“We’re always exploring the latest metal forming equipment,” shares Verhey, who quickly credits regular visits to the Chicago FABTECH shows as the best avenue to remain up to speed.

“In fact, FABTECH 2023 in Chicago is where our team conducted in-depth analysis of the press-automation solutions available,” Verhey adds, “and helped us develop the best solution for our needs.”

Reshoring a Fairly Complex Stamping

MetalForming met recently with Verhey, along with his two sons also involved with the company, Roland (who oversees operations and sales) and Jesse (who works in product design and custom sales), to discuss its nearly 3-yr. journey to upgrade its stamping capabilities and capacity.

Stair treads come in two styles—perforated, and a pattern Canway calls diamond channel grading (DCG). Both tread styles encompass a variety of sizes, all manufactured from 14-gauge pickled and oiled mild steel. While Canway had for several years been able to stamp the fairly simple perforated treads in its aging press, and then complete production in a press brake (overall a 1-min. cycle time), the firm had to outsource stamping of the more complex DCG treads to China, explains Roland Verhey. Its fabrication equipment could not handle the part complexity, and the firm struggled to find reliable suppliers domestically.

“The DCG tread consists of a series of raised diamond-shaped cutouts,” he says, “designed to be non-slip in the most challenging of applications, for particularly oily and slippery environments, for example, or for outdoor use in cold winter climates, as they not only provide optimum grip but also allow snow and ice to fall through. DCG treads comprise about 20% of the treads that we manufacture, and we’ve learned that our customers—an array of distributors throughout Canada—value steady and predictable supply more than they do price.”

That insight came to light during the supply-chain disruptions caused by Covid, which created production and delivery issues with Canway’s Chinese supplier.  

“In addition, we had a minimum-order requirement,” explains Roland, “that often led to overly large inventory storage. All of that led us, beginning in 2022, to investigate upgrading our stamping capabilities and capacity in order to bring DCG tread production inhouse.”

The Press Journey Began

Tandem Line Features: Colt Automation coil line, including coil car (extended version), with upender for in-system coil storage; dual-reel uncoiler peeler-threading package; and straightener and feed system Rapid-Air pneumatic production shear Three 200-ton and two 150-ton Aida gap-frame presses Shaker conveyors on presses 1 and 2 Part-ejector station Six Linear Automation-integrated Yaskawa Motoman six-axis robots with universal end effectors Complete guarding package Also from Linear Automation: Orientation station End-of-line racking system Integrated line control system

… with conversations with a local tool shop, in 2022, whose engineers crafted a progressive-die design for the treads—three tool stations for the perforated tread pattern and five for the DCG tread. Next came a visit to the FABTECH show in the fall of 2023, in Chicago, to show its designs to press builders, and also to the automation experts at Linear Automation.  

“Our initial thought was to invest in an 800-ton straightside press to run the parts in one prog die,” Len Verhey recalls. However, building constraints, including ceiling height and foundation concerns, led Canway and Linear in a different direction.”

In the end, Linear and Canway developed a five-press tandem line automated via six-axis robots, and including a coil line (feeding 10,000-lb. coils of material) and end-of-line racking. Paul Stirrett, vice president of sales at Linear Automation, explains:

“While the single press would have been a less expensive option up front, Canway would have been sinking the savings into building modifications. With the tandem line, while its production rate is somewhat slower than using a prog die in a single press, it gives Canway significant flexibility.”

“We made this significant investment not only to reshore production of the DCG treads but also to improve throughput for the perforated treads,” Roland explains. “And, we intentionally build capacity for the future. The auto racking and inline coil feeder, for example, give us a lot of flexibility as we continue to expand.”

Tool Developer Hand-in-Hand with the Automation Team

“Critical to the success of the project,” says Stirrett, “was involving the tool developer right from the start.”

Explaining further, Jesse Verhey notes that early on in the development of the line, the process design called for flipping the parts between presses three and four.  “To avoid flipping the parts, which slows the process, we worked with Linear and our tool developer to engineer a solution that would maintain part orientation throughout the process,” he says. “The overriding goal was to ensure that any part burrs stay on the top of the treads to help with traction when the stairs are being used.”

Rather than flip the parts midway through, the part is run through the line upside down. After the final form in press five, the finished part is hanging from the top tool on the ram. A pneumatic ejector then slides the finished parts off of the die—to the side rather than the front—so that the end-of-line robot can grab and orient it for stacking in the dunnage rack. The end-of-line robot flips every other part coming off of the last press to optimize storage capacity in the dunnage racks.

Canway, then, runs two sets of tools through the line. The five-station DCG tool, adjustable for a variety of tread sizes, punches the serrated hole in press one. Press two punches a series of smooth, slotted relief holes. Forming the serrated holes occurs in press three, then the tread’s flanges form in presses four and five. Stamping the perforated treads requires only press one (punching and embossing in one hit), followed by flange forming in presses four and five. 

“Stamping the perforated treads has been reduced from a 1-min. cycle time using our old press and a press brake, down to 7 to 8 sec. in the new line,” shares Roland. “And, now we have complete control over our production schedules, material purchasing and quality.”

Plenty of training went into commissioning the line, says Len, including time spent at Canway by teams from Linear Automation and Colt Automation, and a week of training at the Yaskawa Motoman facility in nearby Burlington, Ontario, for robot programming and maintenance.

“Commissioning a line such as this, with so many moving parts, has been a bit of a process,” shares Roland, noting that this project is the firm’s big automation investment. “But we’ve only had a few challenges, mostly related to the end-of-line programming and tweaking, to optimize capacity in our totes. And, we’ve had to adjust a few pick points for the robots to adapt for part variability and movement within the tooling. But it’s just been fine-tuning, really, which the Yaskawa Motoman training prepared us for.”

One HMI Does it All

For Canway, Linear applied a fully integrated, turnkey control system, which allows the operator to control all aspects of the line from a single HMI. Based on an Allen-Bradley control platform, the line is equipped with a single master PLC that controls the safety and IO networks, and has a Linear-developed interface to all of the equipment on the line—presses, coil line, production shear at the end of the coil line, robots, part-orientation stations and the automated end-of-line racking system. 

From the line HMI, operators can select any part profile to run and the line automatically adjusts. Operators readily can identify, troubleshoot and reset any alarms/faults on the line, and also manually control or single-cycle any station on the line from the HMI.

Line operating modes include auto-fill, auto-line runout and single-button full automatic functionality together with the ability to adjust line speed as required.  

“The control ultimately enables a single operator to efficiently operate the complete line,” Stirrett shares. “It is designed to maximize uptime and allow the line to resume full production after any stoppages with single-button operation.” MF

 

See also: Rapid Air Corporation, Colt Automation Ltd., Yaskawa America, Inc., Aida-America Corp., Linear AMS

Technologies: Coil and Sheet Handling, Pressroom Automation, Sensing/Electronics/IOT

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