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Page 1: Industrial weigh measure 8 15

Late Breaking NewsSee next page for details.

Page 2: Industrial weigh measure 8 15

Automation Tools for Scale Industry ProfessionalsCertificate and field service software that equips you with everything your business needs to become more efficient and more profitable.

Miracle Service Announces Version 8.0 of its Weights And Measures Edition

To learn more about Miracle Service’s Weights and Measures Edition software and how it can help your business, please visit:

Toll Free: 1-866-463-9368 (North America)Direct: 905-206-1828Email: [email protected]

Nexent Innovations Inc., a globally recognized leader for service management software development and maker of Miracle Service™ software, has released significant upgrades to its certificate management and field service software for scale dealers.

Version 8.0 features an intuitive new user interface that is customizable depending on the roles and preferences of each user. It also offers a robust new Quick Search functionality for users to search parts, customer scale equipment and inventory, as well as contract details and service calls.

“Over the past few years we have seen significant changes in the ways our customers are using Miracle Service”, said Robert Sombach, Vice President Operations and Development for Nexent Innovations Inc. “Our Weights and Measures Edition software is used by many more employees on a daily basis to drive efficiency and profit inside a dealership, and we believe version 8.0 will help even more dealers achieve their profit targets.”

Certificate Management

Mobile TechSoftware

Customer Web Portal

Technician Scheduling

Service Contracts

Miracle Service software supports the complete service life cycle for scales industry professionals: certificate management, a self-service customer portal, dispatching, technician scheduling, inventory, billing, and mobile field service. Miracle Service streamlines operations into a single system, as the software architecture is modular and customers are able to add functionality, as they require it, ensuring their investment in the system is maximized.

About Nexent Innovations Inc.Since 1994, Nexent Innovations Inc. has provided business solutions for thousands of field service clients in over 45 countries around the world. With so many unique service management and business solution-driven modules to choose from, Nexent is the most scalable software provider within the industry.

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Intelligent-Count™

Intelligent-Weigh™

Intelligent-Lab™

World leaders in balance and scale manufacture have trusted us to be their exclusive distribution partner in North America.

Now available in North America exclusively through Intelligent Weighing Technology, Precisa balances take the science of laboratory weighing to new levels.

For more information,visit intelligentwt.comor call 866-920-3000

Page 5: Industrial weigh measure 8 15

Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing Industrial Weigh & Measure 1

Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Company announces the election of Matthew R. Stovern as president of the corporation.

Stovern currently serves on the board of directors for the Scale Manufacturers Associ-ation (SMA) and Webb City Bright Futures, a non-profit organization which helps local school children, and is in-volved in youth athletics throughout the com-munity. Stovern is the husband of Aston Perry Stovern, granddaughter of Cardi-nal Scale founder W.H Perry. The Stoverns have three children, Rylee, Tressa, and Maxwell, which will hopefully represent the fourth gener-ation of the family-owned business.

Stovern began his career at Car-dinal Scale in 1998 working in the Customer Service Department and

ascended to various production man-agement positions and plant manager. He has served as vice-president of op-erations since 2011.

Cardinal Scale President David Perry will retire at the end of June 2015, ending an over 50-year career with the company

that has seen weighing technology advance from mechanical weigh-beams to digital scales.

“I have made many friends during my tenure and will surely miss my co-workers I have known during the

years,” said Perry. “I thank all of our employees who have made Cardinal Scale the vibrant, healthy, and profit-able company that it is today.”

“I am pleased to announce that Matt Stovern will take over my role as president of Cardinal Scale,” said Perry. “This transition will go smoothly, since Matt and I have been working together to assure that end result. I am confident that as I leave, Cardinal Scale will remain in good hands with Matt’s guidance and the support of our employees.”

Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Company is a privately-held corpo-ration founded in 1950 in Webb City, Missouri acquiring DETECTO in 1981. Cardinal Scale holds ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 13485 certifications and is a manufacturer of Cardinal Scale and DETECTO brand products. To learn more, visit www.cardet.com.

Inside Cover News

Meet Mike Hamer, the new national sales manager for Intelligent Weighing Technology, Inc. Mike was introduced to the scale business while working at Perdue Farms Engineering Group, repairing scales to the component level and creating scaling automat-ed systems. It proved to be a great foundation for entering the Scale Industry. His experience led to jobs at Carlton Scale and MAL Systems as a sales engineer, selling and building scaling and labeling systems. Mike

has spent the last eight and a half years as a business development manager for A&D Weighing where he earned four Presidents Club awards and two prestigious Tora awards for sales excellence. Give Mike a call at 904-885-9006.

With its 8,000 square foot facility, Intelligent Weighing Technology offers a high level of product inventory for faster shipping. Every balance that leaves its building has been checked out and calibrated by expert staff.

For more information, please call 866-920-3000, or visit their website at www.intelligentwt.com.

Mike Hamer Joins Intelligent Weighing Technology

PACK EXPO Las VegasSeptember 28-30, 2015Las Vegas, Nevada

The next big event for the International Soceity of Weighing and Mea-surment (ISWM) is the 2016 Conference and Expo, February 9-12, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. You can visit their new website at www.ISWM.org

ISWM Conference and Expo

ISWM Southeastern Division Meeting - September 18-19, 2015 - Myrtle Beach, SC

More News on page 31

Cardinal Scale Announces New Company President and Retirement of Former President

Matthew R. Stovern

The Southern Division will be meeting in conjunction with the Southeastern Division in Myrtle Beach.

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2 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

July/August 2015 Volume 101, No. 4

Products by Title

06

26

22

Industrial

Publisher’s Note 04 I Bragging or Promoting - By David Mathieu

Features 06 I Exciting Innovations & Adaptations in CheckweighingMany industry regulars may be under the impression that in-motion scales and checkweighers are what they are and have not really changed that much for decades. But in this article we look at three companies in the forefront of design innovation and technology application... - By Christopher Cussat

14 I Reflections of An Aging Weights and Measures GeekOf late I’ve been reflecting on the fact that I’m about to celebrate my 25th year as a machine-logic programmer and systems integrator, twenty of those years spent as a weights and measures geek. Needless to say, it’s been quite a journey. The things I’ve discovered and the valuable lessons that I learned along the way... - By Al Blazo

20 I Bridging the Gap: Why Your Accounting System and Your Service Management Program Should Work TogetherWhy do you need a service management program when you already have an accounting system? It’s hard to imagine managing your business today without an accounting package. Accounting systems are central to your business, but one thing they cannot do is help you manage your service department. - By Robert Sombach

Departments & Columns 01 I Inside Cover News

22 I Social Media

26 I Out of the Ordinary

28 I New Products

32 I Classifieds

CoverThe cover picture for this issue was provided by Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed. It’s a great shot of their checkweigher in action. We love application shots!

Wireless Portable Truck Scales .................28Solar-Powered Hanging Scale ...................28Bench Scales .............................................28

Portable Vehicle Weighing .........................28Upgraded Checkweigher Line ....................28Automatic Ashing Process .........................29

No-Maintenance Casters ..........................30Portable, Semi-Portable Scales .................30Single-Column Force Tester .......................30

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www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

I remember seeing an advertisement campaign many years ago where the message of the ad was “It’s not bragging if it’s true,” and I remember how that just struck me wrong. You should never have to brag about yourself or your company’s products, that’s something that your customers should do, and those are called referrals. Now, I’m not talking about selling—which is the fuel that makes the plant run. There’s a fine line between good selling and bad bragging. If you’re selling and mention in your pitch what another customer said about your product, that’s all good, or if you show how your product line saved a customer a million dollars—or solved some problem, that’s even better.

