We recently finished up some Tube Steel ¾" X ¾" X .065" WALL 6063-T52 ALUM bent into a double 90° configuration to a 3¼" inside radius. These curved steel parts will be used for seat frames on small airplanes. We do a number of parts for the aviation and aerospace industries including hydraulic lines, exhaust lines, exterior structural parts and interior support elements like the seat frames pictured below.
We just returned from the happiest place on Earth (Disney World) and while we should be rested after 9 days of vacation, we are exhausted!!! Disney, just like everything else in our lives, involved strategic planning almost six months in advance just to ensure we could have a hot meal and ride the most popular rides. And even with all that planning and preparation, Jaime and I found ourselves constantly evaluating the efficiencies of the parks, the bottlenecks we faced, and how we thought Disney could improve the experience of park-goers. Don't get me wrong, we had great family time, and Disney is one of the most successful companies around, but I think the lesson we took away from the trip is that even if we think we have things all figured out and are doing things the way we think you want them done, we can't rest on our laurels and we need to be constantly evaluating how we can make your experience in doing business with us an enjoyable (and dare I say "magical") one.
On our trip, we were constantly on a roller coaster, jumping from one ride to the next, never a dull moment. That is the same feeling we have about how the spring is shaping up here at Albina Co. We have so many great and interesting projects going on right now! We are rockin' & rollin' on so many different types of material! So many industries...agricultural, structural, aerospace, mining, food processing, and so much more! Below are just a few projects we shipped out recently!
We recently completed a project that consisted of rolling 6" SCH40 A53B ERW to a 18" center line radius. The project consisted of 54 pieces in total and in going to a company that specializes in bridge and pedestrian railings.
Albina specializes in bending railings and handrails for commercial, recreational, transportation and residential applications. We can bend to customer specifications and we also have handrail kits available. We can bend and trim per drawing, trim and cope mid-rails, and assemblies can be supplied as individual parts or fabricated complete.
Albina recently bent 100 lengths of TS 2" X 1" X .125" WALL 6061-T6 aluminum in elliptical configurations. All of the ellipse bends had to be within 1/8" of the template provided and it was critical that all parts match each other. This was a rush project that was required just a few days after receipt of material. The ellipse bends will be used in the newly renovated pool at the Universal Palms Hotel in Florida. The hotel was recently purchased by a group of New York investors that plan to re-brand the hotel under the Choice Hotels franchise.
Albina recently bent 96,000# of steel consisting of 75 pieces of TS10" X 6" X .500" WALL A500 GR B and TS 10" X 6" X.625" WALL A500 GR B bent the hard way for the curved Steel roof structure at the Rainbow Recreation Center in Oakland, CA. The renovation and expansion of the Rainbow Rec Center is a 13.7 million dollar project expected to be completed by Spring 2019.
On Friday, March 2nd, almost a year-and-a-half after announcing the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, the University of Oregon broke ground for the new campus! The project is slated to be complete by 2020. A signature sky bridge over Franklin Boulevard will connect the campus to other U of O research facilities while creating a gateway corridor between Eugene and Springfield. Albina Co. Inc. bent 22" OD X 1" WALL CARBON STEEL PIPE to a 105 foot centerline radius for the sky bridge. What an amazing project! Stay tuned for install pictures!
Another high purity project in the books! We have been staying real busy with a number of stainless steel projects recently. Not only are they bright and shiny to look at, but they often present a unique challenge depending on the configuration and specifications for each piece. For this project, Albina bent 1¾" OD X .065" WALL T304 Stainless Steel Tubing into multiple coils from 20 ft lengths to a 26.75” diameter.
As we continue to strive to be an industry leader with our "out of the box thinking" and with our push to work smarter with the use of technology, we sat down for an interview with the "Tube & Pipe Journal" to discuss what exactly we are doing to achieve our goals. Log into the digital edition of the "Tube & Pipe Journal" to read the fabulous article written by Eric Lundin!
After many years of consideration, we determined it was the right time to move our shop workers into personal digital devices and start "working smarter." The initial desire was to have workers get rid of the old, antiquated paper time card system and move to a better digital solution. What evolved was a very powerful personal digital device that shares a wealth of information internally and externally. Some highlights include:
1. Picture Vault. Operators have the ability to take pictures of a customer's project during various phases of production and easily upload those pictures for sharing with the customer via our website.
2. Time cards. We no longer fill out paper time cards or punch a clock. Workers are able to apply time automatically to orders and machines with a simple click of the button. All of the time is automatically tied into our job costing and payroll system avoiding double entry and extra handling of paper time cards.
3. Daily and Weekly Schedules are now available for all workers on their personal device, instead of being on a central computer that all workers had to walk to.
4. MTR's are now available for workers to review for all jobs that require heat numbers to be verified and transferred.
5. Internet allows workers to access our Bending Calculators page and use our powerful bending calculators to help with daily math.
6. Email is available to certain workers that have Albina email accounts to allow for documented communication between workers.
7. Scientific calculators are available to all workers.
8. Access to Albina's vast library of tooling.
9. Access to saved production notes for repeat parts.
10. Access to setup pictures that can be zoomed to get a detailed view of what is required.
11. Ability to preview a work order without tracking down printed paperwork.
12. Access to a company wide vacation schedule so workers know when vacation time is coming up and when vacation time is available.
13. Ability to preview a purchase order and receive a purchase order.
14. Ability to update job status and mark when parts are complete in real time.
15. Performance Review. Each worker has the ability to review production productivity and production efficiency percentages weekly, monthly and annually.These personal digital devices have become very powerful tools for our workers and certainly help with efficiency. We continue to strive to be an industry leader with innovative, "out of the box thinking."
In addition to bending, Albina can assist its customers by providing added processes to materials we handle. Many value-added processes can be included with our scope of work allowing our customers to receive turn key parts. Whether the parts are rolled, or standard straight sections, we are here to help. Albina has countless pieces of fabrication equipment allowing us to provide complete parts whenever required. Our talented fabrication personnel and equipment can reduce a customer’s lead-time and overall cost by handling some fabrication processes in house.
Albina employs several full-time welders and fabricators that carry various welding certs from AWS to fit the various needs of our customers. Our fabricators can weld steel, aluminum, stainless and copper nickel materials. We have MIG, TIG and Stud welding abilities in most of these materials. In addition to being able to weld, our fabricators and equipment allow us to add production cut (CNC), precision CNC trim (saw or plasma), punch/drill holes, CNC plasma cut holes (round, square, diamond, triangle and oval), rollbead ends of round material, flare ends of round material (37° and/or 45°), cope (manually and CNC) up to 6” OD material, split and taper both wide flange and HSS sections, cope T,K and Y connections in round and square materials, and thread or tap items.
Albina continues to grow and evolve as a full-service shop. We have invested in CNC technology over the years to provide repeatable quality parts. Many of the secondary processes we offer customers can be performed using manual processes (for smaller quantity runs) or CNC processes (for larger quantity runs). We are constantly adding to our capabilities and capacities. Please contact sales or estimating if you have specific questions regarding our ability to assist with your next project.
If we can’t do it….we know who can. The industrial area of Tualatin where our facility is located is home to many businesses that can assist with the needs of your project. We have developed some very close-knit ties with local vendors allowing us to partner up and service all of your needs. External services such as laser cutting, hot dip galvanizing, sandblasting, painting, powder coating and precision machining are all within a mile of our facility.
