Custom Carbon & Graphite Machining

26 Oct

Safety Committee

While it may be a cliche, it’s not far off to describe the workforce at Semco as a family. Many of us have worked together for years (or even decades), we all share a common purpose and interests, and we look out for one another. As we’ve outlined before, when working in graphite industries (or any heavy manufacturing industries), safety must be a top priority. The work environment can be a safe place, but workplace safety most certainly doesn’t come about on its own. Graphite manufacturing involves powerful machines, heavy blocks of raw materials, extremely high temperatures, and a host...

19 Oct

OLE: Overall Labor Effectiveness

Businesses, it is frequently said, run on data. From targeting specific audiences for online advertisements to running sophisticated cost comparisons, contemporary businesses crunch a lot of data to maximize profits. Much of that data comes from within the company itself, as the performance of salesmen, marketing departments, and managers is tracked and subsequent adjustments to strategy or personel is made. In the manufacturing sector, it is common (even necessary) to carefully track the performance of equipment. A program for doing this is called OEE, or Overall Equipment Effectiveness. An OEE program helps provide the management with valuable hard data on...

12 Oct

Non-Disclosure Agreements

There are reasons that so many Semco clients have been with us for years. One of those reasons is, of course, the expert graphite machining work we do for our clients. Another reason is trust. We would like to take the opportunity in this blog to address a particular type of business contract, the non-disclosure agreement, which is essential to establishing trust in long-term business relationships like the ones we build with our clients. The non-disclosure agreement is a legally binding contract that establishes a confidential relationship. The party or parties signing the agreement agree that sensitive information they may...

05 Oct

Haas EC-1600 Safety Grant Program Update

We often write on this blog about our expertise at Semco in graphite manufacturing, and how making graphite components that meet and exceed our clients’ expectations is our number one priority. Since Semco is a company ≈ runs a shop floor filled with large and powerful machines, we of course need to remind our clients (and employees) that at the top of our list of concerns is safety, always. In this blog, we wanted to update you on a story that illustrates Semco’s dedication to safety in our workplace. A couple of months ago, we wrote the following here about...

25 Aug

Hot Zone Maintenance

As we’ve explained here before, graphite is a versatile material. Because of the material’s versatility, and because we specialize in machining custom components for our clients, Semco ends up manufacturing a dizzying array of graphite components. We have several standbys, though -- components we frequently machine for our customers -- such as graphite heaters, or hot zones. In a prior post, we discussed several key factors for choosing the best hot zone for your needs. In this blog, we follow up that discussion by going over proper maintenance for your hot zone. Read on to learn ways to extend the...