“If we can increase throughput by 15 strokes/min., that’s 900 more parts/hr., 7000 parts/shift,” he says. “That’s a huge deal and opens up greatly needed capacity. We’ve leaped to the next level in productivity with this new press, and expect to greatly increase our sales with two new Toyota programs in the works, as well as new GM programs coming online in 2026. We’ll now be able to ramp up production for those programs by continuing to run two shifts, as we have been, without increasing our workforce, and we’ll still have room to grow—I have 29 million strokes still available over two shifts.”

Training to Get the Most Out of Servo Technology

During the MetalForming LIVE online event on December 11, Jensen will highlight the work done by Minster servo press scientist David Diaz-Infante, supporting the firm’s efforts to develop and optimize programs on the new press as it brought tools over from its existing presses. Diaz first conducted online training for the shop-floor team, including press operator Maikil Nakhla, followed by a week of onsite training. Since completing the training, Nakhla has been able to drive all new programming on the press control, continuing to optimize stroke rate and throughput. Among his goals: minimize stroke length and ram travel so that he can slow ram travel at impact and increase ram speed on the upstroke, ensuring good part quality and reduce tool wear, and still dial-up overall stroke rate.

“Diaz really opened our eyes to making the press sing,” Jensen says. “Nakhla now has taken over as conductor.”

A big part of the knowledge Diaz-Infante shared with Nakhla relates to the use of the Nidec Minster Camgen motion-profile generator within the GPC (global production control) press control.  Camgen allows the operator to calculate speeds based either on energy-saving mode or optimum production mode, and includes programmable feed/transfer time. During the MetalForming LIVE event, Diaz-Infante will dive deeply into this topic, including explaining how maximum forming velocity is automatically calculated for the pendulum profiles used at Concord Tool & Mfg. 

“We also appreciate the fact that when developing the feed programming for a particular job on the GPC control,” explains Nakhla, “if the program is too aggressive the machine control will not let me run the program on the press. The control displays the maximum speed possible for both the press and the feed unit so that I can immediately tell if either program needs to be adjusted, saving a great deal of trial-and-error programming time.”

The Concord team also appreciates the integration of the feedline programming features into the GPC, which provides full machine diagnostics detailing all press and feedline faults, and boasts an open architecture to simplify planning and maintenance. Jensen explains:

“By including the feed dynamic data into the press control, we can calculate in real time the feed time used. A feed time between 80% and 90% tells us that we’re not unnecessarily overwhelming the feed unit, and that the press is not running too slowly for the feed capabilities.”

Diaz-Infante adds that the integrated control also helps with the challenges of programming PLS and die protection.

“Using the integrated control, Concord can automatically translate new angles for PLS, die protection and feed for every new motion profile created for a given job,” he says. “This saves a lot of time and reduces the possibility of human errors.”

As a sidebar to the increased stroke rate using the servo press, Concord has begun to evaluate its use of part-out sensors to ensure the technology can keep pace with press speed.  

“At these higher run rates,” explains Hmadi, “parts exiting the die can tumble out of view of an inductive part-out sensor. That can cause nuisance stops. So, we are evaluating the use of vision, mounting cameras on the presses, to sense part out and avoid nuisance stops caused by the proximity sensors.” 

Twin Servos Boost Auto-Part Production

T&C Stamping, Inc., on seven acres about an hour south of Nashville in automotive-manufacturing-centric Athens, AL, provides contract metal stamping as well as tool and die and subassembly services. Specifically, the manufacturer, in 100,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space and with 80 employees, offers tooling design and prototyping as well as progressive-die and deep-draw stamping. Stamping materials of choice: cold- and hot-rolled steel, stainless steel, high-strength low-alloy steel, aluminum, and other nonferrous grades to thicknesses of 0.25 in.

