“We saw a pronounced need for bigger presses in Mexico,” says Schwochow, “for applications such as truck-cab walls and frame rails. Some parts that we have been stamping in Canada and transporting down to Mexico now run on the Danly, and we’ve brought back some outsourced dies that had been running in nearby Mexican pressrooms.”
This Could be the Start of Something Big
Mercury’s management team in Canada oversaw the purchase and rebuild of the 1000-ton press, along with a rebuilt 60-in.-wide-capacity feed line with 7.5-hp motor and five-roll straightener. The press rebuild, performed by Excel Machinery, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, included a clutch/brake overhaul, new counterbalance rods and seals, rebuilt slide overloads, a crown rebuild, upgraded controls and the addition of light curtains.
“To load up the press with work, we brought the previously outsourced dies inhouse, and have brought in several new tools to stamp heavy-truck frame rails,” says Briggs. And we’ll soon bring down a progressive die and several line dies from the Windsor plant. All told, we’ll quickly fill about half of the press’ capacity.
A four-station line-die setup on the 1000-ton press stamps truck-frame cross members, one of several previously outsourced jobs that Mercury Products has brought back inhouse following its new (used) press acquisition.
‘We’re really gearing up in 2015 for new business for the press,” Briggs continues, “and we expect that by June (2015) the press will be running two shifts per day, full out. Our business out of the Saltillo plant has doubled since its inception, and we think it will double again in 2015 and then again in 2016, thanks in large part to anticipated growth in the construction market —excavators, road graders and similar heavy equipment.”
Then Mercury’s management team will set its sights on adding more presses to the plant, to fill out the press lineup. “We’ll likely be looking to add mid-range 500- and 600-ton models between the end of 2015 and 2017,” Briggs concludes. MFView Glossary of Metalforming Terms
See also: Excel Machinery
Technologies: Stamping Presses