How does being in the same facility as the manufacturing and testing processes benefit product development?

Being able to have manufacturing and testing in the same building as the engineers is very beneficial, allowing for short lead times and avoiding delays and the possible miscommunication of having to deal with 3rd party suppliers. It also allows engineers to witness the machining and testing of prototypes, allowing us to minimize the numbers of iterations until the product is finalized. This also facilitates a cross functional team that works on product improvement and cost reduction.

What does the day-to-day look like for a member of the engineering team?

Each engineering role has a slightly different scope. Some duties include project management, manufacturing engineering and product improvement. While others may be prioritizing the mornings emails, meetings regarding ongoing projects, talking to a customer or vendor about ongoing projects, CAD work & ERP system work to support manufacturing and projects. CVC is grateful to have a team of engineers that work together to make sure all projects are completed in a timely manner.

What are some of the capabilities of CVC engineering?

3D Modeling: We utilize SolidWorks to create 3D CAD models to be used for design, manufacturing, and CMM inspection.

Product Testing: We have a large range of testing capabilities, including testing flow rates from .001 GPM to 650 GPM and pressures up to 22,000 psi.  We also regularly perform non-destructive testing such as hardness, positive material identification (PMI), X-Ray, and dye-penetrant inspection.

CFD Simulation: We utilize SolidWorks flow simulations to optimize existing designs and ensure that new designs are optimized prior to making any physical prototypes.

Rapid Prototyping: We have both CNC and 3D printing rapid prototyping capabilities.

What information is needed prior to designing?

The main thing to consider when designing the product is the intended function. For valves this tends to be things like divert flow, regulate pressure, or prevent flow. The function helps to fine tune the other required information to finish the design.

The remaining information shapes the design. This would include details like allowable leakage rate, maximum size, or flow coefficient. Pressures will dictate the minimal wall thicknesses used in the design.

Chemical compatibility is extremely critical in the industries we work in. Choosing the correct material of construction coupled with the chemistry of the process fluid aids a long-lasting design. If the process fluid is DI water, versus hydrochloric acid, this will drastically change the metals and elastomers used in the valve design.

What are a few engineering strengths that CVC excels in?

One thing that CVC prides themselves on is having diversity of backgrounds. Each one of us comes from a different background, education and experience, which allows for us to bring different strengths, personalities and perspectives.

Does CVC design from scratch? Improve existing designs?

At CVC, we do both. We have engineers who are involved more heavily with improving existing designs, and engineers whose focus is on new designs.

Give an example of the lifecycle of a product at CVC:

1.      Customer proposes product/idea/problem to team.

2.      CVC proposes theoretical solution/design to customer.

3.      CVC & Customer discuss /modify proposal.

4.      Customer accepts design allowing CVC to manufactures & test prototype.

5.      Customer tests prototype.

6.      CVC & Customer discuss/modify design once more.

7.      CVC launces production.

What is new in the future for CVC Engineering?

3D Printing!

CVC recently became a participant in Project DIAMOnD, which is dedicated to improving manufacturers’ agility and resiliency by helping them scale up their Industry 4.0 activity. Being a part of this project, we will be called upon to create personal protective equipment (PPE) when needed. In the meantime, we can utilize these printers for creating parts critical to serving and growing our manufacturing operations.

Expanding In-House Testing Capabilities

As we step into new markets, our demand for testing capabilities continue to increase. As an example, we our currently working on critical valving for the International Space Station! This will drive the company to increase our testing capabilities to cover the scope of the project. We will then be able to leverage those new testing capabilities with other customers.