User-Specific Process Development Service for Shot Peening Applications

Author:  Volker Schneidau and Wolfgang Hennig
Source:  The Shot Peener magazine, Vol 35, Issue 3, Summer 2021
Doc ID:  2021032
Year of Publication:  2021
Abstract:  
Process developments in shot peening applications are mostly an adaption from previous processes which have proven to fulfill requirements. What if companies are suffering from loss of experienced personnel, are facing new challenges in shot peening or are implementing shot peening for the first time? These challenges can be addressed by external experts with profound process know-how and vast experience. Kumar Balan has described in his well-respected article series on tribal knowledge in shot peening that the loss of tribal knowledge is progressing. If substitutes do not grow in time, weakening of technical progress inside companies is the consequence. While universities and institutes perform a lot of peening research on very specific materials and thus create certain niche knowledge valid for only a small group of operators, we can find loss of practical knowledge in the industry. First and second generation shot peeners have left the process for reasons of internal redeployments, fluctuation or simply age. These effects have been reinforced by economic pressure and the pandemic.