It’s September, back to work for the majority of us and for me the beginning of a new challenge. My new company, TRISTAR Steel, is now fully up and running! You can read more about it here or also in this new blog category labeled MOTION.
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Many component applications for the automotive industry require machining that may compromise the straightness request.
In this specific case we’d like to present you a system designed and built for an important group that operates in industrial vehicles.
The need arises from the fact that the customer after the mechanical operation working the outside surface was forced to discard approximately 25% of the material because it was out of tolerance’s straightness.
In particular these machined parts are destined to the gearbox of industrial vehicles and require a maximum straightness of 0.1 mm.
This machine equipment for straightening has been specially designed for the purpose and has solved permanently the problem recovering almost all the pieces initially discarded with full customer satisfaction.
Have a look to the attached movie and if you also have a straightness problems of ground and worked shafts we can definitely help you to find the appropriate solution by studying a tailor made system for your needs.
You can contact our technical service by mail: luciano@ieshp.com
or call our 24 hour technical customer service at +39 345 1317391
Hope to hearing from you soon.
Improve your efficiency and reduce your risk !
I should be used after 8 years in China about the Chinese way of communication but sometimes also for me is getting difficult to understand completely this ancient culture, I’d like to share with you this post that may of interest if you’re dealing with the Asian culture.
For centuries Chinese, but this is common also in Korea and in all Asia, were meticulously programmed to avoid confrontations, ultimatums, and clear-cut commitments as a mean of ensuring harmony in society.
To achieve this goal, the people were conditioned to speak in vague terms that could be interpreted in a number of ways, or not to speak at all.
In a country’s hierarchically structured society where absolute rules defined inferior-superior relationship, speaking in clear, unambiguous terms, telling the truth, or making a critical comment could have seriously negative repercussions, and in worst-case scenario be life-threatening.
In this environment, Chinese learned to avoid saying ‘no’ and to divine the meaning and intent of others through cultural intuition. Saying NO was regarded as impolite, if not insulting.
When Western visit China encountered this kind of behaviour immediately assumed that Chinese were dishonest, devious, and could not be trusted.
One of the problems faced by Western when dealing with the Chinese is basic communication. For the western businessman ‘yes’ signals that the deal is done and the contracts can be signed, and if anything goes wrong, you can always sue on the contract. Right?
Wrong…… at least in China.
In China ‘yes’ is the first word of negotiations, not the last. For the Chinese, ‘yes’ means let’s sit down and talk seriously.
When the Chinese respond during negotiation by saying :
Anything short then tong-yi means there is no deal.
Sometime during the negotiation I’m submitting all the documents to the Chinese party and after few minutes they go off of the room to read them.
I generally use this time to smoke a cigar and relax, when finished they’re not back and I decide to smoke a second cigar. After 1 hour I decide to call them by phone and their reply is generally: Mei you wen ti ( no problem )
With a very polite and calm voice I ask them, did you read all ? Everything Ok ? Shall we sign the contract ?
The answer in this case is generally : Ke Yi that means possible !!!
My reply is : shall we sign this fucking contract ? Are you going to sign it or not ?
The answer : Ying gai ke yi , that means most probably, maybe .
I you are still in a good mood with a calm voice you can try once again and ask the same question : are you going to sign or not ?
Answer : I’m not sure, I’d better to go back and ask my superior. Finish of the story here .
The social imperative for ambiguous speech has eroded significantly in contemporary China, especially among those who are involved in international business, but it continues to be an important cultural factor in business and politics, and must be taken into account.
One of the obvious ways to bring negotiations to a close and clear-cut commitments is to ask that they be put in official documents that are signed by the responsible people. If the documents are not forthcoming, the real situation is not clear.
Be patient and try again, again, again,
Bye then
STOP COMPLAINING!!! Complaining is not a strategy!!!
Post dedicated to all young people looking for a job or a better job.
