Monday, October 5, 2015

Manufacturing Day with Craig Technologies

I'm preoccupied with other things today, but I wanted to quickly recap the fun that was Manufacturing Day on Friday afternoon. I had never attended a Manufacturing Day event before and I'm not directly involved in manufacturing, but it sounded interesting and I wanted to check it out.

A beautiful, windy autumn day in Cape Canaveral outside of the ADMC - Oct. 2, 2015

The event took place at the Craig Technologies' Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center in Cape Canaveral. When last I had been to that complex in 2010, it was the United Space Alliance's NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot. USA essentially closed down after the retirement of the space shuttle program, and Craig Technologies took over the facility. I recognized some of the same equipment, though much has been added and improved upon in the last five years.

I would have loved to take more photos of what I saw. However, photography was strictly forbidden inside the facility. They even half-jokingly threatened to confiscate my camera when I asked if I could take a photo of a display booth of manufactured parts that was set up for visitors. I only dared to take photos outside the building, in the lobby, and in the exhibit area.

Our tour guide was the program manager for manufacturing (or a similar impressive title) and was extremely knowledgeable and informative throughout the facilities tour. The tour began in the avionics area where a huge room is set up for cable manufacturing. I wanted to go into the foam wall room where they conduct antenna testing, but our tour group was too big. We were shown a temperature-controlled vibration testing machine quite a bit bigger than the ones I've seen at universities. Although we didn't see the area, we were told about a project testing lighting cycling on the International Space Station.

We were taken to a different area where tubes are created, bent, and assembled. I didn't understand what they meant by “tube bending” until the demonstration. Very similar to how I bend thin strands of metal around circular objects when making or fixing jewelry, an automated machine bends metal pipes around a curved structure quickly and efficiently. In that same area, we were shown a large autoclave for tube creation, a pressure chamber for outgassing, and a laser etching the words “Craig Technologies” into a metal bottle cap opener.

We were then shown a 100,00 class clean room. I smiled when I peered inside the clean room and saw a vacuum chamber bell jar nearly identical to the one I worked with daily for years in graduate school. Only this bell jar had an impressive induction brazing system inside of it.

We were then shown the busiest area: basic manufacturing. I've been trained to use basic machine shop tools: mills, lathes, and drills. I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to use most of the equipment they have: 3, 5, and 9 axis milling machines; coordinate measuring machines; 3D printing machines; water jets, and an electrical discharge machine which I hadn't heard of before. Our tour guide explained that most of the work is manufacturing and reverse manufacturing, not much actual design work here.

The tour ended with snacks, beverages, and an exhibit hall full of manufacturing and technology related organizations. I saw a demonstration of a program identical to the Logo Turtle Graphics that I learned in elementary school, only with Disney's Frozen characters as the cursor courtesy of Code.org. (I personally don't believe that we should "feminize" gender-neutral things by changing their appearance to try to appeal to girls, and instead we should let girls know that gender-neutral things are made for them, but that's just me.) I got to say hello to some colleagues and learn about new things in the area.

The mayor gave a speech, as did Mark and Carol, the President and Founder/CEO, respectively. I've worked with them during Florida Space Day these past few years and have been meaning to learn more about Craig Technologies. Thank you to Craig Technologies and everyone involved for being such great hosts and putting on a great program!

Sneaking a picture with the astronaut-signed space shuttle mock-up in the lobby - Oct. 2, 2015

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