February 2004 

Below are listed featured articles from the February 2004 issue, Vol. 57, no. 2 © 2004 Barks Publications, Inc. ... see also February 2004 departments and columns and Previous issues.

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• Shop Equipment Showcase    A section devoted to equipment and materials used in apparatus service  By the EA staff

• Safety and Efficiency focus of Plant Show  Visitors to National Manufacturing Week in Chicago will learn of these and other issues currently confronting facility managers.   By Kevin Jones, EA Senior Editor

• When isn't vibration bad?  Is there a reason to suppose a properly repaired motor is less reliable than a new machine?  Read an online summary (trilingual summary appears in the magazine) By Richard L. Nailen, RE., EA Engineering Editor

When Motor Vibration is Needed to “Shake Things Up”—Electrical and maintenance engineers are conditioned to view vibration as a detriment to motor performance and life. But in many industries (cement, petrochemicals, mining, pharmaceuticals, foundries), “vibrator motor” or “shaker” applications are used to provide the continuous agitation needed to move or sift materials, and avoid clumps and clogs, during production. This feature will look at the special operating features of this type of equipment, and at the repair/maintenance considerations required to keep it working at optimal performance levels.  

• High technology helps a family business survive   'A motor shop is just a mtor shop, and we need to go beyond that', says Scott Mahoney, President of Jenkins Electric Company in Charlotte, North Carolina  By Richard L. Nailen, RE., EA Engineering Editor

Positioning a “Service Shop” for the Next 100 Years—Auto racing, gas appliances, fiber optic cable, lithium batteries for military electronics, the search for a salt substitute. Do these sound like typical applications for a traditional electrical service shop? For the North Carolina company featured in the February EA, they now are. We provide an on-the-spot report on how this family-run firm, which traces its roots to a winding company founded in 1907, has partnered with a Texas-based technology company to spin off a fast-growing systems integration arm that develops automated equipment for a wide variety of industrial testing and analysis applications.

• Choosing motor efficiency: Europe versus U.S.  The same goal, but different approaches  By Richard L. Nailen, RE., EA Engineering Editor

• Getting profitable by careful cost management Management performance evaluations and incentive compensation are key  By William H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor

• Toxic mold, a growing problem  It could become the next asbestos.  By Richard B. Elsberry, EA Contributing Editor

See also February 2004's Departments, columns