I have met many of disaffected youth who complain constantly of their current situation. In many cases because they do not work or because the work they are doing does not suit them.
They complain, constantly, attributing always blame to external factors. The boss, the colleagues, the general environment, everywhere problems.
It’s true nowadays by reading the newspapers, TV, Facebook, we are bombarded with catastrophic news that bode ill for our quiet and peaceful co-existence in this world. The information now travels in real time and immediately a fact of chronicle happened anywhere in the world is immediately accessible to all.
Communication is now in real-time, FaceTime, Snapchat , Istagram , Whatsapp , WeChat , and a myriad of other applications are able to make us live in real time the ongoing tragedy.
All this negative events induce the feelings with negative emotions to all of us, as: fear, insecurity, disgust, anger, frustration, etc.
This is the reality today; I do not wan to justify the attitude of these young peoples who seek to move upon external factors their dissatisfaction.
Rarely the same thing happens for a positive event which also induces the reader the opposite feelings such as: security, confidence, happiness, enthusiasm, success, etc.
It ‘s true we are living in an era full of uncertainty!
As always in history, the greatest opportunities and decisive solutions to meet the most urgent needs of humanity comes from technological progress.
And thanks to the innovation and continuous research arriving the solution to the great existential problems of humanity.
Solutions that create better living conditions and alleviate most of the problems that beset us.
Internet has changed the world of communication; we have access to an endless amount of information that allows us to develop new innovative projects aimed at solving real problems.
Then how to do? What can we, each of us, do to help to create a better world?
I have given the following answer which I think might also be a stimulus to others!!
We’ve to cultivate the passion of curiosity, the desire to discover new things, to seek the beauty that surrounds us. But having said so maybe is not enough.
We’ve to begin to understand what actually we’d like, which passion pervades us and makes us feel good, and once identified expand it to infinity.
How to do it?
It’s very simple, we’ve to impose us to become the real expert in this specific subject.
Internet is available to us for free of charge to give endless information about this specific subject.
I do not remember who said the phrase: if you read one book a month on a specific topic after 10 years you will have read 120 books and you will become the absolute expert on this topic.
Well the world, the humanity now needs these kinds of experts, each in their own field of activity who has the desire to continue to research and innovate.
Certainly it takes a good dose of motivation and constant commitment, but as mentioned earlier, if you have chosen you to focus on a subject that you really like, I think dedication and commitment will not be a problem for you.
Socrates:
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance”
Years ago it was unthinkable, now only if you really want to do, with an internet connection, you can discover the world, you can receive free all the information you need on a specific topic, without traveling, but just sitting comfortably in front of your Tablet.
In the past weeks I met many young peoples who complain because they do not find a work or want a better job!!
The ritual question: But what do you really want to do?
The answer is really devastating 99% more or less answers are like this:
Well, I do not know exactly what I want, but what I don’t like what I’m doing now
Afterward they are starting telling me what they don’t want to do. So most of young people knows exactly what they do not want but they DO NOT know what they really wants.
This is a tragedy for our young peoples and I am referring primarily to my Italian fellows.
The situation improves when I put the same question in China, India, North America and North Europe, where a good 50% of fellows between 20 and 35 years old has already a very clear idea of what they do want in life.
When I started to work after the studies I had the same attitude of today’s youth.
It’s quite normal to start working from the bottom from the shitty jobs and definitely not rewarding. Obviously we complain at first, but if this complaint rather than blaming others opens new opportunity as growth stimulus, the situation definitely changes.
It ‘s always our mental attitude which affects our actions. For example if I think:
OK now I’m here, I do a job that allows me to earn something for living and this is positive, well, what can I do now to improve my condition ?
What do I really want to achieve?
In my time there was no Internet, that become popular only during late 90’, certainly I would have speed up and got results in less time
As written in my latest book: Search to become somebody in something!!
There are no more excuses now to continue to complain or to find excuses!!!
Get busy now !!! NO more excuses !!!