In the office environment, the person that brags is usually boisterous as well; they do get attention initially. However, that personality type usually fades into the background like the hum of machinery that you pay no attention to after awhile.

About two months ago I got a call from a former print pub-lisher (in the health field). He wanted to recommend / refer two of his writers, who he praised as top performers and very good writers. Did I listen? You bet I did. Today, they are both in the magazine with bylines. Was he bragging? Yes, but it’s not really bragging when it’s for someone else’s benefit. You can check out Christopher Cussat’s article on page 6, “Exciting Innovations & Adaptations in Checkweighing,” the other writer, Daniel Casciato wrote a great piece that starts on page 22 for our Social Media Column titled, “Using LinkedIn as a CRM Tool to Stay Connected with Clients and Prospects.”

Did I mention we have great articles in this issue—Al Blazo has been around for many years providing great insights and reading material for Industrial Weigh & Measure magazine, and in this issue he does it again (page 14) with “Reflections of An Aging Weights and Measures Geek,” though, I think he’s much more than that with his machine-logic program-ming and systems integrator experience. Then there’s Robert Sombach (page 20), he’s written another article that many of you will find interesting, “Bridging the Gap: Why Your Accounting System and Your Service Management Program Should Work Together.”

In the next issue of iWAM our features will include articles on robots, as well as weigh-in-motion scales. So if your company wants to get involved in the next issue with editorial, please contact us at [email protected].

Contributing Writers

Al Blazo

Daniel Casciato

Christopher Cussat

Robert Sombach

Editor at LargeDave M. Mathieu

Former Publisher of Weighing & Measurement

Publisher | Editor | Classified SalesDave Mathieu

[email protected]

Layout & DesignJosh Mathieu

Contributing ArtistRyan Shoemake

Copy ConsultantRuby Vanzandt

Publisher/AccountingMargaret Mathieu

Industrial Weigh & Measure (iWAM) is published bi-monthly by WAM Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 2247, Hendersonville, TN 37077. PH: 615-239-8087. The iWAM print magazine is mailed six times per year to qualified subsribers (upper manage-ment) in the USA. All subscriptions MUST come through the iWAM Web site to be processed: www.iwammag.com/subscrip-tions. All none qualified subscribers can request a digital issue by email at: [email protected]. Although every precau-tion has been taken to ensure accuracy of published material, WAM Publishing Co, Inc. and Industrial Weigh & Measure can-not be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by its authors. Reproduction of this magazine in whole or part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. All rights reserved. ©2015 WAM Publishing Company.

Phone: 615-239-8087 Subscriptions & Classifieds: iWAMmag.com Bragging or

PROMOTING

Publisher’s Note

By David Mathieu

W eigh MeasureIndustrial

&Solutions for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing

PO Box 2247 • Hendersonville • TN • 37077

Media SalesTom Bowman

Office: 317-823-5544Cell: 317-363-8982

Email: [email protected]

4 Industrial Weigh & Measure

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Pioneer® Series

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High Performance at an Economical Price– Now with New Features• Backlit Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)• Internal and external calibration models• Models with weighing capacities up to 4 kg• Now with 5 unique weighing applications

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Pioneer® Series Analytical and Precision Balances

Page 10: Industrial weigh measure 8 15

6 Industrial Weigh & Measure

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Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing Industrial Weigh & Measure 7

Many industry regulars may

be under the impression that

in-motion scales and check-

weighers are what they are and

have not really changed that

much for decades. But man-

ufacturers like AP Dataweigh,

Cardinal Scale Manufacturing

and Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed are

at the forefront of design inno-

vation and technology applica-

tion for modern checkweighing

needs, as well as for future

adaptations and problem resolu-

tions for their clients and those

they supply.

Founded in 1995, AP Dataweigh has been meeting the in-motion inspection, weighing and labeling needs of clients for over 20 years. According to Steve Van Duzen, senior vice

president of sales, the company’s open architecture philosophy in mechanical and machine software design has allowed it to grow steadily year after year. “We are an in-motion, product inspection machinery, original equipment manufacturer (OEM)—primarily our focus is on checkweighers, however we also produce in-motion labeling machines, product sorting machines, and filler control machines, just to name a few.” Its equipment can be found in industrial dairies, bakeries, fish processing lines, pharmaceuti-cal and nutraceutical manufacturers, consumer goods and health product manufacturers, aerospace and more.

AP Dataweigh is considered as one of the companies on the front-line of checkweighing technology. Its High Resolution machines have accuracies up to 0.05 grams at speeds of up to 300 pieces inspected

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www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

per minute (ppm) and its full native Rockwell / Allen Bradley machines represent the most advanced and open checkweigh platforms in the world. “As stated, our Rockwell units are one-hundred percent open, meaning that customers can cus-tomize their screens, reporting fea-tures and database communications as they see fit,” Van Duzen adds.

This “open” aspect of the company’s systems is especially innovative industry wide in that it is not based on locked, black-box technology that only the OEM can access. Van Duzen explains, “We designed it to be open so our end users can go to their local scale companies and the service providers with whom they are already familiar and have them perform calibrations, service, etc.”

Van Duzen believes that this rep-resents one of the biggest current problems with checkweighers because they mostly have been “locked up” industry wide. “End users have had to rely on going back to the OEM for service, calibration and parts.” He says that this makes for a “service based sale,” and the other OEMs are able to charge “more than an arm and a leg” for servicing, updating and even cali-brating the machines. These Open Architecture systems take that equa-tion out of purchasing a check-weigher and it can potentially save end users thousands of dollars just on one call alone!

Another innovative feature of the company’s product line is the ability to upgrade the machines. “Thousands of end users have paid massive sums of money only to be told by their checkweigher OEM that the machine is obsolete, no longer has replacement parts, and they are forced to purchase a new one,” Van Duzen explains. AP Dataweigh checkweighers can be upgraded in most cases to meet the ever changing demands of its customers. “We always try to avoid making our machines have the potential of becoming obsolete,” he adds.

Other unique applications offered in its catalog of in-line check-weighers include Print and Apply labeling, barcode and product sor-tation, combination checkweigh and metal detection, as well as combina-tion checkweigh and X Ray options.

Always looking toward the future, AP Dataweigh is presently working on a new checkweigh controller that will take 3200 samples from a standard, strain-gauge load cell per second and deliver 1600 usable read-ings per second. “We believe this will be a game changer across the check-weighing world,” says Van Duzen.

But sometimes technology is not the only innovation that can positively affect business out-comes; a progressive manufac-turing philosophy can also produce similar results. Van Duzen believes that attention to customers’ specific needs and designing unique systems to meet those needs can be ground-breaking as well. “Where our com-petitors make the customers tailor

their lines to match ‘off the shelf’ checkweighers, we do the oppo-site—we design the checkweigher around our customers’ needs.”

Cardinal Scale has been making strides in weight display adaptation as well as wireless internet con-nectivity. Founded in 1950, it is one of the largest privately held scale manufacturing company in the USA. In 1980, Cardinal Scale acquired Detecto Scale, which greatly diversi-fied its ability to produce scales and other related products to most all other market segments.

