Airfloat was mentioned in the March 3 issue of The New Yorker magazine in a sprawling 18-page article about the experimental ITER thermonuclear reactor under construction in Southern France. The article’s author, Raffi Khatchadourian, visited General Atomics, a San Diego-based nuclear contractor tasked with creating the reactor’s central solenoid, sometimes called the “backbone” of the […]
Airfloat will play a small but important role in an historic international nuclear fusion research and engineering project. At a cost of 15 billion euros (approximately 20 billion dollars), the ITER (short for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is currently under construction in Southern France. When the reactor goes online in 2020, it will use 50 […]
A group of Mt. Zion High School students visited Airfloat/Align mid-November to learn about an international fusion reactor project, including the role Airfloat is playing in its development. The ITER reactor, currently under construction in Southern France, is funded by seven member countries and will produce 500 megawatts of output power when it becomes operational […]
A new case study has been added to the official Airfloat website (www.airfloat.com). The document describes how a Chinese maker of high-voltage electrical switchgear deployed a custom Airfloat transporter with great success. The transporter has become a workhorse for the factory, where it is used nearly 24 hours a day and aides in the […]
Airfloat equipment was prominently featured this week in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. The article, entitled “In World of Big Stuff, U.S. Still Rules,” describes how heavy manufacturers like Caterpillar and Komatsu have not only survived but thrived during the recent economic downturn. Although the article doesn’t mention Airfloat by name, several pieces […]
Southeast England was the center of the aerospace universe last week as thousands of industry professionals and aviation enthusiasts flocked to Hampshire for the 48th Farnborough International Airshow (July 9 – 15). Held in even-numbered years at the historic Farnborough Aerodrome, the event is a seven-day trade fair for the aerospace industry. Among the 1,500 […]
Company Honored by Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) at Annual Meeting The Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) has named Airfloat, LLC the recipient of its 2012 Recognition in Innovation Award. Last year, the company designed and built an innovative new machine for the assembly, disassembly and transport of backup chocks used in the manufacture of rolled steel. […]
Align Production Systems, parent company of Airfloat, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the contract for the manufacture of a railcar shuttle system. Mervis Railcar, a refurbisher of industrial railcars, awarded the contract for the shuttle, to be installed at its planned $35 million refurbishing facility in Hutchinson, Kansas. The shuttle will […]
Due to new safety regulations, the freight rail industry will be phasing out older oil-transporting rail cars (so-called DOT-111 tank cars) in the coming years. New cars built after 2015 must comply with the new DOT-117 safety standard. Older cars may be retrofitted to meet the new standard at a cost of about $30,000 per car. […]
Kalmar Industries, a division of Finnish cargo-handling-equipment manufacturer Cargotec, is a maker of forklifts, yard cranes and other load-handling machines. If you’ve ever visited a major shipping port, you’ve probably seen Kalmar equipment moving, stacking and rearranging large shipping containers like a Tetris game on steroids. The DCG90-180, one of the company’s midsize forklift trucks, […]