Good ideas do not need any external recognition. You’ve already all what you need to start just now. Especially do not let your financial situation, your physical location on Earth or the lack of any resource type prevent you from getting what you dream.
Want to live in the future? Do it through innovation! It needs motivation and commitment and you can really change the future of your community.
There are many reasons to give up hope. But listen to me, do not give up. Do not give up hope. Today the technology is on our side.
Within soon you will be recognized an expert in this specific subject.
Then your life will change and I’m sure will change in better.
You’ll get new jobs opportunity; peoples around the world will ask you questions or propose new business chances. Open your eyes, now. The world is big and it depends only on you to catch your path for a better life.
Hope that this post will inspire you.
Bye then
Lately I have come up with the idea of launching a new initiative in this blog: interview relevant people working in the world of hydraulics and pneumatics, with the main purpose of informing you, readers and followers, about news that may affect our market.
I travel a lot, worldwide, to visit the main players in the field, and that gave me the idea: why not collect first-hand information, impressions, and trends from international stakeholders and share them on the spot with the community?
This blog is proving an excellent tool, and, believe me, I weren’t sure it was worth it at the beginning. Instead, from October 2015 when it was launched to today, followers have increased from 1500 to more than 6500! And all of you are qualified operators in the hydraulic and pneumatic field. This is a great satisfaction to me, because it means you find interesting and useful content here.
My commitment is to always strive to do better, and the idea of the interviews aims precisely at transferring valuable and helpful information to all of you.
Here is the first interview to Mr. K.K. Paul, President of T.P.I. (Tube Products of India)
It was conducted in India at the Murugappa Group headquarter in Chennai on 2016, July 21st.
The MURUGAPPA Group operates in India in different fields, like: agriculture, engineering, financial services and many others. With a total turnover of 4 billion of USD, T.P.I. is a fully owned company.
T.P.I. is located in Chennai and, as far as I know and based on my experience, it’s the biggest cold drawing mill in the world.
The current capacity installed is ab. 15,000 tons per month and the current production (output) is about 13,500 tons per month.
T.P.I. is globally recognised as a market leader for Automotive Welded Cold Drawn Tubes covering app. 80% of the total production, mainly addressed for:
Their main customers are Suzuki Maruti, Hyundai, TATA, GM, Toyota, Nissan, Ashok Leyland, Piaggio, CNH, BOSCH, Honda, SUSPA, DANA, MagnetiMarelli, KYB, SHOWA, KOYO, Gabriel, John Deere, FORD and Mahindra.
I was really impressed about the quality of the products and the commitment of theirs workers to strictly follow the quality instructions. It’s a huge plant with a wide range of products from very small sizes of 12×1 mm up to 160x10mm.
But now let’s read Mr K.K. Paul’s actual words.
Dear Mr K. K. Paul,
first of all, many thanks for this opportunity, which is intended to present you and your company as fully as possible to the benefit of the hydraulic and pneumatic community worldwide.
India, ASEAN, Europe and USA.
My impression is that capacity is exceeding demand in the tube business. Hence competitive intensity is very high in putting pressure on margins.
The main opportunity is to be a key supplier in the steel precision welded tube space for automotive and hydraulic cylinders. The main threat is the mismatch of supply and demand leading to margin lowering in the industry.
Yes, many. They present new characteristics of, for instance, light weighting, safety and emission, as well as precision on tolerances and surface.
The big challenge is to still achieve profitable growth.
Our intention is to enter the non-auto space of construction and infrastructure, allowing new growth opportunities in India and in targeted markets outside India.
Yes, there are other investments in the pipeline this year and they will be channelized on capacity creation and capability building.
Our USP is wide range and scale; support to our customers on dynamically meeting their QCD targets; large R&D backup allowing us to develop newer steel grades with modifications to suit product application; make it easy for the customer to do business with us by helping in some of the down stream operations that the customer does with the tubes. Thanks to all that, we stand out among competition.