Formed in 1985 and initially focused on stamping appliance and electromechanical parts, T&C Stamping grew to accumulate more than 60 presses in capacities from 25 to 330 tons. For MetalForming LIVE on the Shop Floor, Mark Coleman, T&C Stamping president and co-owner, will detail his company’s experience with the highest-capacity presses, two 330-ton Seyi series-SD2 servomechanical models brought on to support part production for the automotive industry.

“In 2015,” Coleman explains, “we were fortunate enough to receive some automotive business related to instrument panels. At the time, our largest press, a 200-ton straightside press, was old but well-maintained,” and would be tasked with producing the automotive parts.

However, Coleman and the T&C Stamping team found quickly that reliability and the ability to handle high snapthrough forces on tougher materials were issues.

“Certainly with automotive,” Coleman says, “you can’t afford to have any downtime.”

Automotive Work Justifies First Servo Investment

Already familiar with servo press technology, Coleman saw the automotive work as a project to justify the investment in a servo press. A long-term relationship with Seyi—T&C Stamping already had a half-dozen Seyi presses on it shop floor—led to, in 2018, the purchase and install of its first Seyi 330-ton servomechanical press, accompanied by a beefed-up Coe Press Equipment feeder to handle thicker, tougher material. 

“It was a great decision,” Coleman says. “We determined that the feed equipment was just as important, so we invested in that as well.”

Coleman will detail during MetalForming LIVE on the Shop Floor exactly why Seyi representatives told him that T&C Stamping takes greater advantage of the servo press technology than most other stampers.

“It’s not so much that we’re using a unique stroke profile, but we do use the pendulum motion (which provides rapid downstrokes and upstrokes with a slower forming speed for improved forming and reduced snapthrough forces). We’ve really benefitted in terms of cycle-time efficiency. And, on a qualitative level, our people say that parts coming of the servo press look better than some of the parts stamped on conventional presses.”

Standard features of the Seyi SD2 include a high-torque low-rpm servo motor to replace a motor, flywheel, clutch and brake; and direct-drive technology that eliminates down-gearing, loss of tonnage force, belts, and other parts typically associated with knuckle or link-type servo presses. In addition, a servo-pressure-stabilizer system eliminates power surges and conserves energy through a series of capacitors that equalize power consumption and store unused energy. The high-strength ribbed-frame press structure enables the holding of tight tolerances under longer dwells without elongating the frame, and eight-point gib-slide guiding adds to improved accuracy and precision.

Second Servo Delivers Redundancy, More Capacity

Positive results with its first servo press line and the need to increase capacity—and redundancy—led T&C Stamping to add a second Seyi servomechanical press and Coe feeder.  

“With automotive, we don’t want to be in a position where we disrupt our customers’ customers,” Coleman offers. “I got to thinking, what we would do if our only servo press went down—not a high risk at all, but one we had to consider. We could not afford to have that happen as we were running so much production through that press. So we bought a twin servomechanical press from Seyi along with another Coe feed.”

With more than 5 yr. under its belt with servomechanical presses, T&C Stamping plans to invest only in servo presses for its large-press needs going forward, according to Coleman and his son, Weston, director of sales.

“There’s no going back,” Weston says. “The operators love the servo presses, and so do our toolmakers. In my opinion, servo press technology has changed the industry. The technology is incredible and we’ve seen its benefits firsthand. Stroke speeds are as much as 30% faster than with our traditional mechanical presses, and we’ve experienced significant gains in throughput efficiency from features such as pendulum-motion programmability, reduced setup times and variable stroke speeds.”

Beyond production capabilities, the servomechanical press lines at T&C Stamping send an important message, according to Weston.

“It sends a signal to your customer when you’re willing to invest in the latest and greatest technology,” he says. “This servo press technology tells our customers that we’re here to stay—we plan on being your best supplier you have. It gives us a competitive advantage.” 

Plan now to gain insight from these two metal formers during MetalForming LIVE on the Shop Floor, December 11, 2-3:30 ET. Learn more and register to attend. MF

See also: Coe Press Equipment Corporation, Nidec Press & Automation, SEYI America, Inc.

Technologies: Management, Stamping Presses

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