What's New: Bulletins

Guyson was recognized by the Ballston Spa Central School District Board of Education at the February 2012 meeting for its continuing support of the district’s FIRST Robotics program.

John Carson of Guyson Corporation (first at left in photo) accepted a plaque of appreciation made by students in the High School.

Keith Stewart, President of the Board of Education, expressed gratitude on behalf of the school district and noted that the district increasingly values the support provided by the companies in our region as part of the Partnership for Innovation in Education program. Find further information at at www.bscsd.org. 

Anyone interested in following the activities of the local team 0xBE4 as they undertake this year’s “Rebound Rumble” challenge can visit their web site at team3044.com.  The national FIRST Robotics site is www.usfirst.org.

Four college students from the Saratoga region who have worked at Guyson through their winter break are highlighted in a local news story in the THE SARATOGIAN newspaper published on Monday, January 9, 2012.

The full story and photographs can be found at The Saratogian web site at
www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/01/09/news/doc4f0a53743fe34515284322.txt?viewmode=fullstory

A group of high school  seniors in the New Visions Engineering program toured Guyson Corporation’s Saratoga Springs plant on October 14, 2011, to gain insights into machinery design and manufacturing and to see the central role engineers play in the process.

Engineering Manager Alex Thomson explains how the Fanuc M-710iC robot will be integrated in a robotic grit-blasting system under construction at Guyson's Saratoga Springs plant for an aircraft engine overhaul facility.

The students started their visit in the Design Engineering offices, where they saw CAD/CAM software in use, talked about the day-to-day activities of engineers and saw some examples of documents that must be produced before an automatic blast machine can be built. The group then progressed to the Machine Shop and saw CNC machine tools being used to make precision components, the Weld Shop to observe blast equipment taking shape and all the other areas of the manufacturing floor, essentially following the steps of assembly that lead to a complete and operational automated or robotic blast system.

In the application engineering laboratory, the group witnessed a demonstration of a Guyson RB-9 robotic blasting machine, in which the robot serves as a precision manipulator of the blast nozzle, then they went to the Assembly Area and had a close-up look at a larger industrial robot that is about to become part of a robotic grit-blast machine that will be used by an aerospace customer.

One of the Career and Technical Education offerings of the area Board of Cooperative Educational Services, the New Visions Engineering program includes rigorous academic elements, but it also give the college-bound students practical perspectives on engineering by visits to technology companies the in Southern Adirondack and Capital Region. To learn more about the New Visions Engineering program, visit the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES web site at www.wswheboces.org/CTE.cfm?subpage=119 .

Nineteen students from Ballston Spa Middle School made a field trip to Guyson Corporation’s Saratoga Springs plant on August 4, 2011, as part of their rich week-long “summer camp” experience in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the school district’s Gateway Academy program.

Can you pick out the future engineers in this group of students?

After a brief introduction to Guyson Corporation and the fundamentals of blasting technology, the students formed three smaller teams to visit the Engineering Department, the Testing Laboratory and the Guyson factory floor, where they saw automated and robotic blasting machinery being built.

One highlight of the visit was the demonstration of a working robotic blast system that is custom-designed for shot peening of industrial gas turbine blade roots. The students also saw Computer-Aided Design tools used by design engineers, CNC machine tools, several types of blasting machines under construction and examples of surface treatments for a selection of aerospace, automotive and medical components.

Dan Dopp, Project Engineering Manager at Guyson Corporation, who hosted the robotic shot peening demonstration, expressed pleasant surprise at the attentiveness of some of the youthful visitors.

“There were some very good questions from each of the teams of young people,” Dopp commented. “I think there might easily have been several future engineers in this Gateway Academy group. For many, the visit to Guyson could be the first exposure to a manufacturing work place, and it is great that the opportunity was provided for them at that age.”

At the end of the visit, the students gathered in the reception area of the main building at Guyson’s 80,000 square foot factory, and each participant received a souvenir Guyson Robotic Blasting T-shirt.

FIRST Robotics Team 3044 from Ballston Spa High School made an excellent showing at the regional competition at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, March 10 through March 12, 2011.

FIRST Robotics Team 3044 one day before Regionals at WPI

Many weeks of planning, engineering  and team effort culminated in the excitement of the regional event held in Worcester, Massachusetts.  A total of 36 teams from around the northeast participated three days of intensive activity on the WPI campus. 

In the 2011 FIRST Robotics contest, Logo Motion, the robots built by the students had to grasp, elevate and maneuver three different geometric-shaped inflatable rings to place them on pegs. Team oxBE4 nicknamed their 2011 entry “Rosie,” and the design proved capable of performing the tasks required.

If you watched some of the regionals action in person or on the live web cam, the arena was noisy and congested, with six robotic devices going at once during the 11 qualifying rounds. There were times when Rosie and the robots from other teams moved with incredible efficiency in picking-up and placing the objects. At other points, the movement was not so elegant, and it was clear just how many different factors had to be synchronized for every successful step.

Guyson Corporation is one of the local sponsors of the Ballston group. We are very proud of the performance of Team 3044. Great job, team!

A group of high school seniors in the New Visions Engineering program toured Guyson’s Saratoga Springs factory and met with Alex Thomson, Engineering Manager.

