Machine Design Blogs

I happened to come upon this piece of information from D.R. Barton, a financial columnist, on the cost components of gasoline. It makes interesting reading.

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What is the breakdown in the cost of a gallon of gasoline? Based on several sources, here are the best ranges I could find:

• Tax per gallon (U.S. Only): 18.4 cent Federal excise tax, plus, an average of 27 cents of state taxes (including sales and environmental taxes).

• Refining costs: ranging in estimates from 8% up to 22%.

• Transportation, storage & marketing: about 4.5% to 8%.

• Cost of crude oil: at $3.80 per gallon – 72% or $2.74.

These numbers come from a combination of resources including the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and articles from the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and CNN.com.

I provided these numbers because the number one question I’ve been asked by folks when discussing the article is, “What goes into the price of a gallon of gas?”

Interestingly, in 2006, with gas at an average of $2.43 per gallon, taxes made up almost 19% of the cost; now it’s down to “only” 12%. Clearly the price of crude oil is dominating the cost right now, but that’s not always the case. As we found out when Katrina shut down key refining plants on the Gulf coast, refining, distribution and storage costs can fluctuate based on supply and demand.

But despite high historic prices in the U.S, prices here remain relatively low compared to other countries around the world. Many oil producing countries subsidize gas prices, so countries like Venezuela, Nigeria, and most states in the Middle East have prices well below the cost of production (to stimulate economic growth and gain political favor). On the other end of the scale, most European countries have heavy gas taxes; the average price for a gallon of petrol in the UK is now $8.56 and in many Scandinavian countries, it’s north of $9.00 per gallon.

There has been yet another study that has concluded that corn-based ethanol is bad news from a variety of angles. To quote the summary,

The study looked at factors such as the energy needed to produce a renewable fuel source compared with how much energy is produced, the impact on soil fertility and effects on food supply when fuels based on crops such as corn and soybeans are mixed with fossil fuels. Based on those factors, the authors determined that corn-based ethanol is the worst alternative overall.

The authors, research biologists, think that cellulosic and algea-based ethanol would be better, but their technologies really aren’t developed yet. Here is the link to the full press release:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/541144/?sc=swtr

A few readers wrote in to MACHINE DESIGN commenting on the mistake I made on my blog item “Artistic EDM”. In it, I said that “electrically conductive materials cannot be EDMed.” Ovbiously, this is incorrect. As one reader says, “EDM will spark-erode any material that conducts electricity.”

Dear readers, thanks for keeping me on my technical toes!

Here’s a situation a lot of us have experienced: You take a class that gives you headaches. After a lot of soul searching, you start to wonder if the problem is not you and not the material, but the instructor.

Well, the problem might well have been a poor hiring choice on the part of school administrators. This short article from the Chronicle of Higher Education gives some interesting insights into some not-so-good educators who were considered for college teaching jobs.

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/05/2008052301c/careers.html?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Later this afternoon, I’m headed to the RAPID 2008 Conference held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. In manufacturing, “rapid” does not really have an exact definition. Sometimes it connotes additive fabrication techniques (certainly not rapid as in “made quickly”). The techniques are rapid because machines use CAD files directly to make parts. Thus, there is a turnaround of a day or a few days compared to weeks or months. I think the definition is getting broader to include subtractive technologies also. Think of how quickly Mom and Pop rapid shops could pump out parts with free, downloadable CAD and CNCs that cost under $3,000.

The show looks interesting. Workshops include “Metal Parts Using Additive Technologies,” “Reverse Engineering and 3D Data Capture,” and “3D Scanning: Reverse Engineering, Analysis, and Inspection.” Others that look neat are “3D Printing of Ceramics for Dental and Medical Applications,” and “Reverse Engineering and Aging Aircraft.”

More to come tomorrow…

Awhile back I wrote about a mutual funds manager who took FedEx management to task for investing in hybrid delivery vehicles though there was no economic justification for it:

http://machinedesign.com/ContentItem/57416/Costlybutgreen.aspx

Then on Friday, FedEx missed its earnings target, saying, according to CBS Marketwatch:

FedEx Corp. warned Friday that fourth-quarter earnings are poised to come up well short of prior targets, adding that if oil prices continue to rise from this point, more damage to the bottom line could be on the way.

