Free Die-Protection Seminars

For the foreseeable future, I have decided to help maintain the exposure to electronic sensors and die protection by waving the fee for my introductory in-house seminars. This offer is valid for Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. I may expand the training zone to include other states pending demand. The only charge per company is $500 to help offset my travel expenses. There are no limits to how many can attend these in-plant sessions.

Why? I have been heartbroken by the diminishing attendance of technical seminars. At one time we would see hundreds of attendees at the sensor seminars, and now typically they are at a dozen or less. The tragedy of it is that technology is not standing still and neither are our competitors.

We are in the midst of an infectious national economic contagion—one that promotes cost cutting at all costs. Lean and productive methods are mandatory strategies in these challenging times, but not supplementing them with error-proofing sensors is a recipe for failure. We need to train our technical metalforming workforce on the latest proven die-protection technologies. At the heart of this training is the exposure to best sensor practices. It is essential that all of your plant’s key tooling, production, engineering, maintenance and managerial personnel have exposure to tried and true die protection methods.

Takeover tooling now is the norm for many metalforming companies. These dies arrive with minimal if any prior technical inspection and are expected to run within days of their arrival. Yes, your company got the work from a competitor who could not deliver, but you also inherited all of its inherent tooling problems with little if any documentation. I have seen takeover tooling with the die protection totally ripped out of the dies, cables dangling and sensors smashed beyond recognition. Without up-to-date exposure to electronic sensors for die protection, companies simply slap a whisker (wire probe) on the die with a magnetic base and chug along until the die fails to cooperate and self-destructs. Panic ensues as the customer now expects you to solve the die’s inherent problems.

It is ironic that a complex progressive die will not disclose its problems until there is a die crash. The knowledge that the previous stamper had regarding this particular die is locked up in the minds of the toolmakers and pressroom personnel where the die originated, and they are not sharing. Even the finest tooling experts have a hard time anticipating die failures just by looking at a die. It takes the running of a die to fully flush out any surprises. An educated workforce and the best die-protection practices is a must in this scenario.

The electronic sensor die-protection experts from the baby boom generation are retiring and at many companies these individuals simply do not have the appropriate time to pass on their knowhow to the next generations. Ironically, in many metalforming companies, lean to the max has drastically curtailed employee technical training as there is no one to spare to teach or attend the classes.

As many of you know, I do not sell nor represent any products. I only teach and consult on die protection and all other aspects of error-proof metalforming including assembly and finishing. During these difficult times I wish to impart this knowledge to as many companies as possible. I urge you to check out www.mfgadvice.com and take advantage of this offer. MF

Technologies: Tooling, Training

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