We made the right decision when we entered the Asian, European and US market. It was a challenge but it proved successful, indeed we have a long track record of success against international players. The confirmation comes from the trust our customers have placed on us over all this time, since for many of them we have remained their key supplier and supplier of choice.
Thanks Mr K.K. Paul for your time and the useful information you share with us.
I have a great opinion of T.P.I. and I do appreciate their contribution on our field in terms of high quality and professionalism. They are a world power and their key success factors are:
Stay in touch for the upcoming new interview and feel free to ask any questions I can transfer to the next market players.
With focus on the Hydraulic Cylinder Industry the following components are made by a Cold Drawing process:
When a 75,000 PSI minimum yield strength is specified for the design of parts in hydraulic and pneumatic cylinder there are several options for the material that will meet this regular specification.
Grades : E355 , AISI-1020 or AISI-1026
Grades : 1045 to ASTM-A311 or 38MnVS6
For both products is strongly recommend after the Cold Drawing a further annealing process by stress relieving. The temperature and the time of permanence in the furnace depends on the steel grade of the product and also the cooling temperature and the time is extremely important to achieve the expected result.
Cold Drawing Tubes and Bars induce stresses in the product. These stresses can cause loss of tolerance, cracking and distortion, and contribute to in-service failures.
In the case of Cylinder Cold Drawn Tubes, with the exception of tubes called RTU ready to use or S.S.I.D. that for tolerance reasons and internal roughness do not require heat treatment after the cold drawing operation, in all the other cases stress relieving is necessary, and in some cases, mandatory.
A stress relief operation is typically used to remove internal (residual) stresses that have accumulated in the material. The stress relief process is performed by heating in a furnace to a temperature below the lower critical temperature (Ac1) and holding at that temperature long enough to achieve the desired reduction in residual stresses
In the case of chrome bars used for the production of piston rods in different steel grades such as: CK-45, C48, Cf53, 20MnV6, 38MnVS6, 42CrMo4 Q+T, etc.
The work cycle to produce a chrome bar may vary depending on the type of material from which you start.
Generally the size of up to 30mm diameter people are using cold drawn bars. The work cycle start with grinding, polishing and chrome plating.
Size greater than the diameter. 30 mm is preferred start from hot rolled steel bars. The working cycle starts with peeling, straightening, grinding, polishing and chrome plating.
I decided to write this post to give some indication or address both to users of chrome bars and producers of drawn bars and/or hot rolled round bars for the production of piston rods.
In the case of cold drawn bars is highly recommend to provide a stress relieving treatment after drawing and before straightening and cutting.
In the case of hot-rolled bars I suggest a stress relieving treatment only for micro-alloyed steels or with yield values of minimum 75,000 PSI.
In this case the relieving treatment is sufficient to a low temperatures and with very short residence times.
For these reasons, stress relieving is often necessary, and in some cases, mandatory.
A stress relief operation is typically used to remove internal (residual) stresses that have accumulated in the material and to prevent failure on the finish product especially if used in steering cylinders.
Stress relieving enhances the ductility over cold drawn products.
Ductility, as measured by % Elongation and % Reduction of Area, is significantly improved by a stress relieving operation. It gives the assurance that material can withstand design overloads without failure.
In case of Piston Rods – Side-loads due to unforeseen circumstances will bend the rod – not cause it to fracture – assurance against catastrophic failures.
Stress relieving enhances machinability.
Cold Drawing is generally used for getting a precise size tolerance and for increasing the mechanical properties. During this operation the hardness change on the cross-section.
A stress relieve bar or tube is “dead” over the entire cross section and will not “move” while machining. With stress-relieving heat treatment, the tension in the material is minimized without major changes to the microstructure or strength.
This is a great advantage during subsequent machining. If there were still tension in the material, it would, for example, cause distortion during sawing or milling.
