Dear Sir or Madame-
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In this December 16, 2009 Publication:
Molded Magnesium Parts Create Rugged Housing
No Action On Healthcare Amendments In
Senate Saturday
Alcoa Die Casting Process Cuts Weight, Parts
Count for Porsche and Jaguar
With Christmas Looming, Reid Seeks To Line Up
60 Votes For Healthcare Bill
Employer Health Benefits: A Kaiser Family
Foundation Report
LINKS Magazine Wants to Know about Your
Energy-Saving Efforts!
Molded Magnesium Parts Create Rugged Housing
Injection molding magnesium? It sounds far out, but, in
fact, it's increasing in popularity as a way of solving many design engineering problems.
Case in point: A Pittsburgh-based company called DynaVox Mayer-Johnson wanted a sturdy, but lightweight case to
house one of its new speech communication tools — the DynaVox Xpress. It's for adults who suffer from strokes,
ALS and brain injury, children with autism and Down syndrome, and others with speaking disabilities. The case
also had to provide EMI/RFI shielding and be cost-competitive. And the product needed to be designed and launched
in a hurry — in time for back-to school this past September.
To view the rest of this article,
click here.
No Action On Healthcare Amendments In Senate Saturday
Roll Call (12/12, Stanton)
reported the Senate adjourned Saturday "with Republicans and Democrats no closer to an agreement to
resume voting on amendments" on the Democratic healthcare reform bill. While Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell and Majority Whip Richard Durbin "had discussed the possibility of voting on several health
care amendments" on Saturday, by "day's end, no deals had been struck to resume voting on the health
care bill."
Alcoa Die Casting Process Cuts Weight, Parts Count for Porsche and Jaguar
Normally when you think of reduced weight and parts count,
plastics injection molding comes to mind. But those two goals are achieved with an innovative process called
Alcoa Vacuum Die Casting (AVDC), which uses large dies to create durable door assemblies for cars. The inner
door panel for the Nissan GT-R is larger than half a square meter, but with a thickness less than 3 mm and a
weight of just 5.5 kg per door. That’s a 35 percent reduction compared to conventional designs.
Reinforcing ribs can be added to boost strength, and engineers can also design specific elements, allowing parts
reduction. The process uses a special alloy C446, which provides strength and is dimensionally stable. The alloy
C446 shows comparable properties to AlSi9Mg without expensive heat treatment.
To view the rest of this article,
click here.
With Christmas Looming, Reid Seeks To Line Up 60 Votes For Healthcare Bill
Media coverage of the Sunday talk shows note Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid faces a difficult task in cobbling together a 60-vote majority to advance the healthcare
legislation. The Washington Post (12/14, Murray) reports the "next 48 hours will be critical to the fate of
health-care reform in the Senate, as Democratic leaders struggle to settle disputes that stand in the way of
holding a final vote this year on the massive package." By mid-week, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid
(D-Nev.) "must begin the process of ending debate on the $848 billion bill or risk missing his deadline of
final passage by Christmas, pushing the contentious health-care debate into early 2010."
To view the rest of this article,
click here.
Employer Health Benefits: A Kaiser Family Foundation Report
Employer-sponsored insurance is the leading source of
health insurance, covering about 158 million nonelderly people in America. To provide current information
about the nature of employer-sponsored health benefits, the Kaiser Family Foundation (Kaiser) and the
Health Research & Educational Trust (HR ET) conducted an annual national survey of nonfederal private and
public employers with three or more workers. The key findings from the 2008 survey include increases in
the average single and family premiums and an increase in the percentage of workers enrolled in high-deductible
health plans with a savings option (HDHP/SO). To read more of this study’s findings,
click here to login and view LINKS
magazine online.
LINKS Magazine Wants to Know about Your Energy-Saving Efforts!
The upcoming April 2010 issue of Links will feature energy-related articles. Last year,
Robert Eppich wrote about the starting point, which is measuring your usage —
establishing the baseline. What LINKS is looking for are case studies that show the
initial efforts in establishing the baselines, either for individual processes, systems
or facilities. Ideally, there might be case studies that illustrate energy-saving
efforts. E-mail Bob Eppich at
eppichtec@earthlink.net to share your energy-saving
efforts.