Fred Cox, vice president of sales, also understands the need for constant product evaluation and innovation. “A company’s growth is greatly dependent upon new product design and increasing market share—our complete engi-neering and design teams provide us with these abilities.” Cardinal Scale’s latest product innovations are clearly evident in its manufac-turing of checkweigh scales and systems, which it does primarily for the packaging and food industries. Since its specialty is checkweighing of individual products as they are packaged in containers, as well as meeting the demands of speed for the person responsible to package the product, weight display had to be adapted. Cox explains, “We have a unique weight display for our stain-less steel scale that changes color based on target weights—this has enabled us to meet the global chal-lenges of language barriers and the overall demands of food processing simultaneously.”

The checkweigher that utilizes this technology is the Model 190 Storm, whose weight display incorporates selectable color schemes to make it one of the easiest scales to recog-nize acceptable weights fast and accurately. When the weight is under target, the display is yellow. Then when the accepted target weight is hit, a vivid green is displayed. Finally, if the weight target is exceeded, it shows a bright red color. “You can

Checkweighing...Continued from 7

Rockwell / Allen Bradley AP Dataweigh In-Motion Open Source and Architecture Checkweighers.

8 Industrial Weigh & Measure

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www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

imagine in language-barrier envi-ronments, this enables supervisors to greatly economize day to day employee training and maximize production,” Cox notes.

Cardinal Scale also incorporates

Wi-Fi technology into its check-weighers, providing the ability to send target weights for selected products directly to the scale, or to monitor weight for reporting require-ments. This greatly heightens accu-racy, which in turn, helps manage cost control. Cox explains, “For example, with the accelerated

costs in food products, precise weight in pack-aged products is so important to the success of the supplier, whether in production or the prep line in fast food markets.”

One recent check-weighing-related issue directly addressed by Cardinal Scale was how to prevent damage to its products during the cleaning process. In fact, the company created the Model 190 Storm with this consideration in mind. Because it is IP69 rated, this model can be cleaned with high pressure washing and detergents. Not sur-prisingly, this design con-venience is currently in high demand for both the food and chemical industries.

Another challenge that the company has met with technology is the commu-nication of weight readings to PCs or data networks in the work environment. “Now customers have the

freedom of Wi-Fi and Ethernet right from our weighing prod-ucts,” Cox notes. This innovative design feature is also available

in the Model 190 Storm. Its weight displays are made of polycarbonate materials—

so Wi-Fi can be internal with no external antennas that can be damaged in the cleaning process. For production

areas with wireless internet, weight indicators like this make communi-cating weight measurements imme-diate and seamless.

Innovation is an ongoing focus, and the company is constantly devel-oping new and exciting solutions. For example, in this age of mobile apps, immediate data collection, and mon-itoring of weights, Cardinal Scale has launched a multitude of applications based on its customers’ require-ments. “We recently developed a scale and Wi-Fi connection for an Apple iPad application to monitor food waste in cafeterias and restau-rants here in the US and also now in UK-based operations,” says Cox. In fact, the Cardinal and Detecto Scale brands continue to grab the attention of its customers for their new and exciting product develop-ments. “We are proud to be a devel-oper and manufacturer of weighing equipment, now and for the future,” he concludes.

Speed is yet another important con-sideration in the evolution of in-motion checkweighers, and Mettler-Toledo’s appropriately named Hi-Speed divi-sion is at the forefront of producing these fast and accurate machines. Hi-Speed’s rapid-paced products and their equally swift and impres-sive capabilities can move your brand down the lane(s) at miss-if-you-blink speeds. Its systems are comprised of automatic scales that weigh individual packages (or parts) at rates up to 800 ppm, and weights in excess of 100 kg. John Uber, product marketing manager, further describes their standard function-ality. “Our equipment is typically placed in a packaging line some-where after a filling operation, and the checkweigher identifies the package going on the scale, determines the best weighing algorithm for the speed, weight and available time to weigh.” He adds that it then measures the weight and classifies the package as accept or reject, and if reject, it sorts the package from the stream

Checkweighing...Continued from 8

Cardinal Scale’s EB series stainless steel bench scales are available with the versatile 190 STORM indicator that features a ColorZONE checkweighing LCD screen that changes color to one of 7 different colors for Under, Accept, and Over weights.

Cardinal Scale’s in-motion checkweigher offers anti-static polyester or food-grade conveyor belts and weighs at speeds of up to 200 ft per minute with multi-zone checking.

10 Industrial Weigh & Measure

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Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing Industrial Weigh & Measure 11

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12 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

of good products.According to Uber, some of

the biggest considerations for Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed innova-tions and developments revolve

around the types and sizes of product packaging. “New pack-aging materials and forms always present new challenges, and multi-lane systems have become much more prevalent in the last few years, with individual drink packages as an example.” He adds that these require control systems that are capable of managing motor control, I/O, and statistics at much higher volumes than in the past.

One new product line that has addressed this is the C3000 Check-

weigher series. “This is a global product and it was a result of a col-laborative effort between our two checkweighing companies—Garvens and Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed,” Uber notes. Garvens is Hi-Speed’s German sister company, which has built high precision checkweighers

for many years. “These products are built more with dura-bility in mind and the combined design in the C3000 is the best from both sides—it is a high preci-sion, highly durable machine that can be applied around the world,” he adds.

It is no surprise that overall production safety is yet another important consider-ation that manufac-turers must take into

account. Uber describes how and why Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed is one of the industry leaders in safety. “Like all packaging equipment, the requirements for safety compliance have increased dramatically in the last five years, so we have devel-oped an Equipment Safety Process that our customers have recognized as one of the best in the industry.” By building safety protocols directly into its products, the company pre-emptively helps its customers meet their obligations to make their work

environments safe.Uber admits that customers inevi-

tably encounter various checkweighing problems and challenges every day. “Each of our customers’ products has their own distinct characteristics, whether it is weighing to an accuracy of 5 mg or supporting products that weigh over 200 lb, but we are always ready to adapt our applications to resolve any issues and challenges that may arise.”

As costs, industry demands, pro-duction regulations and technologies continue to change, manufacturers like these three must continue to adapt to the needs of their cus-tomers. With their innovations in data communications, safety, speed, upgrading capabilities and wire-less connectivity, these companies represent the current height of design innovation and adaptability for in-line and in-motion checkweighing. For this increasingly dynamic and technolog-ically driven world, with its expanding global economies and continual pressure for measuring to be more and more accurate, rapid, and uni-versal, AP Dataweigh, Cardinal Scale Manufacturing and Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed have positioned them-selves as not only the foundation of checkweigh manufacturers, but the future leaders and innovators in a constantly evolving and sometimes unpredictable industry.

You can read more of Christopher’s work at www.cussat.com.

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Checkweighing...Continued from 10

The Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed in-motion checkweigher is shown here in a multi-lane application.

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14 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

Of late I’ve been reflecting on the fact that I’m about to celebrate my 25th year as a machine-logic

programmer and systems integrator, twenty of those years spent as a weights and measures geek. Need-less to say, it’s been quite a journey. The things I’ve discovered and the valuable lessons that I learned along the way stay glued to my DNA to this very day. Those lessons, in fact, strongly influence the approach I take to every project in which I become involved.

