Page 26 - MetalForming May 2009

Machined groove
Barcode the ScanningPerfect
Servo-Feed Complement
Oil-burner manufacturer R.W. Beckett upgrades a pair of coil-feed lines—one feeding flat stock and the second feeding 3⁄16-in.-dia. wire rod—by adding barcode scanning technology to simplify and speed setups, and add a degree of mistake proofing.
Streamlined, efficient oil-burner assembly at 70+-yr.-old R.W. Beck- ett Corp. is all about effective mate- rial flow through the firm’s 120,000- sq.-ft. plant in Elyria, OH. The company, with just under 200 employees, has focused on what manufacturing engi- neering manager Glen Norris calls “worldclass manufacturing”—lean and six-sigma initiatives, that visual inven- tory controls (kanbans) and level-load- ing that allows for efficient inventory buildup in warm-weather months in anticipation of winter’s high-demand period. It’s also brought inhouse lead- time-sensitive fabricating and manu- facturing tasks that the firm deems
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
A pneumatic press fed by a servo feeder chops up 1000-lb. spools of 3⁄16-in.-dia. wire rod, the cut length determined by an operator scanning a bar- code into the machine control. Two sets of straightening rolls—a seven-roll horizontal set and five-roll vertical set—straighten the wire before it finds the entry end of the press. There, the straightened wire lands in a groove machined into the feed drum to align the wire for blanking.
24 METALFORMING / MAY 2009
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