RBI Bearing is pleased to announce two employee promotions during October:

Manny Perez was promoted to Western Regional Account Manager responsible for company sales in the Rocky Mountain and Western states outside of California.  Manny joined the company in 2002 after 19 years with a bearing distributor.  He most recently was our Accounts Receivable Specialist and is looking forward to returning to the sales arena.

Cheryl Sonaco steps up as our Accounts Receivable Specialist responsible for company receivables and new account activation.  Cheryl joined RBI in 2003 with 18 years administrative and receivables management experience.  She brings a strong, professional approach to this key area of our company. 

We wish Manny and Cheryl great success in their new positions!

Our new 6 page Stainless Steel & Thermoplastic brochure is now available!

Complete specifications and drawings are included for our Corrosion Resistant stainless steel and thermoplastic products along with photos depicting various applications where corrosion resistance is desired.

The brochure is available from your account manager, or it is available online in an Adobe PDF format. 

To access the online version, just click on the brochure picture.  A "zipped" version of the file is also available here.

A monthly look at events in China
Click the title to read the story

GM looks to build luxury car in China
Report says automaker plans to build new Buick in China for sale in Chinese market, a change from current small-car production.

"Don't use rack" for longer legs
China has warned image-conscious citizens against using the rack to lengthen their legs after several such operations went badly wrong.

China offers cash to control population
Nearly three decades after China imposed its strict one-child policy, the government will offer financial incentives in an effort to restrain its population rise.

China caveman emerges after 8 years
A Chinese man wanted by police on gun charges has given himself up after hiding in a cave constructed at the back of his house for eight years.

How is the hardness of metals measured?
by Mike Mortensen - Director of Engineering RBI-USA

There is a wide variety of hardness test methods and scales that can be used when analyzing the hardness of a material. Common hardness test methods for metals include the Rockwell, Vickers, Brinell, and Knoop hardness tests.

During a hardness test, an indenter of specific shape (i.e. ball, cone, pyramid, etc.) is pressed into the testing surface with a specified load, resulting in a permanent indentation (See Figure 1). Features of the permanent indentation are then measured and translated into a hardness value. The indenter material, indenter shape, applied load, measured indent feature, and hardness range vary between the different hardness testing methodologies.

Every test method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Certain advantages of specific testing methods include minimal indentation size, minimal indentation depth, ease of measurement, applicable material hardness range, etc.

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Figure 1 . Hardness test schematic showing the indenter creating a permanent indentation on a surface.

Technical Article Archive

Have a question or topic you would like to see covered? Click here to let Mike know!

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving Day all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment - halftime.

--Unknown

We Get It Done.

RBI Connections is a publication of RBI Bearing, Inc and is intended to provide useful company and/or industry news and information. We understand and respect your need for privacy. Email addresses in our files are from our customers or published materials. Please accept our apologies if you believe this email to be unsolicited. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Any personal information provided to us will be stored in a secure environment and will not be misused. RBI Bearing, Inc. does not make email addresses available to third parties for their use. RBI Bearing would like to send news releases and special promotions to you from time to time. If you would not like to receive these emails from us, please click this link and type the word "unsubscribe" in the subject. © 2006 RBI Bearing, Inc.