The lessons that I’ve gleaned over these many years, I believe, are worth sharing with the next gener-ation of professions eager to join the ranks of industrial systems integration professionals. In this short piece I’ll do my best to highlight the factors that I believe are crucial to one’s success as a machine programmer and systems integration specialist.

Pursue in-depth application knowledgeThis is perhaps the single most important—and

the most frequently overlooked—factor that will deter-mine one’s success as a programmer and systems inte-gration specialist.

There are few things that you’ll find more frustrating (and costly) than writing code for an application that you later find doesn’t mesh particularly well with the custom-er’s needs or operational style. That’s why it’s extremely important that two things are accomplished before you even begin to contemplate an implementation strategy or write a single line of code to support that strategy:

• Gain as thorough an understanding as you pos-sibly can of precisely what your customer wants to accomplish and in the process gain a solid under-standing of what operational procedures may currently be favored (or in place, if you’re working on a system

retrofit) to accomplish those objectives. Ask questions. Make notes. If you can, strive to gain plant-level expo-sure. Seek plant-level, operational input. Communicate with the likely users of your application.• Once you believe that you have gained as much

understanding about the nature of the application and your customer’s operational style, create

a detailed written specifications docu-ment that can be reviewed by everyone

directly involved in your project. Ask for feedback. Insist that the system

design specification be read and approved before proceeding with your programming/integration efforts.

Practice humilityThe need to be humble in the face

of one’s mission is quite often an extremely difficult task. Our egos typi-

cally want to play a dominant role during these periods. Recognition of the fact that

the development of efficient machine control logic is a lot more complicated than it may sometimes

appear will help one take a quantum leap in their career as a systems designer, programmer and systems integra-tion professional.

Mastering the art and science of machine control logic and keeping current with the constantly changing imple-mentation techniques that manufacturers continually offer presents one with a life-long learning experience. Oppor-tunities for learning new ways to accomplish a specific machine control objective never cease. Just when you think that you may have developed the most ingenious method of accomplishing something programmatically, another candidate for even greater efficiency presents itself for further investigation.

In the end, however, you’ll find that machine control mastery is only part of the overall success equation;

By Al Blazo

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18 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

a considerable amount rests with understanding the nuances and peculiarities of the actual com-ponents that you will attempt to control. They sometimes find inge-nious ways to baffle even your most well-thought-out and ingeniously devised plans.

I’ll never forget an experience I had with a NTEP certified draft weighing system that I personally designed, coded, helped install, tested, debugged and certified as 100 percent effective and efficient only to receive a call from the client a few weeks later to report that the con-troller would unexpectedly terminate the draft weighing routine and return to an idle state. I was never able to determine why or how (from a code writing perspective) the system would possibly fail as it did. My only solution was to design a “work-around patch” that would automat-ically re-start the draft weighing algorithm if the controller found itself in that condition. Then one day, by pure coincidence, I happened to be standing near the controller when I observed an unexpected termina-tion (and system restart). It was at that moment that I also simultane-ously heard a high-pitched “wind-up” sound behind me. That helped me to immediately identify the source of the problem: a variable frequency motor started its ramp-up sequence and generated a radio frequency that, for just a nanosecond, wreaked havoc on the controller’s main processor.

A career as a systems designer/machine control specialist presents abundant opportunities to challenge yourself to find new and more effec-tive methods of accomplishing a machine control task. If you love a continual learning experience—one that frequently challenges you to carefully examine even your own conceptual and logical framework—you’ve chosen an excellent field of study and work.

Gain at least a nominal under-standing of your users

A considerable amount of my work as a systems designer, programmer and integration specialist has been focused in designing systems for use in the California agricultural industry. I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to install and then actually train system operators in the use of the software systems that I designed for their specific appli-cation(s). I say fortunate because this level of face-to-face interaction with the customer and the opera-tors taught me several extremely important lessons that would oth-erwise have taken me many more years to learn. The most important of those lessons? It’s this: create HMIs and cyclical algorithms that:• require minimal operator input

or intervention• anticipate operator error (and

“error trap” them)• to the maximum extent pos-

sible, are self-correcting.Perhaps the fastest growing trend

in the processing industry today is towards the creation of intelligent, self-running and self-correcting systems, systems that require the barest amount of operator training, attention or intervention.

The more you learn about your customer’s operational procedures and the operators who will use your systems the brighter your code will shine and the more successfully your applications will perform.

Always be mindful of your respon-sibility to adhere to industry “best practices”• Triple check your work. You’ll be

astounded at how many small errors you’ve made or discover how you may have been more logical or par-simonious in your code writing and general programming approach.• Error trap until the cows come

home. Try your best to fully antic-ipate the bad choices (or simple mistakes) an operator is likely to make when using your application.

Get and stay in the habit of walking in the operator’s shoes.• Annotate all of your code. Few

things are more wasteful of your time and frustrating than spending an exorbitant amount of time and effort examining your code for a clear understanding of what you did at an earlier time.• Create a master programmer’s

guide that outlines your work in as much detail as possible. Invari-ably you’ll be asked to add some feature or enhance your application in some manner weeks, months or even years after it was placed in use. Having the ability to quickly review your work will save enormous time and personal frustration trying to determine how and where you need to inject the code for your enhance-ments without disturbing what you have already done. • Create an operator’s system

“Handy Guide” that explains, in a clear and concise manner, how to use the system. Handy Guides make operator training easier and much more effective. Handy Guides provide a convenient means of keeping system operators up-to-date about your system’s capabilities, the changes or enhancements you may have made and how to access the system’s most important features.

Keeping these tips in mind will go a long in the development of one’s career as a machine programmer and systems integration specialist.

About the authorAl Blazo is an independent con-

sultant with more twenty years of experience in the weighing, measurement and process control industry. Al spe-cializes in appli-

cations development for the GSE® line of process control instrumentation. He can be reached at [email protected] and welcomes readers’ comments.

Reflections of a Geek...Continued from 14

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20 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

Why do you need a service management program when you already have an accounting system?

It’s hard to imagine managing your business today without an account-ing package like QuickBooks® or Sage50®. Accounting systems are central to your business, but one thing they cannot do is help you manage your service department. As the makers of Miracle Service, with more than 5,000 users in 45 coun-tries, we speak with people every day about how service management software improves their businesses.

As your service business grows and you add customers, service technicians, employees, inventory and scales to service and calibrate, everyday business becomes more complicated. Naturally you’ll turn to your accounting system and try to pull the information from it that you need to run your business. Inventory can become very difficult to manage. Your technicians may have car stock, and the almost daily ritual of adding, removing and ordering becomes tedious—causing your accounting department to become overwhelmed with transactions. To alleviate this burden, companies often allow their operations staff direct access to the

accounting system. This can add to your costs with incremental software licenses, but more importantly it can also represent a risk to your business by exposing your accounting system to non-accounting employees.

If your service business manages certificates and equipment inspec-tion, your customers will need ready access to their certificates. You will need to build a system for timing recertification of the scales in the field. In addition, it becomes important to pinpoint which scales are requiring more periodic main-tenance, and even predicting when some parts tend to fail and there-fore should be replaced before they disrupt your customer’s business—after all, that’s what they contract you to do.

