Reports surfaced the week of April 5 that Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh asked OSHA to further review its pending Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) prior to release.

Hard lessons learned from the 2020 pandemic taught us that we needed to rebuild and re-establish our U.S. supply-chain ecosystem. The systemic shock to our global supply chains left us with bottlenecks, shortages and an acute awareness of our overdependence on imports.

Editor’s note: The following is an edited (for length) transcription of an interview between SECO/WARWICK’s Tom Hart and Dan Herring, The Heat Treat Doctor. It was part of the company’s E-Seminar held in September 2020.

After six months of negotiations, Washington has come to agreement and passed a 5,593-page bill providing COVID relief to businesses, renewing and expanding the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program loans while allowing for a second PPP draw, permitting the deduction of PPP expenses and extending more tax relief to employers. Reversing the IRS decision and allowing PPP loan recipients to deduct their expenses was a top priority for businesses facing a surprise tax penalty of up to 37%.

After the year we experienced, I wasn’t quite sure what to focus on in the last editorial of 2020. We all know what we have personally been through – bad or good – so there’s no reason to rehash that. We do want to be certain readers understand what’s happening with Industrial Heating and know where to go for information.

This coordinated Nadcap system results in a standardized approach to quality assurance and a reduction in redundant auditing throughout the aerospace industry.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) developed a low-cost sensor that can identify COVID-19 antibodies in approximately 10 seconds. The sensor is based on a special structure of tiny gold electrodes that are 3D printed using Optomec’s aerosol-jet process. The technology would allow clinicians to instantly and accurately detect the COVID-19 antibodies due to the specific geometry and surface characteristics of the printed structure. The test identifies two antibodies of the virus and is capable of detection even at very low concentrations through an electrochemical reaction sensed in the 3D-printed structure within a simple handheld device that interfaces with a smartphone.  

Change. It is something that all of us are faced with these days. From COVID-19 to civil unrest, we are facing new business and personal challenges that can also provide opportunities, depending on how you look at them.

A medical technology manufacturer ordered Despatch conveyor ovens to help produce COVID-19 diagnostic testing systems. Perforated plenums above the belt create a laminar flow that will keep the small, lightweight parts from being disturbed. Fresh-air ports were added to support the positive chamber pressure needed to achieve the required temperature uniformity of ±9°F (±5°C). The continuous belt design is suited for large quantities of similar workpieces being processed.

At the writing of this column, the world is at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Manufacturers and the supply chain are being disrupted like they have never been disrupted before.