Kayla Rose - Kayla started with Spectra Symbol on May 28, 2019 as a Production Associate in Final Assembly. She mastered the art in Die Cutting and enjoyed keeping at rate in every process with great quality. As the years went by, she advanced into her current role as an Operations Coordinator, where her talent of organization shined.

She is continuing to broaden her skills within the company and is currently training in Purchasing. Her dedication to improve in quality, standards, and to get the job done is admirable. Everyone who works closely with her feels the impact in her absence and appreciates her hard work when she's in office.

20 Nov Rosa Martinez

3 years (25 Nov) Karina Mendoza

2 years (22 Nov) Karen Miranda

6 Nov Daylight Savings Ends (fall back 1 hour, extra sleep, YAY!)

8 Nov Election Day!

10 Nov World Immunization Day

11 Nov Veterans Day

13 Nov World Kindness Day (we will be doing a random act of kindness drive)

24 Nov Thanksgiving Holiday! Spectra Symbol closed, no work!

25 Nov Spectra Symbol closed, no work!

November Lunch and Learns:

10 Nov Engineering Team

15-17 Nov Production Teams

16 Nov PROPS Team

17 Nov COPS Team

SAI Infusion Technologies produces equipment for humane animal testing labs. They have developed a system for hands-free medicine delivery - you could think of it as an insulin pump for mice. They also make harnesses, feeding systems, and other equipment to reduce stress in the lab.

Spectra Symbol has been providing parts for SAI’s precision infusion pumps. These devices allow scientists to deliver just the right amount of medication to lab animals rather than doing it by hand. This is more comfortable for the animal and better controlled for the scientist.

Our software development team - Nephi, Cole, and Kade - have been working on updates and upgrades to the Kodiak Cloud website.

The site has been in operation for a while now and has been used to store measurements from the Kodiak Instruments sensors in oil fields across the country, process the data and make the data visible to our customers. This has allowed customers to understand their production rates and capacity at each site as well as alert them to equipment failures and other potential issues.

Lately, the team has been working on updating and creating features such as:

• improving analytics to help customers better understand their data

• refining the manual data entry for sites not equipped with Kodiak Instruments' sensors,

• scheduling and alerting pump workers, in the field, to check on equipment and to perform preventative maintenance tasks to reduce downtime and equipment damage.

These new and updated features, along with some others in the works, will allow Kodiak Instruments to seek a new customers base where they may not want or need the automated sensors but want an intuitive, subscription based, service to track and analyze their data and better manage their workforce. These enhancements will also provide added features for our existing customers and strengthen our relationship with them.

You may have seen those big machines on the production floor with noisy fly wheels, making loud clunking sounds as they open and close and look like they could swallow you whole! Or maybe you've seen those small, tabletop, machines that slowly lift a table full of materials and a wooden plank with shapes running through it. All of these machines are a form of die cutter used to "die cut" materials here at Spectra Symbol. But what is die cutting?

Simply put, die cutting is a method of creating flat parts from roll and sheet materials using shaped and sharpened steel. The process was created in the mid 1800’s as a way to cut leather for the shoe industry more efficiently. At the time the holes in the leather were punched by hand, which made making shoes very labor intensive. The process took substantially longer, and it also yielded many inconsistencies between shoes. The introduction of die cutting allowed cobblers to create sole patterns that could be reliably replicated through the die cutting process.

The invention of die cutting helped a specific industry and it wasn't until the early 1900's when a lot of innovations were made. One of the most important additions to the early 1900's machine was a swing-arm clicker press. This addition, as well as, modern precision steel rule die making techniques, allowed for different shapes and sizes to be cut, while using different dies. Most of the modern die-cutting machines of the 21st century are highly accurate, fast and easy to use.

Why do companies, like Spectra Symbol, use this process over other kinds of cutting technologies today?

• Variety of Materials. die cutting can be used to transform a wide range of soft and semi-rigid materials.

• Efficiency. The process is an efficient, high-speed method of creating uniform products with high quality, clean, vertical edges.

• Cost-effectiveness. The tooling for steel rule die-cutting is inexpensive, features a short set-up time, and allows multiple dies to be nested and integrated into a single die board to reduce raw material waste. The customer can cut many pieces in a shorter period of time than is possible with other methods. Steel rule die-cutting offers an efficient and cost-effective solution for short to medium production runs.

• Versatility. The process can be used with thin or thick materials and is suitable for creating large or small parts. Steel rule die cutting produces minimal material deformation and can be used to kiss cut, allowing your die-cut parts to be delivered in rolls if needed. Dies may also be nested to create multiple cuts at once.

• Accuracy & Precision. Steel rule die cutting is a precise way to cut a material, which produces cuts that are the same each time, within a small margin of error.

Thanks to die cutting and precision crafted steel rule dies, Spectra Symbol has been able to quickly and reliably create thousands, if not millions, of parts that range in all shapes and sizes without having to spend many thousands of dollars in tooling for each project.

Sources:

• https://www.colvin-friedman.com/the-history-of-die-cutting.html

• https://millenniumdie.com/steel-rule-die-cutting-guide/

• https://mesinpeletkayu.com/a-brief-history-of-die-cutting/

• Linda Miranda - $400 (Karen hit her 1-year mark!)