At a certain point you become a victim of your own success. More customers equal more transac-tions. Many accountants will turn to a trusted old friend to manage the process—Excel spreadsheets. Inventory and car stock can be managed on a spreadsheet. Certif-icate renewals can be managed on a spreadsheet. Service tech-nicians can enter hours and parts for a service call on a spreadsheet and then send those to accounting

for input. This approach solves the problem of exposing the accounting system to employees and it doesn’t require an incremental investment in software licenses. However it also has the effect of doubling up your accounting time as data entry is often duplicated, by both the tech-nician and your accounting staff. Errors can occur in any system, but doubling data entry and transcrib-ing information from one system to another will cause additional errors. Tracking where those errors took place can be a tedious exercise. The more you grow the more this approach becomes unsustainable. Another concern is that the system is reliant on what we refer to as the “heroic employee.” In order for it to work, employees must learn from their mistakes in data entry and workflow. If one of those employees leave, or you add another service technician, errors inevitably creep back into the process.

A good service management system should work alongside your existing accounting system. Service management software encompasses technician scheduling, equipment service, contract administration, certificate management and inven-tory all in one system. It’s often

Bridging the Gap: Why Your Accounting System & Your Service Management Program Should Work TogetherBy Robert Sombach

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important to consider that a service management system can manage information in multiple dimensions, whereas an Excel spreadsheet typi-cally will look at information in only two dimensions. You can often take the data in a spreadsheet and plot it on a graph. A service manage-ment system can allow you to look at multiple data points at the same time. How does this help your business?

Consider a common scale model that you service for your clients. If we have all of these scales in our database, we can review the service history of each one. We can catalog the devices from when they have been installed and when they have received service. We can then determine if some service becomes predictable at a certain age or usage threshold. Some parts become so commonly used that you begin to know more precisely what inventory a service technician needs to have

on hand. A better inventory manage-ment system means you keep only the parts you use most often. You could try to do this within Excel but it would require a lot of keystrokes!

If we follow this example further, when the service technician completes a task, they would then enter required information such as time and materials used into the service management software. Once the ticket is closed, the infor-mation is then uploaded into your accounting system. The machine is associated with a customer, and not only is the client invoiced automatically, the service history is recorded, and any parts used can be removed from inventory, and if necessary, replenished.

There is a pub in England that has a sign over the cash register. It says: “We made a deal with the bank. We don’t cash checks, and they don’t make fish and chips.” Understanding

what your core competency is and focusing on being the best at it is a recipe for certain success. The same is true for software and employees. Accounting systems are great, but when they are stretched beyond their capabilities they can cause problems. Service technicians can also cause problems when we ask them to become accountants. So is it time for your business to consider a service management system?

About the AuthorRobert Sombach is vice presi-

dent, operations and development, for Nexent Innovations Inc., provid-ers of Miracle Service, Service Management Software. www.CertificateRetrievalSystem.com

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22 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

Customer relationship management (CRM) applications offers industrial weigh and measure companies a depth of valuable information on clients and prospects to better meet their needs. You can collect, organize

and manage data and interactions throughout the customer lifecycle to drive sales growth. This can lead to improved client relationships, less client attrition and increased revenue. However, most cloud-based CRM software such as Salesforce are expensive—as much as $125 per user, per month.

One free CRM application at your fingertips is LinkedIn. Both the desktop and the mobile version of this social

media platform has a built in system in place for setting reminders, storing information about your contacts and automatic archiving of your email correspondence.

“In the complex world that we live in simplification is important,” says Bill Corbett, Jr., president of Corbett Public Relations, Inc. in Floral Park, NY. “For people who are active in the LinkedIn world and use the plat-form, this is a good tool. The tracking of email conver-sations and the reminders alone are good features that should be used.”

You can find LinkedIn’s CRM field in the Relation-ship tab (marked by a star) under each of your connec-tion’s profile summary. This is a space where you can

Social Media

By Daniel Casciato

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Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing Industrial Weigh & Measure 23

store details—visible only to you—that will help you manage your relationships and stay top of mind with your network. You can add notes, set reminders, jog your memory about how you met someone, and tag contacts with various keywords.

“This is the most underutilized portion of LinkedIn, because so many people focus on just sending connec-tion requests as if they are the new business cards,” says Philip Blackett, founder and CEO of Boston, Mass.-based Magnetic Interviewing. “With consistency, you can be leaps ahead of everyone else, which can significantly benefit your business and career.”

If you’re looking for new prospects or want to connect with current customers on LinkedIn, here are the four features under the Relationship tab you should become familiar with—plus a few tips on how to make it work for you.

• Add a note: A note could be anything you want to write about your connection, from the name of your contact’s spouse to the best time to reach him or her during the week. If it’s a client or a prospect, you can include notes from a recent phone call. This feature provides you with a date and time stamp along with a scrollable history. The first default note for each of your contacts is when you and this contact first connected on LinkedIn.

• Create reminders: With this feature, you can set a reminder to send a thank-you email to a prospect for next week. You can also ask LinkedIn to notify you about an upcoming appointment or a conference you plan to attend.

• Remember how you met: Details about how and where you met someone could come in handy if you ever connect with that person face-to-face and need an ice-breaker. Not only can you record how you met a particular contact, but you can include who introduced you as well.

• Organize your contacts: A tag categorizes the connection. By adding a tag to each profile, you can group your contacts into various categories, such as clients, prospects, business partners, vendors, friends, work colleagues, and family. After adding tags to your connections, you can email everyone who has that tag within your LinkedIn network. You can create up to 200 tags on LinkedIn.

• Share educational, useful information So what happens next? How do you pull all of this data

together so you can interact with your contacts to get some referrals and hot sales leads?

First, get in the habit of filling out relationship data

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24 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

immediately after connecting with someone on LinkedIn. Make notes on where you met, what you discussed, what their interests were, their spouse’s name, and any other pertinent information.

Then, take some time to sift through your connec-tions and tag your network. Yes, this is a menial and time-consuming task, especially if you have several hundred contacts. While it can seem daunting, devote just 20 minutes a day to work on your contact list. Take 10 minutes at the beginning of the day and 10 minutes at the end if that accommodates your schedule better.

Once your entire network has been tagged, you can now send group messages. Under your Connections tab, select “Filter by All Contacts” and then go to where it says “Tag.” This is how you can locate your tagged indi-viduals. When sending a message, don’t try to sell your services or pitch your products. Instead, share helpful, useful content. Be educational instead of promotion-al. Remember to uncheck “Allow recipients to see each other’s names and email addresses,” before sending any group messages.

Set a reminder alert to send articles of interest at least once a month. In fact, you can leverage LinkedIn’s Pulse feature—its blogging platform that allows you to write an article or a long-form blog post. Under your profile, select “Publish a Post.” When you publish an article or post, it becomes part of your professional profile and is displayed on the Posts section of your profile.

As soon as the post is published, it automatically appears in your network’s feed, and depending on how your connections’ email features are set, some may even receive an email alert. LinkedIn members who are not in your network can follow you just from your long-form posts to receive updates when you publish next. Best of all, your post is searchable both on and off of LinkedIn—greatly improving your search engine optimi-zation efforts.

Here’s how you can send your connections a link to your Pulse content. Find an article anywhere online and write, “Here’s a great article on 3D printing from Industrial Weigh & Measure that I thought you might be interest-ed in. By the way, I also wrote a similar article about my company’s experience with 3D printing.” Then add the two links to each of these articles. If you do this once or twice a month, it helps cultivate top of mind awareness with your network.