Admission to New Visions is highly selective – students from 31 school districts in a 5-county BOCES region of northeastern New York State compete to participate in the academically rigorous year-long program. In addition to challenging class and laboratory projects, site visits like the one to Guyson enable the students to see first-hand the activities and responsibilities related to various engineering disciplines.

“These young people are impressive. They are focused, and they ask very good questions. I think it’s great that these students have the opportunity to explore the world of engineering before they get to college,” Mr. Thomson commented after hosting the group.

After spending an hour with Alex in the Engineering Department discussing the machine design process, how the work is organized and some of the tools of the trade, the group had an engineer’s-eye view of the automated and robotic blasting machinery in production on the manufacturing floor.

To learn more about BOCES educational opportunities and the New Visions Engineering program, visit the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex Board of Cooperative Educational Services web site at www.wswheboces.org/CTE.cfm?subpage=119 .

Visitors to Guyson’s Saratoga Springs, NY, Design and Manufacturing Center are now greeted by a brand new sign at the Grande Blvd. facilities.

Designed, fabricated and installed by Saratoga Sign Pros, Inc., the corporate identity marker is mounted on a steel post-and-frame structure built right in Guyson’s Welding Shop and given a glossy protective coating in our Paint Department. Other members of the Guyson team participated in the project, as well, first by removing the old sign and some over-grown shrubbery that stood by the roadside for over 20 years, then by installing the welded framework.

Steve Byrnes, President of Guyson Corporation, was the driving force behind the updated sign and led the group that worked with the sign maker in development of the design.

“After some discussion, we came to the conclusion that we wanted the new sign to reflect more of what the company is doing today, particularly the exciting developments at Guyson in the area of robotic blasting and shot peening,” Byrnes commented about the design project.

The sign company used up-to-date fabrication methods in execution of the design, not unlike some of the techniques employed by Guyson in manufacturing advanced blasting machinery. CAD/CAM software was employed to generate the program for automated milling of the three-dimensional sign board.

The recent investment in new plant lighting in the manufacturing area of Guyson’s Saratoga Springs plant proved to be a very bright idea, all around.

BEFORE: Halide lights left some areas under-lit and had an energy footprint that was a little too 1980s.

One by one, down came the old metal halide lights that lit the main assembly area since our major plant expansion in 1988. The legacy fixtures always made a noticeable humming sound, took about five minutes to reach full brightness and cast a kind of orange-tinted glow, but the bigger issue was that several areas of Assembly and Electrical were a little dim and required auxiliary work lighting.

The new four-lamp T5 HO light fixtures have a large reflector that helps each one brilliantly illuminate a broader area, virtually eliminating dim zones and the need for extra work lights. The biggest benefit, however, is the dramatic difference in the efficiency of the new lighting.

AFTER: More energy-efficient lighting installed in 2010 also improves the quality of work lighting in Assembly, Electrical, Shipping and Receiving.

While the new lights installed in Phase One of the lighting upgrade represent a considerable investment, initial estimates indicate a significant decrease in our energy usage by 59,000 kWh per annum, for an annual savings on the electric utility bill of about $12,000!
 
Congratulations on a job well done to all who contributed to the 2010 lighting project.

Guyson Corporation has recently signed a Motoman Select Solution Provider Agreement and will integrate Motoman robots into Guyson robotic blast systems. Additionally, Guyson and Motoman will develop new robotic surface treatment applications using certain next-generation robots available exclusively from Motoman.

Steve Byrnes, President of Guyson Corporation, commented on the significance of the new agreement during a briefing of the engineering and manufacturing teams at the Guyson factory in Saratoga Springs, New York.

“This partnership will enable us to cater to the robotic blasting requirements of Guyson customers who use Motoman robots elsewhere in their operations and those who may have a strong preference for this popular brand. As a customer-centered machine builder, Guyson will now offer an expanded robotics portfolio that exceeds that of any other blast equipment supplier or third-party integrator,” Byrnes explained.

Motoman, Inc., West Carrollton, OH is a subsidiary company of Yaskawa Electric Corporation, a world leader in robotics.  Founded in 1989, Motoman has grown to be the second largest robotics company in the Americas with more than 29,000 robots installed and a product line that includes more than 175 distinct robot models.

Just back from the Finger Lakes Regional FIRST Robotics competition, the “OxBE4″ Team 3044 has a right to be proud of their showing.

OxBE4, the 2010 team from Ballston Spa at the Finger Lakes Regional FIRST Robotics competition pose with their entry - Roboxxy.

The group of 21 members of the area high school robotics club participated in the regional event at Rochester Institute of Technology. The challenge this year was called “Breakaway,” and consisted of two alliances of three teams each competing on a 27′ x 54′ soccer field with bumps attempting to earn points by collecting soccer balls in their goals.

The students designed and built a robot called “Roboxxy” in a timeframe of six weeks leading up to the regional competition.  The Team 3044 entry proved it could traverse the bumps on the field and was able to score goals with accuracy.  The students rose to the challenge, learned a lot and had a great time at the competition.

Guyson Corporation is proud to be a sponsor of the BSHS team again in 2010.