of Tomorrow" marketing campaign.
You can see Bhatt’s rock idol video here. He is an Intel fellow and the co-inventor of USB, t…
Industries Look to Innovations in Process Equipment to Save Costs, Improve Quality and Stay Competitive
By Don Dunnington at 10 August, 2009, 2:44 pm
Helping industry produce better product, faster, and at lower cost has been a driving force for many of the most innovative process equipment companies. Today process automation remains the chief tool available to process industries seeking to reduce c…
Read More >>Online Learning Shows Upward Trend in Down Market
By Don Dunnington at 17 July, 2009, 3:12 pm
While the world economy proves once again that Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) had it right ("What goes up must come down"), Joe Marinelli demonstrates here at the Powder and Bulk Online Training Center that some things are still headed up.
&quo…
Recession-Proof Industries Part 2: Electric Power and Coal
By Don Dunnington at 2 May, 2009, 6:43 pm
At Coal Prep 2009 I saw tangible evidence that coal fired electric power generation may be another of those recession-proof industries. Like the food and pharmaceutical industries covered in part 1, electric power demand continues to fuel sales for industrial equipment makers.
Attendance at this year’s show is estimated by the Coal Preparation Society of America to be up 15% over last year. They ran out of exhibit space in the main hall this year, and dozens of late comers were setup in the entrance outside the hall.
Although electric power was not one of the top 50 recession-proof industries listed in the Resume Bear article, turbine generators were listed as number two. This is what Resume Bear had to say about that industry, which largely holds true for power generation as well:
One defining trait of recession-proof industries is that they are often not dependent on consumer demand. That is, the industry in question produces something that is essential to business operations or things that have little or no bearing on consumer spending. Turbines and turbine generators are an excellent example of this, boasting 6%, 12%, and 2% growth during 1990, 2001, and 2007.
Electric Power and Coal
Lee Doyer, Vice President – Sales and Marketing, Pennsylvania Crusher Corporation told me that the utility and energy areas tend to weather recessions a lot better than other sectors.
"People still turn the lights on every day," he said, "and they still need electricity to run their computers and power their homes and businesses."
Pennsylvania Crusher exhibited their Mountaineer Sizer at the Coal Prep show. The sizer is used for primary and secondary sizing of coal at the mine. Pennsylvania Crusher is also a major supplier of reversible hammermill crushers used by electric power utilities and the Coalpactor coal crusher, designed for fluid bed boiler power plants
Mike Hamby – Vice President Sales & Service – NAFTA at Gundlach Equipment Corporation said that both market demands and environmental concerns have coal producers looking to improve their processing to get more value from the coal they mine.
Gundlach was exhibiting their 4040D two-stage four-roll crusher, which takes feed up to 24" x 0" for product output of 2" x 0" and a capacity of 1000 STPH.
Hamby said he is also seeing more interest in technologies that employ lesser grade coal that once had little commercial value, such as crushing and pelletizing coal. Another example is the crushing of lower ranked coals such as lignite for coal gasification. These applications require coal sized from to 6 – 3 mm, or less, which can be accomplished with Gundlach’s Cage-Paktor cage mill.
Co-firing Biomass and Coal
On the evening before Coal Prep’s start Ted Gentile, International Sales Manager, Jeffrey Rader Corporation, gave a presentation on technologies used to feed dual fired coal and biomass boilers.
He described both mechanical feed systems and direct pneumatic injection systems that can be used to retrofit existing PF Wall Fired Utility Boilers and new Fluidized Bed Boiler Systems optimized for biomass and other diverse fuels.
Gentile told me that while dual fired boiler systems are new to the United States, his company has extensive experience building these systems in Europe. For more on feeding biomass into boilers see Gentile’s recent blog article, Biomass Boiler Feed Systems Gain Global Acceptance.
At Coal Prep, Jeffrey Rader exhibited is electro mechanical vibratory feeder for coal and mini-mill crusher, which is used in mines and at prep plants.
Don Dunnington
Blog Moderator
Finding Comfort in Recession-Proof Industries
By Don Dunnington at 17 April, 2009, 5:02 pm
Earlier this week PowderandBulk.com publisher Joe Taylor told me of a conversation he had with a friend in the pneumatic conveying business. "They have had a whole series of big sales to the foods industry," he said. "I guess the sales focus changes to the industries least hurt by the recession."
Joe brings up a good point. If your only information about the economy comes from the nightly news, you might be persuaded that no one is doing business right now. But we’re dealing with a very large world economy, and there are some significant sectors that continue to function quite well.
Comfort in the Food Industry
As Joe suggested, food (including pet food) is one of those sectors that tends to fare better than others in a recession.
K-Tron Process Group’s Bob Barnett agrees. As vice president of sales and marketing, he has been through a number of economic ups and downs. He said, "People eat more comfort food when they’re feeling bad about the economy. Companies that make snack foods, cereals and convenience foods tend to grow in recessions."
Barnett noted that food’s robust growth even offers some sugar coating to an otherwise dismal plastics industry that is way down due to the auto and housing declines. Those industries making plastic film for food packaging or sheet for microwave food containers are adding process lines.
Healthy Business in the Pharmaceutical Industry
The Pharmaceutical Industry is another sector that keeps investing in production improvements in recessions. K-Tron’s Barnett told me the pharmaceutical industry has a very long development process that tends to keep on track despite the mergers and consolidation the industry is experiencing.
On April 30, I’ll be attending a seminar in King of Prussia, PA where I’ll learn more about the growing momentum for conversion from batch to continuous processing of pharmaceuticals. The seminar, Innovations in Pharmaceutical Processing, is hosted by K-Tron Process Group, Leistritz, Howorth Air Technology, Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems, K-Tron Premier and Quadro Engineering Corp.
At the Resume Bear, a blog for job seekers, a recent article listed medicinal and biological products as number 3 of the top 50 recession-proof industries with 7%, 2%, and 5% growth in the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Many of those top 50 recession-proof industries in the Resume Bear article (especially in Part 2 which lists numbers 26-50) are actually government or educational institutions, but there are some additional industrial sectors that are worth noting. In my next post, I’ll look at another industry that remains strong in the face of recession.
Don Dunnington
Blog Moderator