Stay in touch with your connectionsLinkedIn has a feature under the Connections tab

called “Keep in Touch.” This is where LinkedIn includes information on people’s birthdays, promotions, new job, and work anniversaries. It just takes a few seconds to say congratulations to a connection or wish someone a happy birthday.

“Most people don’t take on this daily task of checking to see whose work anniversaries and birthdays are that day,” says Blackett.

Blackett recommends going beyond just “liking” some-one’s work anniversary and instead write a short person-alized comment. “The extra effort goes a longer distance towards you being more unique from everyone else and more top of mind. Also, send people a LinkedIn message to wish them a happy birthday. With daily consistency, you’ll differentiate yourself from the crowd.”

Using Linkedin...Continued from 23

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“In business, it is critical to save time,” says Corbett. “This CRM application saves time and helps people to be better organized. LinkedIn is also a great way to get people’s attention and it is separate from regular email and other noise.

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Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing Industrial Weigh & Measure 25

Become a business matchmakerFinally, help other people in your network to introdu-

ce (via a personal message) to your connections. When you discover one of your connections has a need for a certain skillset, specialty or even a potential partnership with someone that you may know, help them make that connection.

“Whether he or she explicitly asks for an introduction, be proactive and seek each day to find one introduction to make for someone within your LinkedIn network,” adds Blackett. “This will bring in reciprocity and good karma, as some of those connections will seek to return the favor and help you out when you’re in need later on.”

There are more robust CRM tools available online. Some, such as Nimble, work flawlessly with LinkedIn as an add-on. But for a free alternative, LinkedIn can suffice as an effective bare-bones CRM.

“In business, it is critical to save time,” says Corbett. “This CRM application saves time and helps people to be better organized. LinkedIn is also a great way to get people’s attention and it is separate from regular email and other noise. People need to invest time to secure the attention of others. Doing this through LinkedIn accom-plishes several goals. For those who need a robust system, they can sign up or purchase other CRM soft-

ware. But for most people, this system is adequate.”LinkedIn can be a great tool for managing your lead

nurturing. It’s a simple yet functional CRM to help you keep track of leads and stay connected with your customers. If you’re already using a CRM applica-tion you’re pleased with, consider using LinkedIn as a backup.

To make LinkedIn work better for you, get in the daily habit of logging into LinkedIn every day. If you spend 10 minutes a day tagging contacts, reaching out, sharing relevant articles, sending messages, congratulating someone, or simply saying happy birthday, the return can be incredible.

About the AuthorDaniel Casciato is a freelance

writer and social media marketing consultant from Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, visit www. danielcasciato.com or reach him at [email protected]

Page 30: Industrial weigh measure 8 15

Out of the Ordinary

I’m not ashamed to admit it: I’m a weights and measures geek. For the past 22 years my work has primarily involved the design and development of automated solutions for industrial-level agricultural interests, primarily in California. When I’m not devel-oping weighing and processing applica-tions involving the agricultural industry, I’m busy developing weighing applica-tions for other industrial clients in the chemical, transportation and aggre-gate processing industries.

Occasionally I get to participate in projects that have no relation whatsoever to the commercial interest that I normally serve. Such was the case with a recent project in San Francisco when I was asked to create an appli-cation that would help a developer of safety nets–the kind that are used, for example, by window washers or construction workers working on high rise buildings–

By Al Blazo

Window in the SKY Application

26 Industrial Weigh & Measure

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Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing Industrial Weigh & Measure 27

to test the strength of the cabling used on their nets.

The client needed a method to scientifically test and verify that the strength of their cabling met the design specifications for their product. To perform the test, the client would connect four ends of their cabling to four load cells. Once the cabling was securely fastened to each load cell, the net was released (to suspend itself in mid-air) and a dummy (repre-senting a grossly overweight construction worker with all of her tools) was dropped into the net.

All of this was done from atop a crane cabin a couple of hundred feet above the ground.

My goal as a programmer was fairly straightforward: measure the force (weight) that was placed on each load cell as the dummy fell into the net and transmit

those values—along with the “peak weights” for each load cell—to a PC for lab analysis at a later time.

Fun project. It’s the kind of project that makes a weights and measures geek very happy.

About the AuthorAl Blazo is an independent consultant with

twenty years of experience in the weighing, measurement and process control industry. Al specializes in applications development for the GSE® line of process control instrumentation. He can be reached at [email protected] and welcomes readers’ comments.

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As Roger Wolfenbarger, the patron saint of this unique programming challenge said, “This was one of those jobs where 40 people in suits are standing over your shoulder, another 20 are running cranes and rigging, and you don’t want to be the guy who screws up. It was a beautiful day at 181 Fremont Street when the drop was completed without error.”

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www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

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28 Industrial Weigh & Measure

Wireless Portable Truck ScalesCardinal Scale Manufacturing

Company’s USA-made EPR-LF portable truck scales offer wireless connectivity standard. This allows wireless communication between scale deck modules and the weight indicator for seamless integra-tion between all scale components and alleviates the need for rewiring every time the truck scale is moved to another location.

The EPR-LF truck scale is NTEP and Measurement Canada certi-fied legal for trade and is available in standard capacities up to 135

tons and 110 feet long. The heavy-duty checkered steel deck is preci-sion machined and protected with a durable anti-corrosion, UV-resis-tant, baked-on powder paint.

The EPR-LF series comes in 11 standard models to choose from and features a self-contained low-er-frame design for easy portabil-ity, 16-in overall height low-profile design, USA-made stainless steel load cells, and a host of optional peripheral equipment such as weight indicators, ticket print-ers, remote displays, steel ramps, vehicle recording software and mobile apps.www.cardinalscale.com

Solar-Powered Hanging Scale DETECTO’s exclusive digital

solar hanging scale is powered completely by light and never requires battery replacement. The model SCS30 is NTEP approved legal for trade making it ideal for grocery stores, farmers markets, hardware stores, and roadside produce stands where custom-ers pay by weight. The 30 lb/15 kg capacity and 0.02 lb/0.01 kg divi-sions offer you pinpoint measure-ment accuracy. The bold 1-in high LCD displays instant digital read-outs. A stainless steel produce

pan, hanging assembly, and two S-hooks are included, so the solar-powered scale is ready to use right out of the box, just add light! An optional hanging scale portable stand is also available. www.detecto.com

Bench ScalesThe UFM range of NTEP bench

scales from Intelligent Weigh-ing Technology has been proving itself in the worst operation con-ditions imaginable for more than 10 years. From being covered in

powder in factories, covered in glue to being abused by airline passengers in the ticket areas of airports, time and time again the UFM model has out-per-formed other lesser scales. NTEP approval up to 6000 divisions, cast aluminum bases, box steel pillars and a heart made from the best load cells around, means that they can handle just about anything that customers can throw at them.

The huge two inch backlit display can be seen from yards away and the RS232 port allows connectiv-ity with printers and computers. Capacities range from 60 x 0.01 lb to 1200 x 0.2 lb. Platform sizes from 13 x 17.7-in to 20 x 24-in. www.intelligentwt.com

Portable Vehicle WeighingWalz Scale releases multiple solu-

tions for portable vehicle weighing for either individual wheel or axle group weighing.

The AXW Series of portable wheel weighers feature a full alu-minum construction and removable ramps to simplify vehicle weighing. These wheel weighers can be used either in static or dynamic in-mo-tion mode and the digital indicator includes a built in Printer and touch screen operation.

