2013 Maple Business Benchmark

Strong market prices, technology improvements and increasing sugar bush sizes are key features of the Vermont maple industry. The continued growth of maple production and maple investments elevate the interest in the financial performance of harvesting maple sap and processing maple syrup. The 2013 Maple Business Benchmark is the result of the first year of focused collection of financial information for the sector. University of Vermont Extension worked with 10 maple producers to complete financial analysis of their maple enterprise. Participants each received a detailed financial summary of their business that included information on sales, expenses, investments and profitability. That same information has been combined to create the 2013 Maple Benchmark report. This report demonstrates key management and financial metrics including: yield statistics, land use, operating costs, investment requirements, total cost of production and net income. See later year publications for more recent Northeast Maple Benchmark reports

On the Process and Product Fingerprints for Electro Sinter Forging (ESF)

Electro sinter forging (ESF) represents an innovative manufacturing process dealing with high electrical currents. Classified in the category of electrical current assisted sintering (ECAS) processes, the main principle is that Joule heating is generated inside the compacted powder, while the electrical current is flowing. The process is optimized through the analysis of the main process parameters, namely the electrical current density, sintering time, and compaction pressure, which are also evaluated as process fingerprints. The analysis was conducted on commercially pure titanium powder. Small discs and rings were manufactured for testing. The influence of the process parameters was analysed in terms of the final material properties. The relative density, microstructures, hardness, and tensile and compressive strengths were analysed concerning their validity as product fingerprints. Microstructural analyses revealed whether the samples were sintered or if melting had occurred. Mechanical properties were correlated to the process parameters depending on the material. The different sample shapes showed similar trends in terms of the density and microstructures as a function of the process parameters