Stress Relieving enhances fatiguelife of the final component part.
For Bars and Tubes the Stress Relieving heat treatment is made just after the cold drawing operation. The Temperature and the time of permanence of the Thermal Treatment depend on the steel grade and on what we’d like to achieve at the end. In all cases the temperature is below the first critical point.
In case of Cold Drawn Tubes in grade E355 the temperature can vary between 520 to 570 Celsius, Mechanical properties will remain unchanged and the elongation increase from ab. 7% to minimum 15%. Sometimes is necessary to stay on the higher side of the temperature for achieving a better impact value KV either.
In case of Cold Drawn Bars, used afterward to produce Hard Chrome Plated Bars, Stress Relieving is a must to achieve the straightness on the final product with a minimum residual stress and by allowing further machining of the components without re-straightening. The lowest possible residual stress patterns in a finish part give the assurance to have the best possible fatigue life of the finished component.
In Conclusion
Stress relief is a simple heat-treating operation for all Cold Drawn Steel Products that depends strongly on the proper selection of temperature and time at temperature for its success. A proper cooling rate is also a surprisingly important factor.
Example:
Cold Drawn Only Cold Drawn & Stress Relieved
Product : Cylinder Tube 80×95 Cylinder Tube 80×95
Grade : E355 +C E355 +SR
Yield Strength : 84,100 PSI 81,800 PSI
Tensile Strength : 94,250 PSI 89,537 PSI
% Elongation : 7% 16,8%
Cold Drawn Only Cold Drawn & Stress Relieved
Product : Cold Drawn Bar 20 Cold Drawn Bar 20
Grade : 1045 +C 1045 +SR
Yield Strength : 102,800 PSI 97,660 PSI
Tensile Strength : 92,150 PSI 86,537 PSI
% Elongation : 9,8% 15,2%
I will begin this article by asking you one simple question: Why is that some companies succeed in business and others not? They get to penetrate the market so fast? And whatever they manufacture they sell it over night? Why people love and remain engaged to them?
What I came to see throughout my entire carreer is that general goes to particular and micro is same as macro. Same patterns, different sizes.
For example, look at the structure of our brain that has these 2 parts: the limbic, that manages the feelings or emotions and the cortex that involves functions like rational thinking and logic. Same as a business I may say. Core values or mission and organizational stuff or logical processes.
Not surprisingly, we are created in such manner that actually the limbic brain is the leader (that inspires) and the cortex leads (the authority, the power). An information (such as data, arguments, real facts) gets to our brain and is being processed by our cortex, the rational filter, and then gets to our limbic part, the emotional one. In this case we often see the reactions like, “I understand what you say, it’s logical and yet I just can’t do it. It doesn’t feel right.” We first rationalize it and then feel it. But we don’t manage to be driven to action by those words. The cortex’s ok with the info, the limbic’s not.
Unless…
The information that is presented has an emotional charge. This one gets straight to our limbic part of the brain! The very center of your core values, principles and beliefs! From here we get those wonderful feelings that “I knew it” and “I can feel it in my guts”. The intuition. We feel it first and then rationalize it. Gut decisions.
Ok. So what is that these great companies do and manage success so fast, never failing?
They learned that in order to manipulate people you manage first their brain. Great marketing strategy and real NLP, I may say. They understood is not about the products you sell but is about the way you sell it to people. Emotion over thought, leader leads.
Great leaders think beginning with WHY. Why my company exists? What is my purpose, my cause, my belief, my values? And then they add the How and What.
Marketing, as we know it nowadays, goes like : “Look at us, we are great, we created this trendy wonderful product. You should have one, you need it because…”. They say WHAT is the product, HOW they manufactured it and then, CTA’s. Usually, all they get as a reaction from other people is “We don’t trust you, like you or even listen to you”.
But what if they put the WHY in the front, like Apple did, and they would say “Why are we here? Because we believe that we can face any challenge in this industry. We came here to reinvent it. We are different. And, as a result of our beliefs, we created this product. Wanna buy?”