For standard on-road vehicels Walz offers a 30 ton version, which is ideal for managing axle weights and total vehicle weights. These scales are competitively priced and provide exceptional value and dependability.

For the weighing of larger off-road vehicles, Walz offers porta-ble systems designed to handle the heavier weights and larger off road tires. The off-road systems are available in either 45 ton, 95 ton or 100 ton versions, and are ideal for determining actual carried production values and the calibra-tion of onboard scales for offroad vehicles. www.walzscale.com

Upgraded Checkweigher Line An upgraded checkweigher

product line, available globally, has been designed to improve accu-racy and reliability and decrease maintenance for food, pharmaceu-tical and personal care companies that package products in pouches, bags, cartons and more.

The newest models of the Thermo Scientific Versa checkweigher line offer more than 10 engineering and functionality improvements for robust performance. This includes upgraded conveyor design, frame, load cell, reject mechanism, motor, mounting and more. Thermo Fisher Scientific recently show-

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Thermo Fisher designed the modifications to improve weigh-

ing accuracy. This helps to maxi-mize profits by minimizing product giveaway. For combination check-weigher/metal detector systems,

optional software provides metal detector reject information on the checkweigher screen. Moving average capability also provides real-time feedback on production metrics.

“Our experience and feedback, via installations in more than 75 countries, has enabled us to engi-neer the new Thermo Scientific Versa checkweigher line to make performance more robust and operation and maintenance even easier,” said Rick Cash, product manager, checkweighers, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The line is available in two models: the fixed-height Thermo Scientific Global VersaWeigh and the cantilevered Global Versa GP, which allows height adjustment. The Global VersaWeigh is ideal for products up to 10 kg (22 pounds), while the Global Versa GP model targets up to 3 kg (6.6 pounds).

The company’s global manufactur-ing and service footprint facilitates international equipment availability and support.

The Versa checkweighers are engineered for wet or dry environ-ments, are easy to clean and can handle a wide range of package sizes. Large, easy-to-read, color touch-screen displays and intui-tive design make the units simple to operate. www.thermoscientific.com

Automatic Ashing ProcessIntelligent Weighing Technology

now offers a very sophisticated Automatic Ashing Machine. The prepASH®, manufactured in Swit-zerland, is a computer controlled ashing system used in many industries such as food process-ing, pharmaceuticals, fuels, animal foods, etc., to determine mois-ture content, residual ash, vola-

tiles, fixed-carbon and LOI (loss on ignition). It is used to test a huge variety of products automatically, leading to huge reductions in time and man hours.

The built-in 0.0001 g balance accurately weighs the crucibles for up to 29 individual samples. The Integral oven heats the samples to complete the process of mea-

suring moisture content. Then the samples are heated to 1000 degree C to completely ash the samples. Process reports are gen-erated automatically.

A unique feature of the prepASH is the ability to undertake sul-phated ashing and other complex

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30 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

analyses with chemical scrubbers.Dealers are wanted for this

unique product. www.intelligentwt.com

No-Maintenance CastersHamilton Caster is proud to

introduce Spinfinity™, a new line of heavy duty maintenance-free casters. Incorporated into the swivel kingpinless construction is special CNC-machining to host a large internal seal. The seal is made from Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) and is completely enclosed inside the swivel assembly. With no outside exposure, the swivel assembly is well suited to keep grease in and contaminants out.

As is customary with Hamilton, the Spinfinity casters boast extra thick forgings and proven kingpin-less swivel technology for supe-rior durability over the life of the casters. The top plate and inner raceway are one forged steel piece, not a weldment, provid-ing unmatched strength for shock conditions. The raceways are CNC-machined and then hard-ened to a uniform depth. These processes assure a smooth swiv-eling caster under heavy loads. All of this adds up to Spinfinity® car-rying the industry’s best three-year product warranty.

“The grease fittings are gone!” explained Jeff Spektor, the lead designer of Spinfinity. “With the permanent seals in the swivel raceway and the wheel hub, grease fittings are no longer required.”

The benefits of the Spinfinity casters are also in direct alignment with Hamilton’s own lean princi-ples employed throughout their manufacturing operations. “With Spinfinity casters now available, time spent maintaining casters is actually a waste,” remarked Dave Lippert, Hamilton’s president. “Maintenance can now spend time on other equipment to support manufacturing uptime and other value-add activities. Any equip-ment that is reliable and mainte-nance-free supports lean princi-ples,” said Hmilton. And there is no more bending and twisting to lubricate hard to reach casters and wheels.

Like all Hamilton forged steel

casters, the new Spinfinity Mainte-nance-Free casters are manufac-tured in Hamilton, Ohio USA and stocked for PRONTO® Same Day or Next Day Shipment.

www.HamiltonCasters.com

Portable & Semi-Portable ScalesSince 1955 GEC has been man-

ufacturing durable and reliable portable scales to a wide array of customers, such as government agencies, law enforcement and commercial entities worldwide.

GEC portable scales are built tough, designed to be accurate even in extreme climates (Arctic

or desert). Even if the terrain is rugged—these scales will weigh accurately on uneven surfaces such as dirt and gravel roads. In all extremes such as these—the GEC portable scales boast a ±1% guar-anteed accuracy of applied load up to 120,000 lb capacity.

GEC’s Semi-portable axle scales have been proven to last 20 plus years in the field, making them a cost effective choice. They are able to be moved from job-site to job-site, perfect for commercial com-panies that want to reach maximum payloads on every delivery while staying within the legal road limits. www.gecscales.com

Single-Column Force TesterThe ESM1500 is a highly config-

urable single-column force tester for tension and compression mea-surement applications up to 1,500 lbF (6.7 kN). Suitable for labora-tory and production environments, the ESM1500 may be used with an indicator-load cell combination or with a force gauge. Sample setup and fine positioning are a breeze with available FollowMe™ force-

based positioning—using your hand as your guide, push and pull on the load cell or force gauge to move the crosshead at a dynami-cally variable rate of speed.

With generous travel, clearance, and depth dimensions, a wide range of tests can be performed, including break testing, cycling, limit testing to a load or distance, loadholding, elongation testing, tensile testing, compression testing and more. Satisfy various test methods through an easy-to-use menu, allowing the configura-tion of test speed, force and dis-tance limits, cycling, preload and many other functions, all protected by a password. Save up to 50 pro-files to accommodate a range of test methods.

Controller functions are offered individually through a unique “build-your-own” configuration platform. Order any combination of functions to customize the test stand to specific requirements. Functions not ordered originally can be activated in the field. Force and travel data can be output to a PC for graphing and analysis using MESUR™gauge software. Or, fully

control the stand by a PC through a custom-written program in any language supporting ASCII com-munications. All communication cables required for PC control and data collection are included with the test stand.www.mark-10.com

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Industrial Weigh & Measure 31Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing

Inside Cover NewsContinued from page 1

Ken was born in Hawthorne, New Jersey on Sept. 16, 1930. Growing up he planned on being an architect and was in the process of doing so—that is until the US Army had dif-ferent plans. While there, he went to engineering school and finished first in his graduating class. After his two years in the Army he went back to his previous job at Fanning and Shaw for one day, but quickly realized that architecture was not for him anymore.

