E-Archive

Articles

in Vol. 5 - January Issue - Year 0
MFN Shot Peening Workshop in Singapore Success with a strong Team !
Standing from left to right: 
Official MFN Trainers Peter Beckmerhagen, Dr. Frank W

Standing from left to right: Official MFN Trainers Peter Beckmerhagen, Dr. Frank W

Official MFN Trainer Giovanni Gregorat during the "hands-on" sieve analysis

Official MFN Trainer Giovanni Gregorat during the "hands-on" sieve analysis

MFN Guest Trainer Shlomo Ramati checking the RPM of his flapper peener

MFN Guest Trainer Shlomo Ramati checking the RPM of his flapper peener

Michael Lin, Manufacturing Engineer at ATS during his first experience with flapper peening

Michael Lin, Manufacturing Engineer at ATS during his first experience with flapper peening

Alan Nudelman of Composition Materials during his guest appearance. The company donated a large part of the training material on masking to MFN.

Alan Nudelman of Composition Materials during his guest appearance. The company donated a large part of the training material on masking to MFN.

Peening Accessories booth, PA produces Almen strips, Gages and Holders

Peening Accessories booth, PA produces Almen strips, Gages and Holders

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Pometon booth, manufacturer of steel shot

Pometon booth, manufacturer of steel shot

Composition Material booth, offering different masking solutions

Composition Material booth, offering different masking solutions

MFN booth

MFN booth

ISPC booth, International Surface Preparation Corporation

ISPC booth, International Surface Preparation Corporation

Frohn booth, manufacturer of cut wire

Frohn booth, manufacturer of cut wire

Baiker booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

Baiker booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

Straaltechniek booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

Straaltechniek booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

Progressive booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

Progressive booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

Abrasive Engineering booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

Abrasive Engineering booth, manufacturer of shot peening equipment

For reasons nobody could control, Singapore was in the year 2003 certainly not the ideal location to hold an educational workshop. SARS, the Iraq war and the terrorist attacks in neighbouring regions all slowed down the already-weakening economic situation in the area to an extent never seen in the last few decades.
MFN had a number of short notice cancellations since a few companies simply did not have the means to send their people to training anymore. The budget for education had been completely revised. And despite all these extreme conditions, the MFN Shot Peening Workshop held from the 17th to the 19th of November had a total of 64 participants! We are certainly very proud of this result. Students enrolled not just from Singapore, but also from Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, China and Thailand. Most of them came from the aviation industries.

It was the 3rd consecutive shot peening workshop to be held in Singapore. Last year MFN had 84 participants while the first one was attended by 51.

Official MFN Training

MFN took a completely new approach for this workshop. A team of talented MFN Trainers and Scientific Advisers was recruited from around the globe in the early part of 2003. In Singapore the workshop was held with eight MFN trainers from six different countries. They all played an important part and helped to make this workshop a success.
The MFN trainers, who continue to provide educational support for the MFN organization, have created all together 16 hours of shot peening training. The quality of this new training reflected the team effort needed to design such a shot peening education program. It is hardly possible that a single individual can cover all different areas involved in shot peening. Each trainer was asked to provide or improve upon a particular aspect in which he was specialized.
3 types of courses were offered, appealing to either the interest or background of the students. While the "basic" shot peening course explained the fundamental knowledge of intensity, coverage, exposure time, peening media, masking and specifications, the "intermediate" and "advanced" courses had topics such as peening equipment, audits for shot peening, basics of fatigue, residual stress profiles, peen straightening and flapper peening. For all courses an optional certificate of achievement was offered. That means the participants had to pass a test in order to receive this certificate. A surprising number of over 80% enrolled for the examinations.

MFN also received a number of donations in terms of tutorial material and exhibits from the industries. The different exhibits received for this workshop were:

Masking Samples:
-Composition Materials
-Gerard Poly Mouldings

Coverage Sample Plates:
-KSA GmbH

Almen Gages, Strips and Holders:
-Peening Accessories GmbH

Steel Shot Samples:
-Pometon S.p.A.

Ceramic Beads Sample:
-Saint-Gobain ZirPro

Sieve Analyzer:
-W.S. Tyler

Fan Blades:
-Rösler Oberflächentechnik GmbH

Hands-On Training

In some of the courses "hands-on" training was offered. The MFN Guest Trainer Shlomo Ramati gave a detailed flapper peening demonstration and some students were able to do flapper peening for the first time. Also a complete sieve analyzer was installed in front of the class and the Official MFN Trainer Giovanni Gregorat explained its application and use.

"Hands-on" training is always a highlight. It is certainly much easier to understand a topic if real equipment can be shown and if students have the chance to test it. However, being an international workshop it is also logistically demanding to introduce hands-on training.  Equipment has to be shipped overseas and different power supplies have to be taken into account. However, since it is such a valuable tool, MFN was pleased to make the effort. Two members of the MFN team arrived a few days early to make sure that there were no problems on the technical side. For the flapper peening MFN received also great help from the local 3M representative, who provided the complete flapper peening installations.

Guest Speaker Day Also Introduced Vibratory Finishing

Besides the official MFN training which is entirely educational, guest speakers were invited to talk about their technologies and products. This is also important since it gives the participants the chance to communicate directly with potential suppliers. During this guest speaker day vibratory finishing was introduced, a process which is often found just next to shot peening equipment. There are a number of parts which receive vibratory finishing after shot peening.

Trade Show

Suppliers of equipment, media and accessories from England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Singapore and USA displayed their products.

The next International MFN Shot Peening Workshop will be in Coventry, England from the 12th to the 14th of May 2004.

For Information:
www.mfn.li or E-mail: info@mfn.li