These are the leaders that managed to set a set of beliefs that touch the limbic part of the brain. Because we are attracted to the ones who share same visions, creeds, motivation and values. These companies get high engagement from customers due to their trust in being one standout firm, driven by strong principles, not about to break or give up easily. They are authentic, different, genuine.
People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it! They buy experiences. And you are one experience. Not a product. Not no mention your goal is to do business with others that share your vision, support, stand by you and not with those who only want what you have! This goes for hiring people in your company, making business and personal choices. Unconditionally support. Real motivation.
People act by belief not money. They believe in you and your company. Your vision, they share it and fulfill their dreams through you and your products. Talk about your beliefs and you’ll attract individuals like you. Find out their beliefs and you won the market. Why is this so important?
Because 2.5% are innovators, 13.5% are early adopters,34% are early majority, 34% are late majority and 16% laggards.
For a mass market success you need to penetrate the market between 15% -18%.The innovators and early adopters! They are the trend setters and the testers for the last 82% of the market. What are their beliefs? “I am a leader, the first, I care the way people see me”. Make them believe in you and your marketing tactics are already on the move.
As a conclusion, you need to build your cause to be theirs. Give them the I have a dream speech not the I have a plan speech. They don’t care what you know or have until you show them you share it with them. And you should share the same vision.
Over the past few months, I’ve taken on the challenge of writing an Ebook and, friends, it’s now ready to share! I’ve done a lot of research and also reflected on my life and career, gathering funny and meaningful memories along the way. It was a tough but also very enjoyable project, and I hope you will find the book useful and a pleasure to read.
I thought it would be a good idea to summarize the text in eight points. Why eight? Because eight is the lucky number in China – and China has been my golden ticket to success. Eight in Chinese is pronounced as ba 八 and it’s very similar to the sound fa发of the word facai发财, which means “to become rich”. For this reason, a cellphone or a license plate number with many eights, or the eighth floor of a building are regarded as good omens. Often, when people set off fireworks, they are displayed in the shape of an eight. The opening of the Beijing Olympics was held at 8.08 pm on 8th August 2008. What a coincidence, no? That’s why I thought eight points would bring my Ebook good luck. So, very briefly, what are you going to read in the pages? I will give you my eight principles:
Competition analysis and monitoring is at the core of each and every sales strategy: knowing the market is an essential skill.Have a nice reading, everyone! I would very much appreciate your comments, observations, and even criticism.
If you want to know more: Amazon
We are all aware that a company’s sales are in the hands of the salespeople, retailers, key accounts and dealers. These are the vital intermediaries who will build loyalty in seconds and have the power to attract and convert enthusiasts.
We all also know that repeat buyers are more profitable than acquiring new ones. They return a higher margin, are stronger recommenders, and require fewer pricing offers than the cost of acquiring new customers. The ‘physics’ of this equation remain unchanged for all kind of businesses. Any CEO will tell you that returnees and recommenders are the most valuable customers.
Customers have become more sophisticated, technologically adept and also price smart. They have now the world at their fingertips, are extremely savvy navigators and have no hesitation about consulting reviews, comparing prices and checking social media currency. And yet, clients’ attraction but mostly their loyalty have become harder to obtain.
Why? Because people like technology and profits but in the end, they only like other people. The more digital life becomes, the more people value being understood, being touched , involved by other people, not by machines and robots. People personify the world around them and can feel they have relationships with products, services, companies and countries, not just with other people.
In this matter, Daniel Kahneman, Psychologist and Nobel Economics laureate, shows how people are not rational decision makers, that the heart rules the head in decision-making, while Donald Calne, canadian neurologist, states that “the essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions.”
