Page 51 - MetalForming October 2009

“We have more capacity in our press- brake area than in any other area of the shop,” Crowell says, “so we needed to run some of our turret presses more than just 8 hr. a day to smooth out our process and minimize lead times to our customers.”
American Metal Fab’s sweet spot has typically been mild-steel sheet 11 gauge and thinner, mostly focused on 18- to 24- gauge sheet. It has typically purchased a lot of special-sized blanks, says Crowell, but now works harder to combine blank orders into common blank sizes, where there are minimal differences in dimen- sions. This practice simplifies inventory tracking and means fewer and larger orders.
Always on the Prowl for Efficiency Gains
For four of its larger customers, the company monitors MRPs online two to three times a week. It might build 50 of one part, and as many as 500 of another.
For the commercial refrigeration industry, the firm fabricates refrigerator wrappers that require turret-press fab- rication and then press-brake forming of primarily two basic blank sizes, one blank slightly smaller than the other.
“We schedule the two different sizes of wrappers back to back,” says Jason Crowell, John’s son and the firm’s vice president. “We developed a common turret setup for both jobs. Optimizing the tooling setup to handle both jobs eliminated a setup.”
Larger full-sheet parts such as the refrigerator-wrapper blanks prove ideal for producing lights-out on the Mura- ta CNC turret presses, as do sheets with just two or three nested parts. “The more parts you nest into a sheet that runs unmanned,” says Jason, “the more chance something might break loose from the sheet and cause the press to shut down.” Blanks that run overnight get stacked by the automation equip- ment and operators separate parts from the blanks during the day.
The newest turret press in the Amer- ican Metal Fab stable (a Motorum model 2548) can process sheets to 98.5 in. long and 49 in. wide, a significant
upgrade from the other turret presses— all hydraulic models—in the stable. “Our other presses require reposition- ing for any work longer than 77 in.,” says Jason. The ability to run larger blanks on the new press without repositioning eliminates the unclamp-reposition- clamp cycle as well as the need to run through the entire tool setup a second time to finish a sheet. Running the larg- er sheets without repositioning has
decreased cycle times by as much as 30 percent.”
Increased Laser Capacity, and aCommitmenttoTraining
In addition to recent investments in new turret-press and automation tech- nology, the Crowells purchased, in 2008, a new 5-kW laser-cutting machine. “We’re looking to increase sheet-thick- ness capacity,” says John, discussing the
connect everywhere
Network your factories and offices with SmartPAC 2 and LETS (Line Efficiency Tracking Software)
Take advantage of SmartPAC 2’s built-in Ethernet connectivity to
communicate over your network. Send and receive text messages, display setup sheets stored on a central server, back up your tools to a remote location, and view pressroom status over the network and internet. When you connect your equipment to LETS, you can collect production data, feed critical parameters to business software, generate production and efficiency reports automatically, view machine status in real time, and schedule a prioritized job queue for each machine.
Visit us at FabTech/MetalForm 2009, booth 16039.
For information about Honeywell Wintriss products, contact your local Wintriss representative or call toll free at 800-586-8324 (US/Canada) or visit us at www.honeywell.com/wintriss ®2009 Honeywell International Inc. All rights reserved.
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