Flexible Machine Control System from National Instruments

Sylvania Lighting is one of the world’s largest artificial light source manufacturers. We have a broad product offering, from incandescent light bulbs, halogen, and low-energy lamps for the consumer market to fluorescent lamps, high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, and various special products for professional use.At the Sylvania plant in Tienen, Belgium, we produce and develop metal halide lamps. To develop a new, smaller type of lamp, we needed a production machine that would let us easily adapt all process parameters. The standard “pinch process,” in which two metal blocks press melted glass around electrode-foil wires to create an impermeable bond, is not capable of producing these new lamps. Therefore, we developed a new process to melt the glass directly around the foil, requiring a totally new machine and a new, optimized production process.Read the full case study