A 2015 study across seven different B2B industries indicated that only 14% of B2B buyers are willing to pay extra for a name, a brand. And it found that personal value (based around emotion) has twice as much impact as business value (based around logic/reason). Due to the level of personal risk B2B buyers feel, B2B buying is highly personal – even more so than B2C buying.
In business decision-making, human emotional factors are found to out do data-based rational or analytical drivers. In a study of 710 global business leaders, a majority of 62% of CEO’s say it is necessary to rely on intuition and soft factors such as c
ompany culture or its values.
Emotion seems to be the primary driver of closing business and salespeople must get to the nub of how people feel.
They need to understand that when a deep emotional connection is cultivated, attacks from competitors providing new features, deals and designs will not succeed to steal the client very fast.
There is a urgent need of customizing, personalizing, interacting with, and anticipating the needs and desires of clients but in a different manner as we know it. Now it’s essential to show our clients that each specific visit/business mattered and they continue to be important beyond the sale.
Research shows that people like business partners that bring human touch in their approach . It’s the moment we come now to realize that people around the world are placing more importance on experiences.
As we act to survive and thrive in this new consumer age we must understand that winning is not just about selling more. It’s also about selling for more. And our business approach must be real and personable. A salesperson may not be your soulmate, but can be your best friend, earning your trust, affection and enduring loyalty. As Oprah Winfrey said: “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
In this article I will touch a sensitive but extremely important point with the aim of making you, my reader, start questioning the notion we all have taken for granted for so many years “rating for corrosion resistance”. I will encourage you to ask yourself this simple question: “Is rating an accurate form for the evaluation of corrosion performance/resistance?”
We all know that in the hydraulics business there are few aspects more important or more spoken off than that of the rods corrosion rating. In order to evaluate the potential of a producer or that of its product, we have taught ourselves to ask questions such as “how long it will last in NSS?” or “what do you guarantee for corrosion resistance?”. The answer inevitably will be the blunt and totally unsatisfactory standard phrase that will hit you: “R9 at 200 hours”. This has become the standard answer received from every single chrome product supplier (big or small, good or bad) – it has become a “benchmark or a trademark” answer, as everybody is marketing their products as per this rating.
During these past few years, I have tried to find the answer to this question by trying to understand aspects such as: what does R9 means? Is this satisfactory for my particular application? Does R9 mean that from the start I accept a rod that is not fully corrosion resistant for the given time? Can an accelerated test performed under controlled and unlike real world conditions, that give me a number as a result, is cause for reassuring me that the bar is good or bad? What is the real world condition test rating that corresponds to a rating 9, result obtained in laboratory conditions?
After carefully assessing various test performed on production batches as well as test runs spread over many years, I have come to the understanding that giving a “number” value (even the highest one found on a fix values scale), does not provide guarantees as per what I need, thus making me to realize envision the idea that the “RATING IS DEAD!”.
I know what you think as this has been also my first thought when I first envisioned this…….how can this be?
Well, let’s check out some of the facts that made me challenge the “rating 9” myth being the benchmark of the industry:
Does this mean that all ratings are useless?
Well, yes and no!
YES because as already pointed out, you can’t place the equal sign in between. An R9 obtained under controlled laboratory conditions (accelerated conditions, true), and an R9 obtained in real world conditions.
NO because these tests can still be used to compare fast and with relative ease, different types of rods (either of different steel grades, chrome plating techniques and or thickness).
In my opinion the only evaluation/guarantee that needs be requested from any hard chrome plated supplier is the one that does not allow for any interpretation, any argument or any negotiation, and that notion is simply “NO RUST AFTER ‘X’ HOURS”.
If you have any comments, input or observations, feel free to share them here. I’d be happy to know your thoughts.
If you wish to be advised on my next posts and to receive additional material and updates soon, please leave your email-address here.
Discover the Secret Data about the Price War in the CYLINDER BUSINESS.
Discover the Secret Data about the Price War in the CYLINDER BUSINESS.
I am a manager and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the hydraulic and pneumatic cylinder industry.
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