The GI Bill paid for three days of extensive evaluation and testing. The recommendations were for Ken to be a min-ister or be in sales. He selected sales and applied for a job at Jersey Carpet Corp in Clifton, New Jersey. He got the job and met a girl, Jean Ryan, who worked there also. They started going out but he had a dilemma, he could not concentrate on work while he was with Jean. He decided to quit his job to avoid being distracted by her while working.

That decision paid off—Ken landed a job as a mechanical engineer at Richardson Scale Co. in Clifton. After six months as an engineer he was promoted to salesman.

After his first year in the scale busi-ness, Ken and Jean were married. He was transferred to Syracuse New York and developed new customers for Richardson. Ken and Jean bought a house in Camillus, a suburb of Syr-acuse and started a family. Their two oldest children were born there.

Ken sold for Richardson for 18 years—reaching the globe with var-ious products, such as mechanical and electronic automatic scales.

Richardson Scale merged with Howe Scale Co. During the changes,

Ken left Richardson and became Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Henderson Industries. After 14 years at Henderson, Ken moved on to Ohaus Corp where he started the Ohaus Automated System Division. While there, Ken met Dan Garlen and

they turned Ohaus prod-ucts into systems. Ken patented a dual auger feeder. This was very special since it improved the accuracy by a factor of 100 times. Ken and Dan decided to become partners and started Kg Systems. The name is comprised of the first letter of their names.

The scale industry now awards the Kardux

Cup which is named after Ken and awarded for the Outstanding New Product. It’s one of the most sought after awards given at the ISWM Scale Conference event.

Ken also received ISWM’s Woody Woodland Award, which is awarded to honor a person who by his own ef-forts and services has contributed in an outstanding manner to the scale and weighing industry.

Ken loved to travel with his beloved “Bride.” Through the years they were able to visit every state and all seven continents, but his favorite place in the whole world was his loved deck.

He was first a man of God. He loved his family and was so proud of his grandchildren.

He leaves his wife of 60 years; Jean (Nee) Ryan Kardux, his son; Ken-neth Kardux II and his wife Joyce, his daughters; Karen Stefanski and her husband Michael, and Kathleen Grenoble and her husband Glenn.

Ken died peacefully at home on Sat-urday, July 4, 2015, at the age of 84.

The Passing of Kenneth A. Kardux

Kennneth A. Kardux1930-2015

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32 Industrial Weigh & Measure www.iwammag.com • July/August • 2015

Classifieds

Shear Beam Load Cells on Sale for $99.00!Cooper Instruments & Systems has an over

stock on 1000 Lbs shear beam load cells. We are offering these units for $99.00 each while supplies last.

Call 800-344-3921 or visit us at www.cooperinstruments.com

WEIGH CART FOR SALEALMOST NEW (6 HOURS) B-TEK 5,000

POUND CART,ARRANGED FOR 2500 POUND WEIGHTS. HAVE 8 RICE LAKE 2500 POUND

WEIGHTS WITH CART.PRICE FOR THE ABOVE IS $45,000.00 YOU

PICK UP AT STATESVILLE, NCALSO HAVE A 3 TON COFFIN HOIST AN POW-

ERED TROLLEY $2500.00Contact Johnny at: 704-873-2435 or

Email: [email protected]

Scale Service Tech, Omaha, NEProvide the calibration and / or repair of cus-

tomer’s industrial scales either at the customer’s facility or in our lab.

• Maintenance, calibration and/ or repair of Industrial scales.

• Respond to Call Service to fix and repair Customer’s scales – Must be willing to work some overtime and weekend hours – may also include some limited overnight travel.

• 2 year Technical Degree preferred • Strong mechanical, electronic and / or tech

nical background in industrial environment. • Military service or calibration experience

a plus.• Valid driver’s license; Class B CDL a plus –

must get within 6 months of hire• Physically able to lift 50 to 100 pounds • Welding and or Concrete knowledge is a plus• Strong interpersonal and customer

service skills• Computer literate• Performance driven and customer focused Local travel - occasional overnights required.Competitive hourly wage, full benefits, fully paid

life insurance, short and long term disability, va-cation, sick and holidays.

Please submit resume in confidence to [email protected] or

call 336.260.9682

SERVICE TECHNICIANAmerican Scale Corp is seeking experienced

scale technicians for Louisville and Bowling Green, KY. Must have minimum three years’ ex-perience with strong electronic and mechanical background. Must be able to read and under-stand technical manuals and literature. Ability to lift up to 50 lbs and work in outside environments required. Must have clean driving record (CDL a PLUS). Complete benefit package, company vehicle and uniforms. Pay dependent on experi-ence. Will relocate the right individual. Send resume to [email protected]

or fax to 888.515.6201.

Experienced Scale Service Tech NeededDes Moines, Iowa

Preferred candidate would have 3 years experi-ence with Mettler Toledo and competitive equip-ment; must have mechanical, electrical abilities; computer literate. CDL and clean driving record required. Compensation includes competitive hourly rate, monthly bonus, full medical/dental, company paid life and disability insurance, 401 K with company match, vacation, sick, and per-sonal days.

Contact Marjie at 336.260.9682 or [email protected] inquires kept confidential.

Experienced Scale Service Tech NeededOklahoma City, Oklahoma

Preferred candidate would have 3 years experi-ence with Mettler Toledo and competitive equip-ment; must have mechanical, electrical abilities; computer literate. CDL and clean driving record required. Compensation includes competitive hourly rate, monthly bonus, full medical/dental, company paid life and disability insurance, 401 K with company match, vacation, sick, and per-sonal days.

Contact Marjie at 336.260.9682 [email protected]; all inquires kept

confidential.

Site Manager for J.A. King and CompanyOmaha, Nebraska

Responsible for managing the day-to-day op-erations at our accredited lab in Council Bluffs, IA which include full P&L responsibility for site and managing a team of Service Technicians and Co-ordinator. In this Management position, quality, experience, customer focus and leadership ca-pabilities are mandatory. Three years' experience managing a diversified team; strong knowledge of calibration policies, procedures, methodol-ogies and working knowledge of quality docu-ments such as ISO 17025, ISO 9000; advanced skills with Microsoft Office and computer literate; 4 Year College degree preferred. Competitive salary, bonus potential, company vehicle plus full suite of benefits. We also offer generous reloca-tion assistance. If you are qualified, please contact Marjie

Troutman at 336.260.9682 or [email protected]

All inquires confidential.

Page 37: Industrial weigh measure 8 15

Weigh & Measure for Logistics, Distribution, Process and Manufacturing Industrial Weigh & Measure 33

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LIST OF ADVERTISERSAcumen Instruments .....................27AP Dataweigh ................................24B-Tek .............................................21Cardinal Scale .............. 4, 16-17, BCCAS-USA .......................................25Coti Global Sensors ......................15Go Fishin’ .......................................30Indiana Scale .................................29Intelligent Weighing Technology .. IFCIntercomp Company ......................11Kanawha Scales & Systems ............9

Miracle Service ..............................13National Scale Service ..................30Ohaus Corporation ..........................5Pennsylvania Scale .......................27Radwag USA ...................................3Share Your Copy ............................30Tiffin Loader Crane ........................19Totalcomp Scales .................... 28, 31Universal Scale Service .................30Walz Scale ......................................12Western Weighing Technologies ....23

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Industrial

P.O. Box 2247Hendersonville, TN 37077

PRESRT STD.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDINDIANAPOLIS, INPERMIT NO. 1347