Time flies by and this will be the last update from the life in sunny California. This is my and Mikaels last week in Santa Ana and we’re in the process of finalization, presentation and documentation of our projects over here. The last three months has been interesting and both me and Mikael has learned a lot and got to experience a lot during the weekends.
As we’re in the process of finalizing everything at work we’re also enjoying the beach as much as we can. This week there’s even more tourists and surfers than normally due to Vans US Open of Surfing. This weekend Mikael and I will move out of our apartment in Huntington Beach and it is our turn to go back to Sweden again.
Vans US Open of Surfing, Huntington Beach.
Thank you GKN in Santa Ana and beautiful Huntington beach for three amazing months, maybe we’ll meet again..
I have made an Vlogg for you to watch – Hope you like it.
If you are in UK and want to visit the Farnborough International Airshow come by the 15th of July, I will be there. If you prefere I provide you with a link and you can follow the worlds biggest aviation exhibition thru social media – click here!
Warmest regards and i wish you a happy vacation time or summerbreak, dont forget the sunscreen..
A while ago, I moved to the homeland of the great wall, the panda and the hoverboard, that is to say; China. It is with great admiration and respect that I have settled in this ancient country which population represents a fifth of the world population and which economy is the second largest in the world. Just by reading these figures, you get an understanding that this is a country with big numbers.
With a population of approximately 24 million, my city of residency, Shanghai, is ranked as one of the world´s largest cities. The city has, like most other major Chinese cities, enjoyed a steady growth because of the ongoing urbanization. During the past 30 years, 300 million people have moved into the cities, and another 350 million are estimated to leave the rural areas and move into the cities in the upcoming years.
Something that tends to reach ever higher levels as cities grow is the air pollution levels. With increasing urbanization, water and electricity consumption per capita rises, which in turn means that more electricity from China´s coal plants is needed. This combined with the fact that more and more people can afford to buy their own car leads to increased problems with air pollution in the big cities.
However, urbanization also has positive consequences. Because of higher paying jobs in the urban areas, more and more people are lifted into the economic middle class. This allows for higher consumption of products and services, which in turn results in improved business prospects for both national and international companies.
In summary, it can be concluded that China is a country with large numbers on several different levels, and where the trend indicates that future figures will be even higher.
Besides working, me and Linn have had the opportunities to go on study visits to GKN SItes and suppliers around California. Here follows a short
We’ve been to GKN in El Cajon, together with high school students and teachers from GKN in Trollhättan. The site is also part of the Engine Systems division and manufacture products similar to those made in Sweden. This includes cold and hot structures, static and rotating parts, from turbine blades to giant fan cases. One of their processes, called chemical milling, is rather unique and is used to manufacture ribs, reinforcements and flanges in sheets and complex designs. The process’s high removal rate through etching is the result of baths with strong and hot acid, which have required rigorous controls to maintain permission to use it.
[A picture from our visit to Camarillo will be added soon :O ]
I and Linn have also been to Carlton Forge Works outside Los Angeles. As suggested by the name their main business is forging, large and difficult forgings like turbine cases, fan cases (those later machined in El Cajon), spools and flanges for their biggest customer, GKN Aerospace. The forgings are huge and so are hammers, presses and rollers.
This is what a hammer may look like in the industry. The workpiece is shaped from the successive impacts from dropping and the heavy tool.
TIMET refines and manufactures titanium alloy products, primarily to the aerospace industry. Located in Henderson, close to Las Vegas, is their plant for extracting titanium from rutile ore, which we got to visit last month. Through a series of stages the pure titanium is separated from titanium oxide, reacted to chlorine, distilled and combined with magnesium. The product is a large, porous cylinder (titanium sponge) and has thus far required a lot of energy. Luckily, the plants location in the middle of the desert is also close to the Colorado River and the electricity producing Hoover Dam.
The Hoover Dam and the hydropower plant which provides electricity to the desert area and enables titanium production
Next week, we’ll be going to the small GKN factory in Camarillo, west of Los Angeles, where they form sheet metal exclusively using metal spinning. The sheet metal is clamped onto a mandrel and, while rotating, is pressed with a roller tool against a die. The formed components (lip skins) sit in front of the fan and protect the inlet from impacts, abrasion and heat from the anti-ice air supply.
Metal spinning forms sheet metal into axisymmetric products, such as engine somponents and brass vases
I need to go and prepare for the upcoming celebration of the Independence Day. Have a nice weekend!