FedEx blaimed both a slowing economy and lower package volume as well as fuel costs for the shortfall, but did not say how much of the shortfall was due to either factor, at least not in the statements I’ve seen. There are a couple of things that could be said here. One is that presumably, some of the higher fuel costs FedEx is seeing presumably come from keeping its fleet of jets flying, which fly all its packages to Tennessee for distribution. I wonder if company management has considered turboprops as a means of reducing that fuel cost. You can find out more about what’s new on the turboprop scene here:

http://machinedesign.com/ContentItem/70215/Fewertripsforthefueltruck.aspx

Second, one wonders how much benefit FedEx really gets out of a hybrid delivery truck in that the energy efficiency benefits only emerge during stops/starts. Vehicles that do a lot of stopping and starting will get the most benefit out of hybrid technology — postal delivery vans and garbage trucks come immediately to mind. But for commercial vehicles that spend a lot of time on the highway, the payoff is less dramatic. There is no benefit from a hybrid powertrain while tooling along on a freeway. That’s why a lot of Californians criticize the decision to allow single-occupant Prius’ in the car pool lanes there.

My guess is that FedEx trucks may not do enough start/stop driving on average to get much benefit out of a hybrid powertrain. Some benefit, yes, but probably not enough to put much of a dent in the company’s fuel costs. And when the additional capital costs of acquiring the hybrids are factored in, does FedEx come out ahead? The answer to that question would be interesting.

Interestingly, PTC is now offering a free download of CoCreate personal version. As you recall, not long ago, PTC — well known for inventing history-based modeling — purchased CoCreate, an explicit or non-history-based modeler. PTC says the download provides the world’s first free explicit 3D CAD software. Users work directly on geometry they want to modify and can design models with no upfront engineering. This helps to create lightweight designs fast.

Download CoCreate

A few issues ago, I wrote an editorial challenging the conclusions of a report called Engineers of Jihad, which claimed engineers had a linear-thinking mindset that predisposed them to recruitment by Islamic terrorist groups. You can read the editorial here:

http://machinedesign.com/ContentItem/72455/LelandTeschlersEditorialTheEngineeringExtremistMindset.aspx

The authors of the report in question weren’t the first to claim something like this. The novelist Stephen King alluded to something similar in his book called The Stand, which came out in the 1980s and was made into a TV miniseries. In the book, a plague has cut the total population of the US to less than 2 million people who are separating themselves into two different camps, one following God, the other following the devil. King creates this conversation between two members of the ‘God’ camp:

“I think he’s (referring here to the devil) going to get most of the techies……Don’t ask me why; it’s just a hunch. Except that tech people like to work in an atmosphere of tight discipline and linear goals, for the most part. They like it when the trains run on time…….But that other fellow (again, referring to the devil)… I’ll bet he’s got the trains running on time and all his ducks in a row. And techies are just as human as the rest of us; they’ll go where they’re wanted the most. I’ve a suspicion that our Adversary wants as many as he can get.”

It’s all utter BS in my opinion. Note to Stephen King: I’ve known a lot of high-caliber engineers whose desks looked like disaster areas and who couldn’t show up on time for an appointment if their life depended on it. Does that sound like linear goals and tight discipline to you?

Someone emailed me a link to Rockwell Automation’s spoof of several years ago wherein they created a short video for their new “retro turboencabulator.” I had forgotten about this thing. It is still funny. I also found out there is even a Wikipedia page on the origins of the Turboencabulator:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turboencabulator

According to Wikipedia, GE engineers even managed to insert a page in a GE catalog in 1962 about GE’s version of the encabulator. All I can say is, GE must have been a different place in 1962 than it is now. Here is the link to the Rockwell video:

http://www.komando.com/videos/3-22.asp

You always hear about interoperability problems in CAD. Well, I have a gripe about interoperability issues with everyday software. If like me, you travel a lot on business, you probably find it sometimes hard to keep up with your work at the office. What to do? You might occasionally take home work on nights or weekends to catch up. That’s what I oh-so blithely did this weekend, thinking I was so smart.

I had forgotten that we recently moved to Windows Vista at work. My home and laptop have Windows XP Professional. Guess what. Word documents in the new format (DOCX) WILL NOT OPEN ON MY HOME OR LAPTOP COMPUTERS, which, of course, only understand the DOC format. I am so upset! This means instead of being able to cut-and-paste, and thus save a lot of time, I have to RETYPE THE WHOLD G__D_____ DOCUMENT, all five pages of it.

*&#$#%&*(#%%^$#% :(

No wonder so many people dislike Microsoft.